Privilege from the inside. Part The Last of a multi-part series.

Part Last

In which Darrin gives up on the original outline and just tries to wrap this up.

If you have been reading this series from the beginning you may remember that part 7 was supposed to be

“In which Darrin realizes that the existence of racial and gender privilege is so obvious and so ubiquitous that he is dumbstruck and ashamed that it took him so long to clue in.”.

When I started working on this series I set out to write it from the point of view of my own experience and steer clear of anything that might seem like commentary or judgment of other peoples' actions or beliefs. I’ve realized that I just can’t do it. I can’t maintain that approach and tone. In the time since I published Part 6 over a year ago, I have been unable to get more than a few lines written without getting sidetracked by one appalling event after another. With the proliferation of increasingly overt racism and violence against BIPoC and those who try to support them, I can’t find that non-judgemental voice. 

I remain torn because I know from personal experience how hard it is to get past the knee jerk defensive reaction. My whole objective was to try to show, as gently as possible, the kinds of advantages that I, as a white man, took for granted most of my life and hope that those realizations would ring true for others and encourage them to think about their own situations. I never expected to convince or convert throngs. At best I was hoping that I might encourage a few people to consider that it isn't too late to examine our viewpoints and that we must keep evolving.

Image via Ryan D. Wheelz

I hope that we are reaching a point that we can stop debating whether White Privilege or Male Privilege exists. I hope it is becoming too obvious to ignore. After watching an armed mob of white men occupy the Michigan capitol with no consequences while unarmed protestors nationwide are met with overwhelming (and far too often lethal) force I really can’t believe that anyone really buys the notion that White people and BIPoC are treated the same in this country. White Privilege exists. White Privilege has been central to the United States throughout its existence. We can’t change that. We can’t make our history anything other than what it is. The ONLY thing we can do is acknowledge reality and start working to change it.

Acknowledging that White Privilege exists is not saying that we have not worked hard.
Acknowledging that White Privilege exists is not saying that things have always been easy.
Acknowledging that White Privilege exists is acknowledging that if we are white, and particularly if we are white men in the United States, then whatever we have achieved would have been much harder (if not impossible) if we had tried to do it as black people (particularly as women of color).
Furthermore, acknowledging that White Privilege exists is acknowledging that we can’t fundamentally understand what it means to be on the other side.

I am white. Like "fish-belly" white. Like "translucent" white. I know a whole bunch of black people. I can NEVER pretend to know the kind of racism they deal with every freakin' day of their lives.

- Jim Tompkins MacLaine

I think it is fairly well established at this point that discussing White Privilege is not comfortable. It can be a hard pill to swallow. It took me, personally, 20 years to choke it down. BUT... Some very smart people have put a great deal of work into getting past the defensive reaction and trying to show how to move on to something productive. This is another reason I don’t feel the need to finish my version of understanding white privilege. What I have been trying to do has already been done, and done better than I am capable of. Don’t take my word for any of it. Go to reputable historians who have done the research and have the sources and citations to back it up. Here are just a few examples of white and black authors talking about this very topic.

Robin DiAngelo

White Fragility  (Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism)

Heather Cox Richardson

Letters from an American
How the South Won the Civil War: (Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America)
Wounded Knee (Party Politics and the Road to an American Massacre)

Ibram X. Kendi

How to Be an Antiracist

Carol Anderson

White Rage

privilege

[priv-uh-lij, priv-lij]

1. a right, immunity, or benefit enjoyed only by a person beyond the advantages of most:
2. a special right, immunity, or exemption granted to persons in authority or office to free them from certain obligations or liabilities:
3. a grant to an individual, corporation, etc., of a special right or immunity, under certain conditions.
4. the principle or condition of enjoying special rights or immunities.