"Here's a Simple but Powerful Way to Understand White Privilege"

[StarfishSaver]

Here's an excerpt but I urge you to read the entire essay.

Here’s a Simple but Powerful Way to Understand White Privilege

The difference between the presumption of belonging and the burden of representation

By Tim Wise

When white people hear the term “white privilege,” we often recoil, assuming we are being accused of having led a charmed life without difficulties — or of being rich and powerful, even though, like most, we have faced periods of financial insecurity. We may even be facing such now.

But no one who talks about the problem of racism and white privilege means it that way — literally, no one.

While there are occupational, income, housing availability, and wealth advantages for white people, relative to folks of color, tied to both multi-generational structures of inequity and ongoing bias, these are not the most important part of what we mean when discussing white privilege.

In many ways, white privilege is less about those material advantages per se than the psychological edge it provides to white people — an edge that can then translate into other forms of advantage, including material ones.

I’ve written about this previously as the privilege of having one less thing to sweat in any number of daily interactions. It’s knowing that no matter how stressful your work, loan application process, classroom experiences, or interactions with police, your race will not signal to the boss, banker, teacher, or cop something negative about your intelligence, work ethic, creditworthiness, or law-abidingness.
...
When it comes to having one less thing to worry about, perhaps the best example is being able to take for granted that others will likely see you as belonging in the spaces where you find yourself ... For the Black and brown, rather than a presumption of belonging, there is a burden of representation. By this, I mean a feeling that they must hold it down and prove themselves, not only as individuals — a pressure we all feel — but for their group as a whole, lest their failure or inadequacy reflect poorly on others like them.

https://timjwise.medium.com/heres-a-simple-but-powerful-way-to-understand-white-privilege-a28607aa080

[Docreed2003]

1. K&R

An incredibly thoughtful and profound post that needs to be shared! Thank you StarfishSaver

[mcar]

2. I just finished "Caste" by

Isabelle Wilkerson. It blew my white, middle class mind. It is non-fiction and, as such, is thoroughly researched.

I'm sure I'm behind the curve on reading the book. Despite all I learn, there is always more.

[MustLoveBeagles]

3. K&R

[JohnSJ]

4. This applies to more than Black and Brown. As a Jew growing up in Iowa, every stereotype

about Jews was made known to me in no uncertain terms, “Jews are cheap and greedy”, etc.

and those stereotypes have been ingrained in me that to this day that I over-compensate by actions to demonstrate those stereotypes are not valid, and people need to be taken as individuals

A few years ago when some at work remarked to me, you don’t seem like a “typical Jew”, I was left speechless at the time. What I should have asked, what is a typical Jew?

[JudyM]

7. This is from a few years ago but popped right up in a search, handy facts if you want to respond

directly…
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/americas-jewish-community-leads-per-capita-giving/

[JohnSJ]

8. Thanks, however in the minds of many the old stereotypes persist. It isn't just Jews of course,

African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, etc. have their own stereotype challenges that they deal with everyday

[JudyM]

9. No question about that, unf.

[crickets]

5. Powerful, thought-provoking piece. K&R

[UpInArms]

6. I decided to watch this video again

[BlueGreenLady]

10. Great Post, UpInArms.

It's so informative and thought provoking. This should be seen in all schools.