Privilege

Privilege

Let’s talk about privilege. 

Just hearing that word “privilege” makes some people become defensive. They immediately jump to their preconceived notions and want to yell down the throat of who said it or type furiously at the post that used it. It has become a common word in our day to day discussions on social issues, but what does it mean?

Privilege is defined as “a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.” So, a privileged person enjoys something extra by way of rights or advantages that the non-priviliged person does not enjoy. The important part of this definition is what it leaves out. There is nothing in it that says it is due to some action of the privileged person. For example, somebody born into an extremely wealthy family has a privilege, wealth, that they did nothing to acquire. A simple accident of birth provided them with something that many other people don’t have. 

What we don’t think about is that often privilege is something that we did nothing to earn. Think about being in the United States. How many of us had a choice that we were born here? Our parents happened to live here, happened to get together, and happened to have us. We didn’t do anything to deserve being born in this country, but it happened anyway. And look at the benefits we receive: a wealthy western country with infrastructure, a strong army, and a high standard of living. Good education, plenty of resources, and a competitive economy. We live in a country that hasn’t had war on its soil in over 100 years. We’re lucky; we’re privileged. And the vast majority of us, natural citizens, enjoy these things simply because we were born here. We enjoy these things and we stay, have our own children, and the cycle continues. People from other countries see our way of life and some of them want to enjoy those some privileges. So they immigrate here. They are taking action to raise their level of privilege to that of an American citizen. 

In America, we can see there are sometimes disparities in privilege. For instance, take Christians in contrast with other religious groups. Christians make up the majority of religious people in this nation. If you’re a Christian, think about the holidays you celebrate. Have you ever had to worry about getting one of from work? Some may have, if you work in the service industry, but for most people, Christian holidays are marked as free. Schools close, government buildings shutdown. We switch to necessity only mode during Christian holidays. Now, how many other religious holidays are nationally recognized? Do we get off for Jewish holy days? Muslim? No, we don’t. For non Christian religious people, there is no guarantee they’ll be able to get off work or school to celebrate their religion. That’s something that Christians just don’t have to think about. That’s a privilege. 

Any group that a particular society prioritizes is privileged in that society. If you look at American history, we can see which groups those are based on the benchmark of rights accrued by those groups. African Americans were held as slaves for the early half of our country’s history. Women were not allowed to vote until the early 20th century. Native Peoples have a history of being forced off their lands and mistreated by our country. In a country created by white men, for white men, it makes sense that they are the most privileged group. 

This is the part that always has people up in arms. Cries of personal struggle and hard work overshadow what we’re actually discussing. To be privileged in no way means you have not worked or struggled in your life. Read that twice, because it needs to be understood fully. What privilege means is that you have some societal advantage that other people simply do not. I think we’ve discussed that pretty well, but the next example is the prickly one: race.

Please, follow along. Don’t yell, don’t decide that you already know the answer, that this is just liberal nonsense. Please, pay attention. Now, look at it this way: assume your ancestors came here on the Mayflower. They were part of that first group of settlers and helped plant the seeds of this nation. They, against many odds, survived those first difficult years, built a family here, and eventually prospered. Your family grew over the years, and eventually became prominent members of society. Your people had land and wealth and power. Some of the men became local government members, then state, then federal. Your people helped run the nation you helped create. Your ancestors attended some of the best universities, and now your family name is a legacy at several Ivies. They were educated, and they got the best education for their children. Your family benefited from the wealth they were able to create, the land they maintained, and the power they accrued in government office. Today, you may not have the same wealth and land and power. Maybe you do. The point is, you have good foundations, and the possibilities are limitless.

Now, assume that your ancestors were brought here by the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. You were bought and sold into slavery in a new land. You and your family worked in the fields for your owners, as did your children. You did this for generations. You did not know how to read, you had little connection to your past or heritage. You do not have a say in the country you live in. At times, that country does not consider you to be a person. War breaks out, and eventually you are set free. What do you do now that you’re suddenly not a slave? Where do you go? How will you eat? Some people become share croppers, hardly a step up from bondage. Others get arrested for loitering, vagrancy, and other petty offenses in the first sweep of mass incarceration in this nation. Gone from private slaves to slaves of the nation state. Your family manages to stay out of prison, sharecrops for a few generations before industrialization moves them to the cities. They have gotten the right to vote, but legislation is passed to make it incredibly difficult. Literacy tests, ID laws. They work in factories, hard work, and get basic education for their children. This is the first time the children learn to read, and they teach there parents. Legislation is passed that desegregates universities, restaurants, and all public buildings. You can finally send your kids to a good school, but will they be admitted? You have no built up wealth to pay for school, no land to live on, and no power to leverage on your child’s behalf. The opportunity has never been there, so now you have to fight to make it happen.

That is privilege. A society that has never worked in favor of black people and was designed, built, and ran by white men still benefits them today. It does not matter if your family never owned slaves. It does not matter if your family was poor and powerless. 

Privilege is not just race. It isn’t just color. It is religion, class, economic status, gender, sexual orientation, national origin, native language, ability, and age. There are privileges associated with these things, because society is built around a certain set of characteristics. Our history has led us to this set of privileges and oppressions. Because every privilege, whether accidental or otherwise, oppresses another group. Anytime when one group is favored over another, the other is feeling the strain of that privilege. 

Now, I know people aren’t going to agree with this. It is in our nature to challenge the things that are contrary to our experience. But that is the thing about being privileged: it often affects you without your knowledge. Don’t think of this as you, but here’s an example: think of a bratty, entitled rich kid. Their parents have paid for everything they could ever want, they don’t know the value of a dollar, and have never worked for anything in their life. Their dad buys them into Harvard, they get bad grades, but their mother is a partner at a law firm and gets them a cushy job. They stay rich, stay entitled, and chock it all up to their own brilliance and hard work, without any regard for the huge help from their upbringing. Obviously, this is an extreme example, but the sentiment is there. Most people aren’t boldly ignoring their privilege, but it will help the way you relate to other people to recognize your privilege, realize when you’re making a judgement rooted in privilege, and be able to use your privilege to help those oppressed by it.  

Tags: publish, social justice, wordpressed, whitness, christianity, privilege, Blackness
December 27, 2016 at 09:25PM
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Trump

Trump

Donald Trump’s racism, misogyny, islamophobia, homophobia, and just general hate is extremely well-documented. From his rallies to presidential debates, he has never been afraid to say what he feels about any group of people. In the wake of his election, millions of Americans have expressed their dismay at electing such a hateful man to the highest office in the land. I myself have been outspoken in how ludicrous it is to me that we have elected an outspoken bigot to the presidency. 

What has been more surprising to me, however, are the people flying to Trump’s defense. Countless people have claimed that he is not a racist, and that they themselves are not racist for supporting him. Maybe they aren’t thinking about the ramifications of a Trump presidency, or they have chosen to forget the things he spent over a year campaigning for. But I haven’t.

There have been floods of people commenting on social media about how they don’t appreciate being called racist for supporting Trump. They agree with his policy, but aren’t racists. And neither is our now President Elect, they claim. He just wants to remove all the illegals from the country and ban people that might be dangerous from entering. Their words, not mine. 

See, the thing is that you cannot ignore his rhetoric and racism while choosing to only support his policy. His policy is directly influenced by the things he believes. You can follow his hate speech at a rally directly to the policy he wants to implement. There is no supporting the man but not his racism, because that is who he is proven to be. To support the man who is racist is to support racism itself. 

Look at it this way: as a majority Christian nation, it would be nearly impossible to elect someone who worshipped Satan to become President. But imagine for a moment that a Satanist was running, they got a bid from a major party, and they were one of the two main candidates seeking election for the Presidency of the United States. Christians would be outraged from ever corner of the nation. People would protest and speak out and pray for America. Christians would be offended to their core, because a Satanist believes things contrary to the very nature of a Christian. 

Atheists probably wouldn’t be bothered, and other extremely tolerant people would probably just look at his policy and vote based solely on what the two candidates plan to do for America. The nonreligious have nothing to lose really, because they aren’t bothered by a deity they don’t believe in. Christians, on the other hand, wouldn’t even take the time to listen to policy. When you exist in such an offensive manner to the very root of who people are, why would they take the time to listen to him? 

This is what happened with Donald Trump. The people who he offends with his rhetoric and the things he believes are incapable of understanding why anyone would vote for him. The people who are unaffected by things like racism and misogyny get to ignore them and focus on what they think will be better for the nation. They get to ignore the cries of the Christians and and elect the Satanist.

The outcry about Trump’s election is not simply the melodramatic cries of sore losers. It is a reaction to something that offends millions of Americans to the core of who they are. It is the anguish of seeing your soon-to-be President be someone who was outspoken about how terrible, dangerous, and bad for America you are. It is the terror at a running mate who is extremely anti-LGBTQ+ and supports shock therapy to “cure” queer youth. It is the It is the shock that we chose someone who is undeniably a racist to be our president. Think of these things if you have privilege enough to not be experiencing these emotions yourself. Think about how it must feel to be an immigrant in this nation right now. Think how it must feel to be a Muslim. To be LGBTQ+. 

And when someone claims that Trump is racist, maybe think twice before defending him: once about how you could and once about why you are.

Tags: publish, politics, trump, Election 2016, misogyny, homophobia, hatred, racism, LGBT, islamophobia, wordpressed
November 11, 2016 at 09:31AM
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Friends

The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve begun to understand and appreciate my friends. My friends have always been very important to me, and I’ve never really thought much of it. I treat them like family because, to me, that’s what they are. You don’t get to choose your siblings, but you do get to choose who you love like your brothers and sisters. The danger lies in our natural fallibility–what if you choose wrong? What if you choose someone undeserving of your friendship and kinship? What if you do what I did?

I made the wrong decision. I was blinded by what I thought I knew–who I thought I knew. We were close, and we were inseparable. Unfortunately, proximity does not determine compatibility.

I know everything about him. Everything. You could ask me anything about him and I’d be able to tell you the answer. I know his mind and how it works and the way he goes about things. I know when he wants to tell me something, and I know when he’s lying. I know what he’s scared of and what he cares about. I know it all. This is what friends are supposed to do, especially best friends. I know all of these things about him, but, recently, I started thinking about what he knows about me. I learned all of these things about him because I care. I care enough to ask and find out. I care enough to listen.

He doesn’t. He doesn’t care about me, not really. If he did, he’d want to know about what I feel, what I care about, what I want. He is only concerned with himself. I am convenient. I listen. I discuss. I care. I’m a wall that he can bounce his feelings and worries off of. But we spend so much time discussing him and his life, he never makes time for mine. That isn’t friendship. That’s parasitism. It’s a one way relationship where I have no benefit.

I never realized things were like this until I came to a difficult moment in my life. I tried to talk to him about it, but he was uninterested. He didn’t even ask if I was alright… He brushed me off because I’ve “always been ok.” If he was really my friend, he’d know the difference between “ok” and “broken inside.” From that point, I began to pay closer attention, analyzing the past for evidence of a time that he cared. It’s funny, you can find things where they aren’t if you really want to. I fooled myself, at least for a little while. More things were happening in my life, my time at home was dwindling, and still, no response from him. Not an ounce of concern or worry for me.

That was it. I ended it. It is such a strange thing to end a friendship, to sever a tie that was once so strong. I was saddened at what I had lost, but in retrospect, I didn’t really lose anything. I think I gained some freedom. I gained insight into what I deserve and to what I want out of my relationships. I know what I need to be happy, and this wasn’t it.

Friends Like These

They say that college is when you make your lifelong friends. God, I hope they’re right. The friends that I’ve made since I’ve come to the University of Georgia are some of the greatest I’ve ever had.

They’re beautiful, both physically and spiritually. My guys and girls are some of the nicest, most down to earth, hilarious people I know. Every moment I spend with them is one where I feel loved and alive. They make me want to be a better person. These amazing individuals that I’ve come to love and be loved by make my life something to behold. I honestly don’t know what I would do without their support and friendship.

I constantly have little moments where I’m in awe–of their hearts, their spirits, their humor. As people, I could not ask for better listeners, arguers, and confidants. Every day is an adventure, no matter how cliche that sounds, it really is. I never know what I’m going to hear from my friends, but it will most certainly be interesting.

Even though we haven’t known each other for our entire lives, they’ve already stood beside me through some of my toughest moments, and I would immediately do the same for any of them. They’re the light of life, and they play such an important role.

Friends like these don’t come around every day, and I truly believe that they’ve come into my life for a reason. They’re all like angels, teaching me something new every day. They’re teaching me to love, to laugh, and to enjoy living. They’re teaching me to be a real person, and I will never be able to thank them enough for it.

Realization

We sat on the beach, or, half of us did. The sky was clear and waves crashed rhythmically against the sand. There were four of us, sitting on hard-backed chairs, just listening to the ocean. The city and the party atmosphere was only 100 yards away, but it all seemed to fade into nothing as we sat, and talked, and listened.

We were on vacation. The previous few days we’d spent enjoying various forms of debauchery in a never-ending party. In total, there were eight of us, and we were there to have fun. Fun is exactly what our other four friends were searching for while we sat, feet tucked in the sand, talking.

We talked about life, and love, and leaving. The magic of high school was over, and it really began to sink in that life was going to change. A wave of nostalgia flowed over me as we discussed the new adventures we’d be heading out on. My best friend sat to my right and I turned to look at him. He was looking up, staring into the stars. He closed his eyes and just breathed. It was the first time I had seen him relax in months.

As our talk continued, I felt a weight lift from my chest. I didn’t even realize it was there or what it was from, but it was such a relief when it was gone. I looked up to the stars and closed my eyes. Maybe my friend felt the same relief. Like a closure to our old life and the beginning of a new one.

We ended our trip and our high school career on a beautiful note. It has set the tone for my new life.

Quote

“So long as you learned something, it’s not a mistake.” – Sterling Archer

Mt. Zion

To understand a man, you must understand the world he comes from, the paint that colors his thoughts, the people that raised him up. To understand a man is to understand his home.

My home is a simple place–a small town with good people. It’s an ancient village that has withstood the test of time. The town grew up around the seminary, established in 1880, which later became Mt. Zion High School. There is a deep and old magic at work in that rural, hallowed ground that has transformed the community into something more.

The geography of the town isn’t nearly as important as the people. The citizens of Mt. Zion, my friends and family, are what make it the amazing place that it is. There’s a palpable sense of unity in that world, something so separate from anything else I’ve experienced. Every time I go back to that place I’m enveloped in a warmth that permeates everything.

Family means something different in that town. It’s your neighbor, your classmate, your fellow citizen; everyone is your family and everyone sticks to that unspoken code.

An environment like that changes the people that live there. We are taught to watch out for each other, to accept each other, and above all to love each other. This town has raised me to be who I am today, and I could not be more thankful or proud of where I come from.