Privilege may seem like a very vague, overused term that no one cares to fully explain. I try my hand at breaking down the concept using specific key ideas in a sequence that builds from point to point. You can read the basic outline here and watch the video (or listen to the podcast) if you’re looking for more explanation.
How it Works
- It’s is an advantage you were either born with or that you did not earn. In the context of colorism, this includes phenotype.
- It’s measured by both what you get and what you don’t have to struggle with.
- You don’t have to be aware of your privilege to benefit from it.
- We all have some form of privilege.
- But some people are definitely more than others.
- Intersectionality can help us not only understand oppression, but also advantages. Privilege, too, can compound depending on which identity groups you belong to.
- Power can be contextual. In one room you might be the least advantaged, and in other rooms you might have the greatest advantage relative to the other people in those specific spaces.
- It does not mean Perfection! Privileged people lose too. They have difficulties too. None of the “bad” things that happen negate our position in the social hierarchy.
- But despite situational shifts in how we experience privilege or not, we always have to understand the system (society-wide) hierarchies and patterns of power and oppression.
- It doesn’t guarantee you will win, but it increases your odds of winning.
What does it mean to “Check Your Privilege?”
We all have to decide what that looks like in our lives, but here are some attitudes we might adopt as we work on it:
3 Be Attitudes:
- Be Aware.
- Be Considerate.
- Be the Change.
HOMEWORK: Check your privilege. Leverage your privilege in support of other marginalized people and groups.
AFFIRMATION: You are worthy. You are valuable. Your value as a human is not dependent on your productivity. Your worth is intrinsic, not based on whether your win/lose or “beat the competition.” Your humanity is recognized by a higher power, even if other people don’t recognize it. I hope you recognize it.