By Parul Sehgal

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This spring, the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie put a new spin on the commencement speech, that most staid of genres. Speaking at Wellesley College, she didn’t emphasize how the graduates had been helped by their education, but how they had been hindered by it. She invoked their privilege — and her own — to describe how ‘‘privilege blinds.’’ As a highly educated woman, she told them, she hadn’t always been alert to the ‘‘nuances’’ of people who were different from her. ‘‘Privilege blinds, because it’s in its nature to blind,’’ she said. ‘‘Don’t let it blind you too often. Sometimes you will need to push it aside in order to see clearly.’’

Adichie was speaking to her audience in their own language. The word ‘‘privilege’’ has become ubiquitous on college campuses — but in her coolness, in her ability to claim her own privilege without anxiety or abjection, she restored some dignity to an overstuffed, overheated word.

‘‘Privilege’’ is as old as society itself and initially referred to wealth: ‘‘We have got to fight against privilege,’’ George Orwell wrote. ‘‘And if the rich squeal audibly, so much the better.’’ But when social scientists began using the word to refer to the unearned benefits afforded a group of people, the term experienced a resurgence. It has prompted flamboyant disputes on cable news, memorably between Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly, who debated whether privilege really exists at all. It inspires college students to fire off indignant editorials about how identity politics on campus and a culture of ‘‘checking your privilege’’ — examining how your perspective is shaped by your advantages — is going too far or not far enough. President Obama has been asked if he is doing enough to address white privilege in America. On the Internet, it makes for trusty kindling, and in the popular imagination, a cudgel: When people think of ‘‘privilege’’ being used, it’s almost always as an epithet, to shame.

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In the 1930s, W.E.B. Du Bois had an insight that privilege isn’t only about having money — it’s a state of being. He noted a ‘‘psychological wage’’ of whiteness: Poor whites felt that they outranked poor blacks; they could at least vote and access public schools and parks. In 1988, Peggy McIntosh, a women’s studies scholar at Wellesley, expanded on the idea, publishing a list of 46 benefits of being white (for example: ‘‘I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time’’; ‘‘I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection’’). ‘‘I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage,’’ she wrote, ‘‘but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage.’’ For many, this idea of privilege was their introduction to thinking about racism not as ‘‘individual acts of meanness,’’ in McIntosh’s words, but as ‘‘invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance.’’ And for people of color, it was yet another powerful confirmation of their perceptions, their feeling that there were different sets of rules in place. It also made the case that failing to reckon with your privilege meant settling for a partial view of reality — Adichie’s very point.

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But the shine has come off this hardy, once-helpful word. It looks a little worn, a bit blunted, as if it has been taken to too many fights. Instead of clarity, it has sown confusion: ‘‘I’m white, my husband is Latino,’’ one woman commented on a blog post about confronting your privilege. ‘‘We have a Latino last name. Does that mean I lose some of my white privilege?’’ Even those who find it useful in certain contexts say the word swallows too many subtleties and individual variations. ‘‘You need to know that I was privileged,’’ Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote on his blog for The Atlantic. ‘‘I can run you all kinds of stats on the racial wealth gap and will gladly discuss its origins. But you can’t really buy two parents like I had.’’ My own allegiance to the word is atavistic — growing up, it was one of the few words I had to understand the racism I felt so surrounded and mystified by. But now I find myself wielding the word warily, like the devalued currency it has become — dismissed as jargon or used to hector. The only reliable effect it seems to produce is panic.

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In a new meme on Twitter, white men have been posting photographs of themselves lying facedown on the ground, with the hashtag #takeusdown, in mock apology for their white privilege. ‘‘I’m waiting for the Semi Truck of Social Injustice to end my privilege,’’ one man wrote beneath a photograph of himself belly-flopped on what looked like very hot tarmac. The men appeared to be mimicking the poses of activists at ‘‘die-ins’’ organized to bring attention to the police killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. In doing so, they seemed to equate the notion of being ‘‘accused’’ of white privilege with being shot dead in the street. It’s a comparison that would have been outrageous if it weren’t so ill-conceived. If the concept of privilege was designed to enjoin people to look and listen beyond their own experience, by lying facedown on the ground, these men ensure that they see and hear nothing.

Lest it seem that outrage over being ‘‘accused’’ of privilege is the exclusive province of angry men on Twitter, consider Joan Didion’s 2011 memoir, ‘‘Blue Nights.’’ Didion writes about her daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne Michael, who died at 39, with a fierce tenderness. She evokes Quintana’s struggles with mental illness and alcohol, as well as her enchanted childhood spent on Hollywood film sets and in the homes of movie stars, at the Dorchester, the Plaza Athénée. But when mentioning Quintana’s Spanish-speaking nanny, Didion turns huffy. ‘‘ ‘Ordinary’ childhoods in Los Angeles very often involve someone speaking Spanish,’’ she hastens to add. She wants it understood that her daughter in no way was ‘‘privileged.’’ ‘‘ ‘Privilege’ is a judgment,’’ she writes. ‘‘ ‘Privilege’ remains an area to which — when I think of what she endured, when I consider what came later — I will not easily cop.’’

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The critic Maggie Nelson dissects this scene in her new book, ‘‘The Argonauts.’’ It is strange, she writes, that Didion, who has written so brilliantly about suffering, could believe that privilege and pain are mutually exclusive. Like some of the #takeusdown demonstrators, Didion holds that hardship negates the privileges of whiteness or wealth. It’s a perspective that obscures — almost willfully — what the idea of privilege was trying to illuminate in the first place: how structural privilege is, and how it manifests in the unexceptional and everyday, in what we take for granted. Think of how personal and pointed McIntosh’s examples were: ‘‘I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children’s magazines featuring people of my race.’’ And Nelson finds Didion’s use of the word ‘‘cop’’ especially odd and suggestive. ‘‘The notion of privilege as something to which one could ‘easily cop,’ as in ‘cop to once and be done with,’ is ridiculous,’’ she writes. ‘‘Privilege saturates, privilege structures.’’

‘‘Privilege saturates’’ — and privilege stains. Which might explain why this word pricks and ‘‘opportunity’’ and ‘‘advantage’’ don’t. ‘‘I can choose to not act racist, but I can’t choose to not be privileged,’’ a friend once told me with alarm. Most of us already occupy some kind of visible social identity, but for those who have imagined themselves to be free agents, the notion of possessing privilege calls them back to their bodies in a way that feels new and unpleasant. It conflicts with a number of cherished American ideals of self-invention and self-reliance, meritocracy and quick fixes — and lends itself to no obvious action, which is perhaps why the ritual of ‘‘confessing’’ to your privilege, or getting someone else to, has accumulated the meaning it has. It’s the fumbling hope that acknowledging privilege could offer some temporary absolution for having it.

It makes sense that we’re fixated on the word ‘‘privilege’’ now: There has never been more ample or graphic evidence of its material and psychological benefits. Studies show that having a ‘‘black’’ name halves your chances of getting a job interview, and that experiencing racism has been linked to developing post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and breast cancer. A small University of Virginia study showed that by the age of 10, white children don’t believe that black children feel the same amount of pain as they do, the first stage of dehumanization.

It’s easier to find a word wanting, rather than ourselves. It’s easy to point out how a word buckles and breaks; it’s harder to notice how we do. ‘‘Privilege’’ was a ladder of a word that wanted to allow us to see a bit further, past our experiences. It’s still the most powerful shorthand we have to explain the grotesque contrast between the brutal police killings of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice and the treatment extended to Dylann Roof, charged with murdering nine black people last month in a church in Charleston, S.C. — captured alive, treated to a meal by the arresting officers, assigned a judge who expressed concern for his family. ‘‘Privilege’’ was intended to be an enticement to action, and it is still hopeful, if depleted and a little lost. It is emblematic of the kinds of pressures we put on language, our stubborn belief that the right word can be both diagnosis and cure.

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A version of this article appears in print on , Page 11 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: Power Play. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

P

Pete

Philly

If one is upper middle class or above, there is a certain privilege that comes from having the financial resources to access a good neighborhood,a good education, a healthy diet( if desired) and like minded, motivated friends. Race is irrelevant.

If one is white or black in america and poor and living in a bad neighborhood, the avenues to the middle class are not as well paved as the middle class. These people live in the social safety net but must navigate the threats of poor neighborhoods and less than stellar schools. A small percentage will find their way upward through school and be rewarded with scholarships and grants from Colleges and Universities.

If you are lower middle class in America, you do not have the same opportunities that People of color have. The affirmative action programs discriminate against white lower middle class folks. While we may understand the reasons that the court provides for this disparity, it doesn't fit well with the American narrative. Perhaps we should help all people equally since there the absence of privilege is color blind. Let's help everyone who needs help.

The history of america racism is well documented and understood from Slavery to a failed reconstruction to a brutal Jim Crow system created by Southern State Politicians and protected by Southern Congressmen who controlled the major committees. The Southern strategy was a disgrace. However, we should fix what needs fixing without focusing exclusively on Race.

Dag commented July 20, 2015

D

Dag

M

The problem is that it is implied that white privilege has been bestowed purely through the exploitation of others. According to my social scientist fiance, mentioning the positive advances in law, science and civilization by western people in an attempt to defend myself is a sign of denial, and racist. What if I feel that the stronger root of my privilege is not Jim Crow, but Newton? Nevertheless, I know it is a mix of both. Fine.

Rtbinc commented July 20, 2015

R

Rtbinc

Brooklyn NY

When I was studying Anthropology at Hunter in the late '80's and early '90s this list made a bit of a splash. The concept of Privilege was everywhere. Sadly, since I was minoring in Computer Science and had to take Math it became easy to poke holes in it. Logic and set theory are the enemies of a lot of Social Science. Almost everything on this list can be explained by whites being a majority. If there are lots of people like you - you can almost always find people like you to be with - duh. Does this imply that Backs can't? I tend to see lots of Black people hanging out with other Black people. The Character limit prevents me from going further - but I think I'm clear.

There are layers and layers of definition here. Is someone who can spell privileged? How about those who don't need medication to finish school work? I'm totally dependent on computers to handle text. I would have little hope of writing a letter to the NYTimes without machines to do a lot of the work for me. So if you can write a shopping list and read it again a hour later you should apologize to me and everyone else with dyslexia and dysgraphia for your shameless abuse of your privilege.

Sheldon commented July 20, 2015

S

Sheldon

Washington, DC

It's an epithet used by those who have joined the "cult of victimization" that so many people have signed up for in hopes of extorting benefits from people or institutions pressured into feelings of guilt.

What me worry commented July 20, 2015

W

What me worry

nyc

Once upon a time there was a young man named Francis, whose father had lots and lots of money and who would never have to work in his life. This young man decided that he would choose celibacy, poverty (he begged for his daily bread), and spend his life spreading a/the Christian message. (Love thy neighbor ... Do unto others.) (Hopefully, the readership understands that I am referring to none other than St. Francis. And BTW for a while the church bureaucracy held it's breath -- as not having to pay a pence or two to purchase forgiveness did cut into church coffers... He died and the unruly order did become institutionalized thus under control.)

One might also want to refer to the life of another privileged young man known as St. Augustine...

Privilege has NOTHING to do with MURDER. (And it is a pity that the police who murder people do not lose their jobs.. Maybe the criminal part of the Eric Garnder case SHOULD be reopened... and the police should never assume that anyone hears them barking their orders!! esp. if they only yell once or twice... as I get old and deaf how well I know.)

So far as individuals who murder -- and hate crimes -- yes and no IMO hate crimes have to be committed by a group or a person acting for a group -- designated hit man. People and esp. men are crazy. Teaching women to use guns does not equalize the field.

anon commented July 20, 2015

A

anon

NY

Anyone in a country that enjoys the fruits of Western Civilization--rule of law, individual rights, vaccines, the industrial revolution, Monty Python, etc.--is privileged relative to virtually all the people who inhabited the earth before and the vast majority of people who inhabit it today. That's why hordes are risking their lives in over-stuffed boats to reach Europe and on the roofs of freight trains to enter America. It is perhaps not surprising that the countries that enjoy these benefits tend to be mostly populated by descendants of the Europeans who, over centuries, created them.

The moral question is whether these benefits are unjustly enjoyed at the expense of the non-European peoples in countries without them or even the non-European peoples who live in countries with them. Slavery and colonialism were surely unjust yet life in the West has become much better since their end, 150 and 50 years ago, perhaps even in comparison with life elsewhere. And countries like Finland or states such as New Hampshire historically had few or none non-Europeans to disadvantage, either at home or abroad, yet still enjoyed the benefits. Its hard to see how 'white privilege' put them (or post-war Japan) at an advantage in the absence of non-whites. Put another way, should we call a woman's ability to choose her mates or a man or woman's ability to renounce one's faith without fear of being beheaded 'Judeo-Christian-Buddhist, etc. privilege' or the opposite an 'Islamic handicap'?

Carol commented July 20, 2015

C

Carol

SF bay area, California

Regarding the deep conscious and unconscious structural foundations of "privilege" -

In 1959, white journalist, John Howard Griffin, with help from a dermatologist, temporarily darkened his skin. He then spent 6 weeks traveling through several southern states, experiencing the daily stresses, humiliations, fears, and denial of rights associated with being black. He never experienced violence, but there were close calls.

He later wrote a book called, "Black Like Me". In comments about his experience, he grieved at how "my own people could give the hate stare, could shrivel men's souls ..." Everywhere he went, "the criterion was nothing but the color of my skin ... (whites) judged me by no other quality".

Following publication of his book, threats from many white people in his community forced Griffin and his family to move to Mexico for a while. After he returned to the U.S., he remained a strong supporter of civil rights for the rest of his life.

Earlier in his life, Griffin was blinded from an injury during WWII, but later regained his sight. He wrote in his book, "The blind can only see the heart and intelligence of a man, and nothing in these things indicates in the slightest whether a man is white or black."

I recommend article -

"John Howard Griffin Took Race All The Way To The Finish" - washingtonpost.com

John Griffin's book "awoke significant numbers of white Americans to truths about discrimination of which they had been unaware or had denied."

Ana commented July 20, 2015

A

Ana

Indiana

I think the word has become as tainted as it has because the implication is that you're not only supposed to recognize your privilege, but to apologize for it as well. And an apology is supposed to be for something you have deliberately done wrong, not for having what you never asked for.

This is also the issue with reparations. Why should this generation pay for the sins of their forebears? It goes against everything America is supposed to stand for. Yes, I understand why people think they're a good idea. But then how do you fix a value to racism and white privilege? Who will pay for it?

One could make the argument that just because the current generation of whites wasn't party to Jim Crow or slavery, that doesn't mean they don't benefit from those things. Fair enough. But how far back do you go before you can say the slate is clean?

Here's the thing: you cannot make up for the sins of the fathers. They can't be undone. The only thing the children can do is be honest about what has happened, move forward, and be better people then their parents were.

A. Stanton commented July 20, 2015

A

A. Stanton

Dallas, TX

Well let's see. I had very good parents, a wife who has put up up with me, two good boys, always have had a bed to sleep in and a shower to wash up in, interesting work, enough money to get by with, a few friends and this good dog. So I definitely am privileged and try to act like it, first and foremost by trying hard every day not to hurt anybody else, a task I believe I have mostly succeeded in. I vote, pay my taxes and give a little bit of money to charity. I have never asked anybody to go out of their way for me, and nobody has. I know I am privileged, but would resent it if anyone ever asked me to "check my privilege."

SamBrown commented July 20, 2015

S

SamBrown

Rochester, NY

"Lest it seem that outrage over being ‘‘accused’’ of privilege is the exclusive province of angry men on Twitter..."

I haven't seen these Twitter posts the author refers to, but I find it interesting that the words "outrage" and "angry" are used to describe them. As an old white guy(quick, how many people just decided who I am as a person?) I understand my "white privilege" as far as how I have been treated in the past by cops, job interviewers, store clerks, etc... but I do have to admit to being *tired*, not angry or outraged, just a little tired, of hearing about how "privileged" I've been. Born in '59 to two teenage members of the Navy, raised working class blue collar Democrat, broken home, in the Navy myself at 17, no matter how much I think I am on the right side of issues of civil rights and the rest, I'm constantly reading about how privileged and entitled I am, despite the fact that to this day I'm just a working class stiff who doesn't consider himself any better than anyone else and wants to live and let live and see those who have been mistreated all these years, minorities/gays/women get the fair shake they deserve. I'm not angry or outraged, just tired of being automatically figured for the bad guy.

Incidentally, I have been married for over thirty years to a wonderful woman who was born and raised in Mexico, but I don't suppose that effects my privileged/entitled quotient either, eh?

Nadera commented July 20, 2015

N

Nadera

Seattle

It is clear that privilege is real and powerful, but when a white male is informed of/accused of being privileged he seems to have two main options:

A: deep shame of who he is fundamentally and everything he can become,

or,

B: defensiveness, anger, and denial.

Is anyone surprised that some people choose B? If we want a conversation starter and a way forward, we need a third way for the conversation to go. The author shows this with the quote, "I can choose to not act racist, but I can’t choose to not be privileged." We could give self-righteous lip-service to privilege and then go back to our privileged lives without doing anything, but I don't think that was the point either. If the word really was intended to be an enticement to action, most people don't know what that action is, and that is a harder discussion than a single word.

Bob Dobbs commented July 20, 2015

B

Bob Dobbs

Santa Cruz, CA

Privilege comes under attack when people tie it completely to race. At its based, privilege is about access to resources -- both monetary and intellectual -- and social networks and social status.

The son of poorly educated people with low expectations is less likely to go to become a lawyer because his family isn't advising him or preparing the way for him, and wouldn't know how if they tried. Whereas the child of a professional class family will be encouraged in these things, will have access to better education, and may well get advice, internships, etc., from the parents' social/professional network.

Now add race on top of that; limit much of the population to certain resource-poor areas with less access to good education, decrease opportunities, create a more dangerous environment as a result of all of the above, and what have you got?

Sure, it's not that way for everyone. And in the metropolitan areas on the east and west coast, the "race" that matters most is green. Become green, and you're golden.

But you've got to get there.

Lawless commented July 20, 2015

L

Lawless

North Carolina

Fantastic piece of writing. The author has a new fan.

Todd Eastman commented July 20, 2015

T

Todd Eastman

Bellingham, WA

What would Darwin say?

1 REPLY

Stefan commented July 20, 2015

S

Stefan

PA

I am surprised that the out dated concept of social Darwinism is still rearing its head.

Mo M commented July 20, 2015

M

Mo M

Newton, Ma

It seems that many Blacks think the only way to improve the status of Blacks is to tear Whites down. How sad.

bobw commented July 20, 2015

B

bobw

winnipeg

White people don't have privilege. They are not advantaged. They are, quite simply, not disadvantaged by largely unconscious racial bias. So the aim should not be to take away white privilege, but simply extend that privilege to people of all ethnicities.

I have no intention of giving up my white privilege. I would like to see it extended to everybody.

Mike commented July 20, 2015

M

Mike

PA

Listening to anyone lucky enough to have been born in the U.S. during the last 70 years whining about the privilege of the "other" is amusing. The rights of citizenship you enjoy were earned by others and given to you. Unless you are willing to trade places with some poor slob in South Sudan you would do well to not embarrass yourself further.

CC commented July 20, 2015

C

CC

The Coasts

Great article; most important point is that 'privilege' is structural, not personal. And in our culture, privelege accrues to those with white skin - still - no matter what other attributes (poverty, education, family status, etc.) might also apply to individual members of the priveleged group personally. I, a white-colored woman, from a working class, poor single parent family, have always been aware of the privelege that my mere skin color affords me. Yes, I have burdens but none that are unshakable every moment of my life. I am very sad that so many commenting folks can't hold two ideas at once, as it is possible to have privelege AND individual burdens at the same time. My hope for the future is that some day our society will some day change to place no burdens on any individual or group.

Chuck commented July 20, 2015

C

Chuck

Granger, In

My primary concern with the term is when it is leveled as a personal accusation.

I don't know the fear of being pulled over by a police officer just because I'm black, but I know it happens. I don't know the indignity of being watched while walking around a store just because I'm black, but I know it happens. I can't experience the anger you surely have, but I know you're angry for a good reason.

To that extent, I get it. I help when I can, and will continue to do so. I also understand many people don't get it, but lumping me in with them doesn't help either one of us. You surely know what that feels like, and we both know that happens.

Rick commented July 20, 2015

R

Rick

Berkeley

When you treat your white friends to dinner at a restaurant, and the waiter gives them the check and thanks them profusely for their patronage, you know where the privilege is...

Or when you're at an up-scale supermarket and you're in line after the white person, the clerk isn't polite to you because, well, they don't HAVE to serve you (for whatever reason)...

That's what everyday privilege looks like, you know that the world exists to serve YOU.

1 REPLY

Evan commented July 20, 2015

E

Evan

NYC

That's an awful lot imagining about the biases and intentions of strangers, presented with the certainty that they must all fit your predetermined interpretation.

How much am I supposed to worry about the feelings of anyone who can afford to treat their friends to dinner or shop at upscale super-markets?

Check your own privilege(s). If the world exists to serve anything, it's money.

Jake commented July 20, 2015

J

Jake

New York

My major problem with this concept is that it often invoked to stifle the free exchange of ideas. If somebody's ideas are rejected out of hand just because of skin color, it seems racist to me. It is a concept that cannot be disproven which leads to the erroneous conclusion that it is true. The denial of privilege is used as it's proof. Doublespeak in my mind.

Carmela commented July 20, 2015

C

Carmela

Maryland

The list of possible 'privileges' is long. I have some of them but definitely lack others. Looking at me, you wouldn't know what privileges I lack, and you probably can't even tell from my resume what some of them are. Some experiences, like the daily struggles of having a severely handicapped child, are all-consuming but almost invisible to most others. I doubt that most people can even figure out what all the privileges they have even are.

Jordan commented July 20, 2015

J

Jordan

Melbourne Fl.

I always smile when I see very angry people decrying "white privilege" on these comment boards. Let me get this straight, you want me to feel bad or do something for you because I was born into a middle class white family that valued education and parents that paid my way thru college even though I had nothing to do with how I was born and had to put in a lot of effort to graduate from college and law school and become successful? Here is my response: No.

1 REPLY

my 2 cents commented July 20, 2015

M

my 2 cents

Northern Cali

I am a black woman and our backgrounds are very similiar. I was blessed with two colllege educated parents, who just celebrated their 44th anniversary. My college expenses were covered, and I have a graduate degree. Do I want you to feel bad about your life? NO. As I do not feel bad about my life. That's not what this discussion is about. This discussion is about the fact that despite having similiar backgrounds, there are biases and struggles that I will encounter due to my skin color that you will never have to face. This is about awareness. I am aware that I have economic security, so I don't judge others who are struggling. I AWARE that I am able-bodied, and I do not share the struggles of the disabled. I am aware that I am heterosexual and my choice in spouse will not cause unfair judgement. And because I am aware, I do my best to not judge others and I do my best to always fight for the equity of ALL people. Hopefully someday you will become aware of the reality of others, till then just keep that little smug smile on your face if it makes you feel good about yourself.

Ryan Bingham commented July 20, 2015

R

Ryan Bingham

Out there

"Privilege" is used as the word to explain the unexplainable lack of progress made in 50 years of social programs.

Winthrop Staples commented July 19, 2015

W

Winthrop Staples

Newbury Park, CA

The "invisible systems" of oppression concept explains perfectly why the NAACP and our oh so liberal media, and academia can't see that the flooding of the labor market with immigrants after the Civil War killed the opportunity for blacks to be integrated into at least society in the major cities of the North. It also explains their blindness to the continuation of this cheered on "immigration nation" tactic in the last 4 decades of flooding the US labor market with a "second wave" of desperate, not used to having any labor rights wage-killing immigrants and outsourcing 11 million manufacturing jobs to Chin, Mexico and other overseas hell holes where they are done by the functional equivalent of slaves. Actually the most fundamental and oppressive privilege that exists in this country is unquestioned privilege that once someone gets a business license they have some mysterious right to as much labor at as low a price that is necessary for them to make a big unearned profit no matter how bad they treat employees, how incompetent they are at running a business or how unnecessary or harmful what they sell is (nail salons and fast food shops).

purpledot commented July 19, 2015

P

purpledot

Boston, MA

The notion of privilege is used to describe "better than thou" circumstances in a thousand ways. I was born into a middle class family. I was born with a working body. I was raised without thinking about the next meal. The lists are then compared and judged. Using race or gender to describe one's own privilege adds "value" to unexplained privileges. Once the state of one's own privilege is described, the next step is entry. Who is allowed through other gates of perceived privilege faster than others because? Where are the gates and portals best observed? What do the bridges of privilege offer? Follow the money and follow the power. It does not become better with age or education.

Privilege is power.

steve commented July 19, 2015

S

steve

nyc

It appears that the majority of commenters might want to consider checking their privilege. I'm white, I'm male, I'm privileged, and I'm well aware of it.

It didn't cost me anything to acknowledge that. I try to be sensitive to how my privilege might manifest itself in ways my privilege might have blinded me to. Every now and then someone reminds me. I'm grateful, not resentful.

7 REPLIES

Josh Hill commented July 19, 2015

J

Josh Hill

New London, Conn.

Good lord, they should rename the "NYT Picks" tab to the "PC tab" because I am not seeing a range of opinion under it! Just five uncharacteristic comments that pretty completely miss the point the rest of us are trying to make.

But, OK, you've convinced me. Now I expect everyone to fess up to enjoying their straight privilege, their tallness privilege, their good looking privilege, their youth privilege, their weren't molested as a child privilege, their female privilege, their WASP privilege, their black privilege, their American privilege, their non-atheist privilege, their gentile privilege, their non-Hispanic privilege, their non-Geek privilege, their non-mixed-race privilege, their 0.1 percent privilege, and all the million-and-one other privileges that I want to whine about.

What's that, silence?

Bob Dobbs commented July 20, 2015

B

Bob Dobbs

Santa Cruz, CA

I recall once watching a middle-class black man trying to get white pedestirans to stop and give him directions. He literally couldn't. He wore coat and tie, but couldn't any anyone from the commute hour rush in a good San Francisco neighborhood to stop and answer his question. I watched him get angrier and angrier. Eventually I stepped in.

See, in that overwhelmingly white/Asian neighborhood, the one or two black men who tried to engage you in conversation were beggars. The commuters looked no further than "dark brown skin" and moved on.

Tell me that there's no privilege. Or lack thereof.

Josh Hill commented July 20, 2015

J

Josh Hill

New London, Conn.

Bob, that's discrimination, not privilege. I don't think anyone is denying the existence of racism and prejudicial assumptions.

klm commented July 19, 2015

K

klm

atlanta

My, my, there sure are a lot of defensive comments in this thread. Funny how white people consider "privileged" a slur. Let's face it, if you were born white, you started way ahead of the game. Those who deny it are implying racism is over, an idea that can only laughed at.

3 REPLIES

Ryan Bingham commented July 20, 2015

R

Ryan Bingham

Out there

Why not come out and say it? All whites are racists.

It's usage like this that divides instead of healing.

Vic commented July 20, 2015

V

Vic

Atlanta

Just so, I'm also gay. But I can't tell you the number of times I've been told that because I'm white, any problems I've faced because of my sexual orientation simply don't matter. Contrary to what Mrs. Sehgal suggests, "privilege" and "pain" are indeed treated as mutually exclusive categories.

What me worry commented July 20, 2015

W

What me worry

nyc

STUPID - there are black privileged people ( what do you know about the Jack and Jill Club??) and latino privileged and gay and transgender. Not great being a Jew, not great being a shiksa, not great being of German heritage in the 50s, not great being unattractive (except when the boss's wife is doing the hiring!), not great being old,. GREAT being anything other than white when quotas are being filled. And someone explain to me why people of Spanish heritage are NOT being considered white??

Margarita commented July 19, 2015

M

Margarita

Texas

Frankly, I think this article is trying to pick apart a word for some subtle meaning that it has but no one really uses when they use it. When people talk about "privilege" or more specifically "white privilege" they're usually using it to mean the inherent advantage that white people have just for being born white in a society that defaults to white when looking to make an assessment of a person or dole out a reward--or punishment, for that matter, period. Sorry, white people, but you don't get to whine about how the word "privilege" is being used against you. And, quite frankly, I don't think that the lighter-skinned and more "privileged" of those people of color among us whose class systems also reward you (or punish you) for the color of your skin get to appropriate this "poor me" stance either when someone darker-skinned points to their unearned "privilege" due to their lighter skin. I'm not sure when humans began to see lighter skin as something of value, but it is pretty deeply ingrained in many of our cultures. And until we make a concerted and conscious effort to change that, that's the way it will remain.

1 REPLY

Ryan Bingham commented July 20, 2015

R

Ryan Bingham

Out there

"Privilege" is also used to denigrate other people's hard work and accomplishment. If all it took in this world to make it to the top was really, really working hard. Could you do it? Most people can't or won't anymore than they could lose 10 pounds of fat.

Miss Ley commented July 19, 2015

M

Miss Ley

New York

Do all children raised in a privileged white family behave the same way when grown up? No. Thinking of a famous American one, where I met one of the sons years ago. On a brief summer encounter, we started a daily exchange across the Atlantic. Raised in France, at 17 I sounded as wise as Plato, our uninformed heads were crammed with philosophy graduating from High School.

At the invitation of his family, I was offered to spend a holiday with them. These adolescents and I were in the pangs of 'the rebellious years' and the son told me he did not wish to follow in his father's steps and become a rich lawyer after graduating from an Ivy League School. I found out recently in an old news article that after college, he went on to become a doctor for the poor in Georgia.

The only person I have 'loved' was born during the Depression. Her family was a hard-working one and worked on their farm around the clock. When I met her, her family was rich and she was a graduate from Wellesley. We were to work together over the years in the international humanitarian community. We 'traveled' together our separate ways, always a phone call away. One of her great highlights was a visit to Mozambique. When expressing regret that she had not spent her life in 'The Field', I reminded her of her love for her husband and large family. She was the fairest person I have met, and she did not understand racism or accept differences in social status. It was always about the Person.

Keith commented July 19, 2015

K

Keith

USA

Again, sadly, the nicely liberal NYTimes pays scant attention to the privilege of property.

Tideplay commented July 19, 2015

T

Tideplay

NE

This is the an absurd article! Dominate groups only see one reality their own! Marginalized groups know two realities. Theirs and the dominant groups. The dominant group uses prescriptive stereotyping to define the reality of all other groups.

This is perhaps the most destructive aspect of privilege on both the dominant person and the marginalized group. A privileged person loses their ability to understand a marginalized persons reality.

This article is proof of that in spades!

Joe commented July 19, 2015

J

Joe

Atlanta

To say as the author does that "privilege saturates, privilege structures" is to basically say that privilege is a synonym for culture. For thousands of years any mention of culture by white people was assumed to mean white, European culture. The need to check white privilege will inevitably lead to the elimination of white culture. In a few decades whites will be a minority in the U.S. And while a multicultural society that eliminates white privilege might better reflect these new demographics, other multicultural societies such as Israel/Palestine, Northern Ireland, and the former Yugoslavia suggest that a multicultural society will not be a peaceful one.

Hdb commented July 19, 2015

H

Hdb

Tennessee

To those who are angry with the whole privilege discussion: It is an example of privilege to feel that you should be free from judgment based on your skin color. Black people don't have the right to be free from such judgment. And the situations are not even analogous because white people do all have a privileged position over blacks where the snap judgments made about black people by racists are often false.

Being free from racial discrimination is a privilege that white people have no matter what other life circumstances they have. Joan Didion hasn't a leg to stand on. Black people also have children die in addition to the difficulties of being black in the US.

I was just doing some genealogy research and I found that people with the same name and county as my ancestors (probably relatives) owned slaves. And I immediately felt defensive. It's a natural response. As with the defensiveness over "privilege", it is also the wrong one.

The entire American political structure is based on blaming the victim and racism. Blaming poor people (and black people) for their circumstances is why people (who often claim to be Christian!) vote for politicians who don't care if people die for lack of healthcare or food or jobs. So there is going to be a big backlash against the concept of "privilege". It is a very important discussion to have.

2 REPLIES

Carmela commented July 20, 2015

C

Carmela

Maryland

My white daughter went to an all-black J-8 school and the teachers had to teach some of her classmates not to judge her negatively based on her skin color. Whites are judged on their skin color by a lot of other people. And blacks also judge other blacks by their skin color. My black friend who was an EO counselor as part of his job had a case where one black person was claiming discrimination by another black person based on the difference in their skin color.

Mike commented July 20, 2015

M

Mike

PA

"Free from judgment based on your skin color"????? Is that it then? What a horrifying concept.

Anne L. commented July 19, 2015

A

Anne L.

Northern VA

One of the barriers to explaining privilege is that most people believe they have more control over their lives than studies indicate they actually do. This isn't a bad thing - while inaccurate, it is associated with optimism and better mental health. But when we think that we control our lives, we assume others do as well. My mother-in-law insists that poor people are only poor because they are lazy, because a combination of privilege, luck, and hard work changed her life for the better. She only sees the hard work. Belief in control and free will can erode empathy and incline us deny the role unearned privilege plays in our lives.

Jp commented July 19, 2015

J

Jp

Michigan

I lived in a majority African-American neighborhood and attended majority African-American schools in Detroit. As crime and violence increased in our neighborhood and its schools I wondered who would be blamed for this violence when all the whites moved out from the neighborhood. Well it appears whites are still blamed. And on and on it goes, the liberal perpetual victim machine.

BTW, the house I grew up in was essentially worthless when I moved out so save the sob story about whites accumulating wealth by means of restrictive real-estate and home ownership covenants.

morGan commented July 19, 2015

M

morGan

NYC

Hilarious Clinton exemplifies and personifies being white privileged.

With virtually no executive/managerial/ legislative experience or professional accomplishments, she –firmly-believes she deserve/ entitled to be POUS.

Josh Hill commented July 19, 2015

J

Josh Hill

New London, Conn.

I find the term "white privilege" deeply offensive.

I'm pretty privileged -- upper-middle class parents, prominent private school, summer camp, Ivy League, and what I was born with. I never forget that I had those advantages and I object vociferously to those who claim that the poor and oppressed have the same chance as anybody else.

But "white privilege" is an aggressively racist term that ignores the fact that some white people grow up in Appalachia while some black people grow up on Park Avenue. It creates instant anger, and justifiably so. For that reason, it will never move beyond the twirly-eyed campus precincts of the politically correct.

Racism is a real issue, both systemic and overt, both current and historical. But creating a racist term with which to indiscriminately shame white people (and let's be honest about why it was created) won't accomplish anything except encouraging resentment.

4 REPLIES

APDUNCAN commented July 19, 2015

A

APDUNCAN

HOUSTON, TX

Truth hurts, doesn't it?

Josh Hill commented July 19, 2015

J

Josh Hill

New London, Conn.

Apduncan,

Speak for yourself, white man.

fatboyfatboy commented July 20, 2015

F

fatboyfatboy

America

Guilt is not going to be an easy sell, particularly to the millions struggling at the economic bottom.

Elsa commented July 19, 2015

E

Elsa

Indy

Those who are not "privileged" should aspire to be "privileged". Monorities in particular who want to be successful, need to emulate those who are successful, or " privileged" in our society.

4 REPLIES

klm commented July 19, 2015

K

klm

atlanta

Some people are privileged first and successful later. I doubt many minorities are privileged as W. and Jeb! Talk about a head start!

Picasso commented July 20, 2015

P

Picasso

MidAtlantic

So you are saying that all minorities have no priviledges? In the liberal PC World you are being insensitve--lets all go whine!!!!

Nancy commented July 20, 2015

N

Nancy

OH

You can't aspire to be privileged when it's used in this sense. It is inherent to how you're seen by others. When his father told my son that a security guard was going to harass him on campus because he was wearing a hoodie, we both looked at him and said "No he won't. He's white, blonde, and looks obviously middle class." That's what privilege is. It isn't about individuals. It's not earned.

Tom commented July 19, 2015

T

Tom

Seattle

The term "privilege" assumes that unmerited advantages are given to some individuals or groups who then abuse them. Of course inequality based on race, while it will always be with us, is plainly wrong, and most people will continue to struggle against deliberate, unconscious, and institutional racism. But inequality is both inevitable and deserved if people work hard or have a creative ideas that others are willing to pay for. Railing against all inequality is a futile and quixotic exercise that does nothing to reduce it. The question we need to consider is how much inequality, and particularly how much extreme poverty and wealth, we as a society are willing to tolerate, and what we are willing to do about it. To the extent that the concept of privilege inform this debate, it's a good thing, but when it's used in a lazy or angry way, it just gets people's backs up and confuses the issue. That's not helpful at all.

Joseph commented July 19, 2015

J

Joseph

New York

The article states: "Studies show that having a ‘‘black’’ name halves your chances of getting a job interview,"

This is a direct result of affirmative action in university admissions. Employers know that black students from the same schools as white and Asian students were admitted with lesser academic credentials. So, employers have been conditioned to assume lesser intellectual capabilities of black applicants, and therefore, are less likely to hire them. End affirmative action now! Remove this deplorable stain on African-American college students and job applicants.

3 REPLIES

abo commented July 19, 2015

A

abo

Paris

@Joseph. I don't believe in your causality at all. Any bets what a study would show if it just looked at those with high-school diplomas?

surgres commented July 19, 2015

S

surgres

New York, NY

@abo

Here is some data that supports that statement:

"In their highly influential defense of affirmative action, The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions, former Ivy League university presidents William Bowen and Derek Bok candidly admitted that low college grades for affirmative-action beneficiaries present a "sobering picture." This is an understatement: The average African-American first-year law student has a grade-point average in the bottom 10% of his or her class. And while undergraduate GPAs for affirmative-action beneficiaries aren't quite as disappointing, that is in part because, as explained below, affirmative-action beneficiaries tend to shy away from subjects like science and engineering, which are graded on a tougher curve than other subjects."

http://www.nationalaffairs.com/publications/detail/the-sad-irony-of-affi...

fatboyfatboy commented July 20, 2015

F

fatboyfatboy

America

Or potential employers may guess that a person with an African-sounding name wasn't raised to meet the general expectations of the business world, and therefore may not be an easy fit to the job.

Anne B commented July 19, 2015

A

Anne B

New York

The brutal killing of Michael Brown? I guess to atone for his white privilege, the officer should have just let Brown take his gun and shoot him.

I cannot take seriously the opinion of any writer who refuses to accept or acknowledge a truth that does not advance his/her agenda.

Oh and I don't think the white kid resisted arrest. I guess you think he should have been executed for being white.

William Case commented July 18, 2015

W

William Case

Texas

The white privilege slur ignores the fact that non-white minorities are only disproportionately poor. IN raw numbers, there are far more poor whites than poor blacks. The most recent Census Bureau poverty report shows that in 2013 there were 29.9 million white Americans living below poverty level and 11 million black Americans living below poverty level. (Source: Table 3: People in Poverty by Selected Characteristics: 2012 and 2013, Income and Poverty in the United States: 2013.) This is why raw poverty data goes unreported. Most whites than blacks are privileged to be poor. The white privilege slur also totally ignores the fact that whites are np longer the majority in many states, including our two most populous states—California and Texas. So the term privileged should be qualified by geographic disclaimers, such as “whites in Minnesota or North Dakota can usually raage to be around other members of their race.”

1 REPLY

Beatrice commented July 19, 2015

B

Beatrice

'Sconset

...... and "preconception-ism" tells me that all whites in North Dakota are Neo-Nazis & all whites in Minnesota är Svensk & both can always arrange to be with others of their tribe.

William Case commented July 18, 2015

W

William Case

Texas

Dylann Roof was captured alive because, unlike Michael Brown and Eric Garner, he didn't resist arrest. Black murderers as well as black murders are routinely taken alive. In fact, about 4,400 blacks are arrest for murder each year. Giving suspects food, cigarettes and beverages is a routine tactic police investigators use to keep suspect talking. Apply the term "privileged" to Dylann Roof shows how nonsensical the term is.

According to a recent New York Times article, “In police homicides in which the victim’s race is identified, African-Americans account for about three in 10 deaths, and whites roughly half. “ So blacks are the victims in about 30 percent of police homicides while non-Hispanics whites are the victims in about 50 percent. The article points out that this means “blacks are three times as likely to be killed by cops as are whites,” but the article also points out that part of the reason is the high crime rate in black neighborhoods. The article also points out that blacks are “five times as likely to feloniously kill a cop.” This last statistic clearly indicates whey blacks make up percent of police homicide victims. The truth is that racial disparity in police homicides is much smaller than the racial disparity in violent crime.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/us/no-sharp-rise-seen-in-police-killin...

NRRLAS commented July 18, 2015

N

NRRLAS

Arizona

The key is to stop the guilt-tripping about white privilege. Guilt usually leads to anger and backlash which is the main reason I wish the social justice activists would jettison the use of this term. Do we really need to push more young and middle-aged white men (and some women too) into the arms of Republicans and Libertarians? Instead, let's work towards equality of privilege for everyone without insulting potential allies. Instead of feeding into the right-wing resentment machine, let's build the really big tent that includes left-wing, social justice activists, liberals, moderate and conservative Democrats -- including white men and women who may be a little oblivious but can be counted on to vote in more liberal candidates whose sympathies will be more consistent to the well-being a minorities in general.

Chris commented July 18, 2015

C

Chris

10013

Actually, populism diminishes. The underlying theme of success representing an ill gotten gain vs the noble poor pervades the Nytimes, Salons, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders of the world. The use of privilege as a replacement for success is meant to reinforce the idea that success is unearned. It is a weapon of populism. Perhaps there is room to exam the paths to success rather than simply state that it is not worth trying because there are barriers. The barriers today are a fraction of those in previous years. As a bi-racial, first generation American who is now middle aged, the white, Christian, male club of my youth is now a true melting pot. Yet, the populist storyline conflates income differentials with issues of racism, sexism, and structural barriers when in fact those barriers are molehills in comparison to 40 years ago. Income differentials are derivatives of a worldwide economic transformation that devalues unskilled physical labor in favor of a highly educated workforce. With only 30% of the workforce with a college degree & the collapse of value of non-BA/BS jobs, we can draw far more important lessons on the path to success around preparation for the next generation economy vs strained explanations of failure to launch based on bias.

We can be vigilante about "privilege" but we should not ignore that 80% of the issue are other items. A perfectly level playing field will only expose the real issues more clearly

Basic Human Being commented July 18, 2015

B

Basic Human Being

USA

When women get told they can't even criticize Bruce Jenner for defining womanhood in terms of nail polish and high heels, it gets a bit idiotic to talk about the very notion of privilege.

1 REPLY

Sue commented July 19, 2015

S

Sue

Vancouver, BC

Doesn't stop me from doing it.

Grossness54 commented July 18, 2015

G

Grossness54

West Palm Beach, FL

Privilege? A double-edged sword, the way the word is used all too frequently these days. There are plenty of people who flaunt whatever 'blessings' they may have - money, inherited social position, membership in 'exclusive' groups, even (and especially in this fitness-crazed age) physique - but that's all just another excuse for lording it over other people. In other words, it's a matter of ACTING 'privileged'. But the idea that one is to be despised as 'privileged' merely for the colour of one's skin? That's just a form of racism, and racism in ANY direction is just plain wrong. Or at least it should be, in anything that's supposed to resemble a free country that likes to believe in equal opportunity. And today's era of 'political correctness' - something that should be considered anathema to anything remotely resembling a more-or-less free society - is, in all too many situations (especially on many a college campus here in the States) - just another excuse for institutionalised racism. Differently directed from the older forms, but just as odious.

It's time - long overdue, in fact, to dump the arbitrary assigning of labels and really let everyone try to make the best of their lives. "You are what you is", as Frank Zappa said - but your life is, to a very large extent, what you make of it.

Michael commented July 18, 2015

M

Michael

Los Angeles

Heaven forbid white people should consider the massive advantages they have over everyone else in America.

1 REPLY

Evan commented July 20, 2015

E

Evan

NYC

All white people, as in every single white person, over "everyone else"? It's that kind of broad brush generalization that ignores the variables of privilege and advantage that are actually present or absent with specific individuals, cohorts and contexts. Go back and look the NYT's maps depicting a hardship or misery rating by county. Not a whole lot of happy, lucky or thriving people in eastern Kentucky. Look closely, and most (not all) of the pathologies, hardships and barriers to success there today are almost indistinguishable from those in the most impoverished black urban neighborhoods.

It's instructive that poor white people, in Appalachia and elsewhere, were manipulated, by the interests with actual power, by the lie that their skin color at least made them superior to the one group of people with whom they actually shared most struggles and interests. Reality was (for my paternal grandparents) a third-grade education and grinding poverty as sharecroppers.

It would be ridiculous to ignore this country's racial history, including present realities, or to suggest that institutional and structural forces do not in many contexts still negatively impact most African-Americans. But I'm far more concerned with the real hardships of a family of any race struggling in dire poverty, than I am with the solipsistic identity obsessions of upper-middle-class kids from two-parent family's chanting about white privilege on elite college campuses.

PL commented July 18, 2015

P

PL

Sweden

A “privilege” is an advantage codified in law, literally a “private” law. A lord’s exclusive right to hunt in a certain forest was a privilege. White people’s special rights under Jim Crow were a privilege. While they may still have unfair advantages today, those advantages are not privileges. To call them that is to blunt the edge of a useful word, like a carpenter using a chisel as a screwdriver.

One reason to let the word “privilege” retain its edge and not reduce it to a redundant synonym of “advantage” is that privileges are not necessarily unjust. The law may institute a privilege in order to correct an unfair an unfair advantage, as in the case of “affirmative action.”

Justice Holmes commented July 18, 2015

J

Justice Holmes

Charleston

Here is something to think about: Does someone else's privilege excuse your failure to make good decisions for your own life?

Many humans who are not or have not been "privileges" have still had successful lives because they refused to us other peoples' profiles as an excuse. Those people created their own privilege. I say bully for them!

Brooklyn Traveler commented July 18, 2015

B

Brooklyn Traveler

Brooklyn

In every society on this earth there are people who are born into circumstances better than others. They have more money, or better looks, or smarter parents, or more inheritance or all of them or none of them.

Some people have a natural inclination to make the most of what they've got. Some sit around waiting for good fortune to fall from the sky.

Lisa Evers commented July 18, 2015

L

Lisa Evers

NYC

The problem with the word privilege is that it's often used in the context of describing basic dignity, or basic rights, that some are afforded, and others are not, often based on their race or social class or appearance. Rather than focusing on the fact that some people are getting basic rights that others are not (and then referring to them as 'privileged'), we should be looking at the reverse, and figuring out why are some people not give certain basic rights and dignities, and then what can we do to correct that?

1 REPLY

Bob commented July 19, 2015

B

Bob

West Virginia

You are precisely discovering here the power of the word "privilege". You start by saying "What privilege?". Then you are told your privilege consists in the "basic dignity, basic rights" that you are afforded by being white that others are not. You think, "But that's not privilege! Those are things everyone should enjoy." Aha - that's the point, now you understand, now you feel it, now you want to do something about it. The word "privilege" pokes you, startles you, and if, instead of immediately getting defensive, you listen just a bit, you learn something new about yourself and about others.

fromsc commented July 17, 2015

F

fromsc

Southern California

"'Privilege saturates' — and privilege stains." It also circulates. The writer W. G. Thebald points out that the fortunes made through various forms of slave economy are still in circulation today, still bearing interest. From this, it's not hard to extrapolate how other forms of power and wealth from preceding generations of privilege or under privilege continue to circulate as well, and bear either positive or negative interest.

Jake Roberts commented July 17, 2015

J

Jake Roberts

New York, NY

I get that the word privilege is useful and well-entrenched. But it always seems weird to me. In ordinary language, the word "privilege" means something special that everyone shouldn't expect to have. It seems strange to me to call it white "privilege" to be able to walk into a store without drawing suspicion, when that should be the default for everyone. It would be a privilege for me to fly first-class or have someone else do my laundry, and I'm fine with not having those privileges. But what white men have, and women and African-Americans don't have, isn't a privilege, it seems to me, but basic human freedoms or rights.

2 REPLIES

Chris commented July 18, 2015

C

Chris

Mexico

When I get an apartment or a job or a date or "just a warning" for a broken tail light because I am white and not black, I am not simply or benignly enjoying my "basic human freedoms or rights." I am benefiting from very real unearned advantages -- privileges -- that depend on their denial to black folks. Most of the time these privileges are invisible to me because they are not stated or even necessarily consciously recognized by those who bestow them. But they make up the texture of much of my life whether I realize it or not. The power of the concept of privilege is its ability to bring to the attention of white people that in fact they do get to "fly first class" in many situations while others are compelled to fly in coach.

An aspect of racial privilege that is often ignored is its relationship to class power. The system of white privilege means that the burden of social control necessary to keep the whole working class in line is born unequally. Working class whites, who are certainly exploited and oppressed by the 1%, are given a reprieve from the worst of it in exchange for their loyalty and active participation in the enforcement of the system of white supremacy that so effectively keeps working people divided in this country.

Tammy Sue commented July 19, 2015

T

Tammy Sue

Connecticut

"I am benefiting from very real unearned advantages -- privileges -- that depend on their denial to black folks."

So true! And that, of course, is the reason for the defensiveness in many of these comments. The sad fact is that far too many white people live in a culture of dependency - that is, dependancy on the leg-up that comes with racial privilege. The notion of a level playing field is experienced as a positive threat. And for many, rightly so.

Shotrock commented July 17, 2015

S

Shotrock

NYC

The most interesting thing to me about the concept of privilege is the verb that's often in front of it: "check" your privilege.

I check my luggage...and then immediately forget it, out of sight out of mind, until I land.

I check my watch...and then immediately forget it, out of sight out of mind, until I need to know the time.

The idea of privilege-checking is the same. It's an individual moment that changes nothing about the institutional, systemic bias that created the privilege in the first place. You know what might do that? *Discussing* privilege. But hey, that would mean whites and people of color talking with (not TO, not AT, but WITH) each other. Much more convenient and tons less awkward for one side to insist on a affirmative statement of privilege and the other to nod and say "consider mine checked" before blithely continuing to enjoy it.

Tom Henning commented July 17, 2015

T

Tom Henning

New York, NY

A claim of another's privilege is a self-pitying statement of "woe is me." It's asking someone to give up an advantage they enjoy as an act of charity. Advantage gained by birth or charity are equally empty. Both are unearned.

1 REPLY

klm commented July 20, 2015

K

klm

atlanta

If you were born white, Tom, your privilege was unearned.

Ashley Handlin commented July 17, 2015

A

Ashley Handlin

new york

I don't understand why people must get so offended over the word privilege.

Privilege, at its core, is merely self awareness. Things you cannot change about yourself - how do they help you, vs how do they hurt you? Few people have total privilege, and few people completely lack privilege. All of us have a mix of social pros and cons.

For example, I will use myself. I am incredibly privileged - I, by the luck of life, was born in America, to good parents who wanted me, and had the time and means to educate and care for me. Not all children are so lucky. Even more lucky, I was born into a family that was middle class. Did they work for it? Of course! But what would my life be like if I was born into poverty? Would I be in the same place? Would of I had the same opportunities? I am also lucky enough to of been born white. I don't have to worry about a cop "fearing for their life" when I get pulled over for driving poorly. I don't have to worry about being pulled over for "driving while black", or being in too nice of a neighborhood or in too nice of a car. I'm never seen as a suspect, I'm not followed around stores, my bland white name isn't discriminated against (consciously or not) on job applications.

My privileges do not discount my struggles. All of my childhood I was bullied for being gay. I have mental and physical disabilities which are discriminated against.

You don't have to apologize for privilege, merely recognize that some things make life easier.

JoeSixPack commented July 17, 2015

J

JoeSixPack

Hudson Valley, NY

Chris Rock, so eloquently states in one of his comedy shows that the white people in the audience still wouldn't trade places with him despite the fact he is rich.

2 REPLIES

Amanda commented July 18, 2015

A

Amanda

New York

would he trade places with them?

APDUNCAN commented July 19, 2015

A

APDUNCAN

HOUSTON, TX

Why would he even consider that?

John commented July 17, 2015

J

John

NYC

The notion of the relevance of privilege is resisted because, fundamentally, an assertion of privilege in a debate or discourse is an ad hominem criticism, unrelated to the substance of an argument. The identity of a proponent of a point of view has nothing to do with its validity.

1 REPLY

Chris commented July 18, 2015

C

Chris

Mexico

The identity of a proponent of a point of view may have "nothing to do with its validity," but it may have everything to do with their inability to see why it is wrong. Being white colors ones experience of the world. Being aware of how it does so is critical to being able to critically examine whether ones ideas are actually sound or only appear to be from a particular vantage point. Sometimes the question of privilege may be injected into a discussion or a debate in a sloppy way that suggests because you are white you can't possibly understand, but even then may still contain an important insight with respect to an actual blindspot that you suffer from. Rather than responding defensively to being called privileged I have found that I've learned the most by stepping back and seriously contemplating the real possibility that there are things I don't see because I am white.

Adina commented July 17, 2015

A

Adina

Ohio

There is white privilege and male privilege and heterosexual privilege and class privilege and able-bodied privilege and many more than I can even think of here. And some of those privileges I have, while other of those privileges you have and I do not. We need to be aware of our *own* privileges and check them regularly, not to throw someone else's privilege at them while ignoring our own. By definition anyone arguing on the internet is privileged--they are literate and have access to the internet.

Tech worker commented July 17, 2015

T

Tech worker

Atlanta

It seems that getting hung up on terms and their definitions has taken the place of real understanding of the conditions they describe. Just saying a word doesn't make it so. And spending a lot of oxygen getting offended by a word used correctly or incorrectly is just a smokescreen. I can't keep up these days myself, and I like to think I accept most folks exactly as they are.

Race is no longer a dividing line. Class is the true "decider." There will only be those of means, and those without means. Not saying I like it, just sayin'.

2 REPLIES

Chris commented July 18, 2015

C

Chris

Mexico

The idea that "Race is no longer a dividing line" and that "Class is the true 'decider'" ignores the ways that very real racial divisions work to reinforce class divisions. Race has always been a mechanism used by the ruling class to divide poor and working people. But that mechanism has never been a simple one of simply promoting "divisions." Those divisions have always advantaged some members of the working classes at the expense of others, and in this manner secured the loyalties of those advantaged to the system that exploits us all. The fact that there is a large fraction of the working class in the US who because they are white think of the police as their friends and protectors, rather than the defenders of the power and property of the rich that they actually are, has everything to with why the 1% has been so successful in rolling back a century of social gains. Those who would dismantle economic inequality in this country (and around the world) must first confront the system of racial privileges that is so effective in preventing white poor and working people from seeing their common interests with the rest of humanity.

Joseph commented July 19, 2015

J

Joseph

New York

Thank you CPUSA. Chris, save yourself some trouble and just direct readers to the CPUSA website.

shardesty8125@gmail.com commented July 17, 2015

S

shardesty8125@gmail.com

NC

I think the notion of white privilege is the right one, but it has been under-explained by those who appeal to it, leaving the intended audience feeling defensive and on the lookout for excuses ("But I grew up poor! No one gave me anything!"). What's lacking in the usual explanation is a distinction between positive and negative privileges. Positive privilege entitles one *to* something; negative privilege insulates one *from* something. When social theorists talk about white privilege, they are often talking about negative privileges -- not being under constant suspicion in public, not fearing encounters with law enforcement, not subject to discriminatory preferences in housing, hiring, and health care, etc. But when the ordinary person hears someone talking about white privilege, they tend to think it means positive privilege -- as if it means they have been given things just in virtue of their skin color.

Enjoying negative privilege -- as a poor white person, say -- is entirely consistent with not having positive privilege; not being harassed by LEO with never having been given anything, etc.

Negative privilege is not all there is to white (resp., male-, hetero-, cis-) privilege, but it is far more common, and the distinction is important to register.

Making the distinction between the privilege's negative and positive valences may help make conversations about privilege more nuanced, not to mention more palatable for everyone involved.

1 REPLY

Barbara commented July 17, 2015

B

Barbara

Mexico

When I meet a white person, here in a Mexican resort town, who does not speak proper "standard" English, I think that is a person who is too lazy, too tone deaf, too privileged to make the effort to get an education. That's probably just me being bigoted.

The black tourists here tend to be more middle class and "privileged" that way. In Mexico, as a retiree, the only privilege I have is my pension.

Cookin commented July 16, 2015

C

Cookin

New York, NY

Privilege is not very useful as a standard when used to judge other individuals, but it can be helpful in understanding how different demographic groups access power, resources, and influence in our society.

Privilege can also be a very helpful concept when used to help develop deeper awareness of ourselves and our circumstances and foster insights into how we relate to others and how others perceive us. Unfortunately, while some may find the unexamined life (and privileged aspects of that life) not worth living, others forge ahead in blissful ignorance.

jrk commented July 16, 2015

J

jrk

new york

The assumption that every white person with education or means thinks a certain way is as ignorant as the thought that people of color bear some innate negative characteristic. It seems to be more of a defense mechanism for what are effectively strangers in a strange land.

2 REPLIES

Realist commented July 16, 2015

R

Realist

Ohio

However, the fact remains that a very significant potion of us white people do think "a certain way" about race. That said, white privilege is very unevenly distributed among whites. Class is nearly as powerful and immutable as race. Consequently, much white racism is rooted in a perception of inadequate white privilege, for which black people are blamed.

In other words, a lot of white people don't recognize that they have been screwed from day 1, and blame their troubles on black people.

Toaster commented July 17, 2015

T

Toaster

Twin Cities

McIntosh's list of what determines "privilege" is essentially entirely external. It's about what you see in the paper and in textbooks, on the big screen and the small screen, and the environment you move in. It has nothing to do with the internal: how you think, how you act, how you pray. Your comment perfectly illustrates the writer's point: people don't see the word's original meaning, but instead, "When people think of ‘‘privilege’’ being used, it’s almost always as an epithet, to shame."

Your interpretation of the word says more about your fears than the concept.

Luboman411 commented July 16, 2015

L

Luboman411

NY, NY

I tend to think that the most basic, all-encompassing privileges that define the globe are two: 1) being born male and 2) being born in a developed nation. All others pale in comparison. Being born male gives you an automatic in to power structures throughout the world that women have to struggle mightily to see and to be a part of. Being born in a developed nation means all the structures that subjugate the global poor (a.k.a. the majority of humanity) work in your favor--from the capitalistic exploitation of third-world workers so that you can get cheap clothing and electronics, to an immigration system that treats the global poor that do manage to get into the developed world as unforgivable criminals worthy of contempt.

I'm a dark-skinned Latino male who lives in the U.S. and has traveled throughout the world and I notice my male, developed world privileges far more than the lack of privileges of my race and ethnicity--those seem to pale in comparison.

Tynagh commented July 16, 2015

T

Tynagh

New York

"Privilege" can be a helpful descriptor, but it's being used as with too broad a brush to cover a host of wrongs and perceived injustices. While it's true that as a White middle-aged woman I don't have to worry about being stopped and frisked, I certainly didn't enjoy a so-called "privilege" growing up in a run-down tenement and city projects.

Edward Swing commented July 16, 2015

E

Edward Swing

Phoenix, AZ

A big part of the reason there is a lot of push-back against this modern use of the term "privilege" is that much of what is meant by "privilege" in this context (not having to worry about being targeted with racial discrimination, not being subjected to disproportionate police violence, etc.) are RIGHTS, not privileges. As such, the focus should be on those denying certain people those rights. Not all white people contribute to the loss of those rights among racial minorities and those who do contribute to the loss of rights don't all do so in equal measure.

This use of the term "privilege" implies moral blameworthiness of the so-called privileged - it implies (incorrectly) that they are getting more than they are due. In most of these cases, they are not. They are simply being treated as human beings. Nobody should be made to feel guilty for being treated as a human being, even if some others are unfortunately not. People should only be made to feel guilty if they contribute to the loss of such rights or enable others to do so.

1 REPLY

Josh Hill commented July 19, 2015

J

Josh Hill

New London, Conn.

Well said.

FlufferFreeZone commented July 16, 2015

F

FlufferFreeZone

Denver, CO

"How your perspective us shaped by your advantages"

Everyone should learn about The Matthew Effect, a social theory by Robert K Merton. It's not just your perspective -- it is the actual treatment of you by others that is shaped by your advantages.

It's a fascinating concept, and something I see play out literally every single day. No kidding, every day I have an instance where I can see The Matthew Effect happening right in front of me.

I do believe this theory should be required reading for all high school AND all college students. This world would be a better place if people understood it and it's effects on every one of us.

Jill Duncan

Denver, CO

Jonathan Katz commented July 16, 2015

J

Jonathan Katz

St. Louis

Nonsense. Or maybe not---the jargon is so dense ordinary speakers of English have a hard time understanding what this is about.

T commented July 16, 2015

T

T

NYC

"Privilege" is a useful concept.

When combined with a broad-brush category ("white privilege") and used out of context, less so.

Example: In computer science, there's "Asian privilege", in which Asians are presumed to be mathematically smarter and have to do less to get farther ahead.

In hip-hop, or working for civil rights, there's "black privilege", where if you're white you have less authenticity. (Paging Rachel Dolezal).

In certain fields, there's "gay privilege". In others, "straight privilege".

And in many aspects of society, there's "beauty privilege" and "youth privilege"--beautiful and young people are treated as if they're smarter, more creative, more deserving.

The problem comes in where there's an assumption that "whites" (or "men", or name-your-category) are privileged across the board. That's just not accurate. All the different "privilege" levels are at play--and in some areas, an ugly gay white guy may be less privileged than, say, a beautiful straight white woman.

Or whatever.

Again, the concept of privilege is useful.

The concept of one's entire life experience being defined on a linear scale by a single characteristic--less so.

1 REPLY

Rods_n_Cones commented July 16, 2015

R

Rods_n_Cones

Florida

Excellent comment. With our complex multi-cultural society I've often said that rather than any one group being privileged all the time, It really depends on the situation. We do need to eliminate differences in how people treat strangers.

I once took my young son to a lecture that was hosted by a retirement group. We were approached by a very old man who initially came off as being senile but after I talked to him a minute we realized just what the misunderstanding was. He thought we were someone else who he had been told would be attending. It turned out he was the President of the group and 10 minutes later he was speaking over the microphone to everyone and much more relaxed than he had been speaking to us. With people like yourself you simply identify with them more quickly. Be patient. Hear people out.

newsman47 commented July 16, 2015

N

newsman47

New York, NY

I know the idea of white people "acknowledging their privilege" seems to some like the perfect balm for the wounds of racism, something that will make entitled white folk drop to their knees, rend their garments, and apologize to the heavens for not burning down this inequitable society the second they were born into it, but isn't it really just a way for white people to make the discussion all about them---yet again? Like low-impact aerobics, it's a gimmick to make you think you're actually making progress without it costing you too much. Does acknowledging or "checking" privilege require that the white people divest themselves of all wealth, status, and advantage, retreating to a secluded mountaintop, where they ponder their crimes until such time as crows and buzzards pluck out their eyes and feast upon their entrails? Can one continue to exist in one's current socioeconomic bracket while still checking their privilege sufficiently to appease the social justice police? There are so, so many unanswered questions.

1 REPLY

Meh commented July 17, 2015

M

Meh

Atlantic Coast

In a word, yes.

Emma commented July 16, 2015

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Emma

Edmonton

Unfortunate that this article discusses privilege without discussing intersectionality. You allow people to say, "Oh, I am a white male but grew up poor, so don't tel me about privilege!" That's a cop-out.

None of us is just one thing. I am black and female. I can tell you about what I have faced because of those things. However, I am also cis-gendered, heterosexual, educated. Those are some of my privileges, and so I would not dare to think I can speak for those who do not share them. A gay or trans-gendered person tells me something of their hardships with those identities? I will listen, as I don't know what their lives are like. I would never dare to tell them it's all in their heads and that they have to work harder or pretend to be different to make people not be prejudiced against them. That's what called checking my privilege. Nothing wrong with that.

3 REPLIES

Paul Nathanson commented July 18, 2015

P

Paul Nathanson

Montreal, Quebec

It's true, Emma, there's nothing wrong with acknowledging your own particular forms of privilege--as long as we acknowledge in addition that other people can have their own forms. Men have had some advantages, for instance, but so have women. Today, at any rate, women control public discussions of gender; men, as such, are silenced. That's not a recipe for any solution to conflict--certainly not any moral one (which would lead to healing and reconciliation).

Also, some forms of privilege can have both advantages and disadvantages. Education, for instance, is clearly an advantage. But who would seriously advocate illiteracy (or lobotomizing literate people) as a way of correcting for the consequent inequality? Seghal is on the right track: focusing on complexity and ambiguity. And if it takes this "privilege" to recognize a stubborn and universal fact of the human condition, then so be it.

Josh Hill commented July 19, 2015

J

Josh Hill

New London, Conn.

But it's precisely because none of us is just one thing that the term "white privilege," with its implication of group guilt, is so offensive.

Consider the alternative, "victim of racism." That puts the blame where it belongs, on individuals who are racist, on systemic racism.

But when you start talking about "white privilege," you are shifting the blame to people who may not, in the overall scheme of things, be privileged at all, people who may in fact have faced more hardship than you have. And it shifts the blame onto all alike, from the loyal white member of the NAACP to the crazed member of the KKK.

The term is thus in practice the very antithesis of the more sophisticated and nuanced view that you so wisely present.

I'd note by the way that your examples, gay and transgendered people, don't go around accusing people of straight privilege or cis-gendered privilege. They present the issue rightly was one of a desire for equality. They don't seek privilege, they just seek fairness, acceptance, and respect.

Miss Ley commented July 19, 2015

M

Miss Ley

New York

Thank you, Emma. There is no need to read any further comments.

Virgil commented July 15, 2015

V

Virgil

md

I think people (all people) should recognize their privilege if for no other reason than self-awareness is important. However, I will say that more and more I've come to see "privilege" used as a rhetorical club. The reason I say this is because I hear the term being thrown around quite frequently as a dog whistle for "racist" or "complicit racist" whatever that means. And I've always found it a little odd for people to be able to freely call out another person's level of self awareness so boldly and self- righteously.

The why is always missing, though. Yes, thank you for reminding me that I have certain levels of privilege over you (lets assume you did it politely). Now what? Every argument I've heard about raising the level of privilege awareness in this country has been amorphous and unsubstantiated, "If white people acknowledge their privilege then it will decrease the disparity". It seems, though I may be wrong, that the concept of privilege is brought up most frequently as an adhoc justification for someone's views, as a way to delegitimize someone else's views, or as a way insult another person. In short, while the concept of "privilege" is real but it is very rarely employed constructively.

Siobhan commented July 15, 2015

S

Siobhan

New York

A lot of privilege is in the eye of the beholder. If you grow up with two parents in an intact, happy marriage, are you privileged compared to those raised by a single parent? By a single parent who brought multiple relationships into the household? By parents who divorced and continued to fight and hate each other? By parents who stayed married and hated each other?

What about if your parents graduated from college? Are you privileged if you grew up with the assumption that you would go to college?

What about parents interested in your schooling? Are you privileged compared to those whose parents didn't care?

There are lots of kinds of privilege.

Glenn Baldwin commented July 15, 2015

G

Glenn Baldwin

Bella Vista, AR

Let's see, I am a white male, neither of whose parents finished high school, who spent 30+ years working in shipyards, refineries and other heavy industries (often side by side with, or under the supervision of people of color), and who finally attended community college in his 50's to retrain as a paralegal. The glamorously beautiful Ms. Sehgal, grew up in India, Hungary and Northern Virginia, did her undergrad at McGill, got her MFA from Columbia, is an editor of the NYT book review and presumably lives in NYC, a place where I in fact grew up, but that long ago became utterly unaffordable to persons of my socio-economic status.

It was perhaps to be expected that as women and persons of color increasingly, and quite rightfully, take their place at the high table, there would be distress amongst some at the perceived loss leveraged aggrievement. Her pro-forma misgivings aside, given the numerous justifications for the continued validity of privilege as a social cudgel contained in this piece, I find Ms. Sehgal's assertion that she now finds herself wielding the word "warily" entirely suspect, if not completely disingenuous.

The popularity of the term amongst white kids on college campuses is entirely self-explanatory, having everything to do with feeling guilty, and seems in inverse proportion to the amount of tuition their parents are paying for them to attend.

h commented July 15, 2015

H

h

chicago

I notice my privilege when I can walk into a hotel and use the restroom. If I didn't look like a potential tourist, I wouldn't get away with it.

matt polsky commented July 15, 2015

M

matt polsky

cranford, nj

The questions you ask determines the answers you get.

If you assume-literally just assume-being white (largely a social construction, by the way, we may one day actually grapple with), grants you privilege, you can dispense bothering with any holistic empirical evidence that it actually applies in any given case.

The property of certainty is certainly compelling, but brings its own traps. We all have only partial realities, of everything, all the time. The self-aware/self-improving person tries to be aware of that, and adjust to those that are relevant and meaningful. To the degree the privilege concept helps with that process, and the article shows it can, then fine, but we don't need the additional baggage that goes with it.

How do we know that the individual person; a "white" person; probably a white male. doesn't have his own set of difficult circumstances and set of nominally "objective" judges influencing their futures? We're also not all bluebloods, with high-powered networks, and doors flung open for us.

Wasn't there a time when the whole point was to treat each other as individuals, and by our characters?

How did we lost that?

vas commented July 15, 2015

V

vas

Seattle

There is no shame in being lucky. Or taking advantage of your luck. The shame should come from taking advantage of your luck *at the expense of the unlucky*.

CassidyGT commented July 15, 2015

C

CassidyGT

York, PA

When my family came here in the early part of the 20th century from Sicily, they had nothing. They were discriminated against and had to get off the sidewalk for 'white' people. They did not teach their children Italian. They worked to assimilate and become American. They worked their butts off in coal mines. Next generation my grandfather became a barber. My father was the first in our family to attend college. I grew up middle class in a loving a supportive home, education was stressed, accomplishment was required.

While I didn't earn my 'privilege' personally, my family sure did. They made a generational commitment to success. So I tire of being shamed by the commitment and hard work of my family. I am not ashamed!

2 REPLIES

Meh commented July 15, 2015

M

Meh

Atlantic Coast

Nor should you be.

A Doctor commented July 16, 2015

A

A Doctor

USA

Black people's families (enslaved ancestors) worked as hard or harder than yours, for no pay. Then their freed descendants were systematically paid lower wages based on race and more importantly, denied the primary inter-generational wealth-transferring legal instrument in our society (reasonably priced mortgages through the legitimate banking system). This was enforced by the federal government, along with housing segregation resulting in today's poverty and ghettoization. These are plain facts, which most of us either weren't taught or choose not to see.

You have no reason to feel ashamed. But you should acknowledge that others were not afforded the same opportunity to get ahead with hard work as your family was, and that this really did and does result in "privilege."

continuousminer commented July 15, 2015

C

continuousminer

CNY

if you want to know why its such a divisive term that has expereinced such backlash. its because the term 'privilege ' has morphed and is now used as term by certain people in the media and internet to advocate for the equality of outcomes, not the equality of opportunity. And honestly, that bothers a lot of people in this country. Right or wrong.

Tim commented July 15, 2015

T

Tim

New York

The use of deadly physical force in the Michael Brown case was warranted unlike the other two cases the author mentions. Police officers purchasing a meal for their prisoner as in the Dylann Roof example is pretty normal. When the prisoner is making incriminating statements it's especially important. Not feeding a prisoner could be considered duress in court and the statements could become inadmissible.

Gooneybird commented July 15, 2015

G

Gooneybird

Dublin, Ireland

I think there is a misunderstanding of privilege here. The origin of the term is "private law" - formal rules that include some but exclude many. This kind of privilege well deserves to be suppressed - particularly in a supposedly egalitarian democracy like the us.

Amy other kind of claims about privilege might just be simple envy.

Me commented July 15, 2015

M

Me

Brooklyn

I agree with most of this article - but there IS such a thing as class privilege. Economic hardship really does make people's lives harder, in psychological and structural ways that are less visible than race privilege. In NYC it might be true that whiteness and wealth correlate strongly, but that is less true in other parts of the country, or even the state. Privilege is highly layered.

Solomon Grundy commented July 15, 2015

S

Solomon Grundy

The American South

I love being white and I love my privilege. When people tell me to check it, I say "too bad for you, sucka."

Mike Bonner commented July 15, 2015

M

Mike Bonner

Miami

On average whites enjoy more privilege than blacks, and males enjoy more privilege than females, but skin color and gender are not the only sources of privilege, which once of the reasons there's a backlash from white males. A black female born into a wealthy family that values education is going to be more privileged than a white male born into a poor family with drug addicted parents.

Similarly, privilege is not omnipotent. There are millions of destitute white males just as there are millions of successful black females. Just as it is considered racist to use cultural stereotypes to judge individuals within a particular race, it is equally inappropriate to attribute the success of individual white males mainly to privilege.

SN commented July 15, 2015

S

SN

New York

I find many of the comments here really saddening. It's hard to accept that one is "privileged" because that admission compels people to live up to a higher standard, to notice that not everyone started with what you have -- or it should. It's like the old expression about being born on third base and thinking you hit a home run.

Ashley commented July 15, 2015

A

Ashley

Boston, Massachusetts

The debate between O'Reilly and Stewart perfectly illustrates the faults of each side.

The first problem is semantics. This error is the fault of Stewart's side. "Privilege" is not the same as "advantage," because it denotes the idea of "undeserved advantage." For this reason, white people get defensive about the use of the word. Who are you to say an advantage is undeserved? This is shown particularly well in his response to Stewart's example of Levittown, because it is presumed that the GIs earned this benefit. O'Reilly actually admits that it was unfair that black GIs were excluded. He can make this distinction because it was not that his father was privileged, but the exclusion of those who earned the benefit is unfair.

The second problem is the American love-affair with Rugged Individualism. This error is the fault of O'Reilly's side. It is philosophically ridiculous to assert that everyone can succeed if they only try hard enough. This myopia leads many Americans to believe that poverty and hardship are character flaws only; never the result of any other source. O'Reilly is unable to truly agree with the idea of systemic disadvantage.

We need to change the conversation. It's not about "white privilege." It's about systemic disadvantage. This will never be resolved if we cannot shake the idea that individuals control their own destiny and that all people are not inherently equal. (See the irony of low estate taxes in our "privilege-free" society.)

Marilyn Wise commented July 15, 2015

M

Marilyn Wise

Los Angeles

It is annoying to hear "privilege" overused, to describe something as ordinary (yet valued) as waking up or having something to eat that day. I prefer to use the word "fortunate" for these things. "Privilege" to me is when I am playing loud hip-hop music in my car at night, and a police light suddenly lands on me, then shuts off when the office sees a middle-aged white woman.

William Case commented July 15, 2015

W

William Case

Texas

White college applicants to elite schools like Wellesley College compete mostly against affluent white students who may be richer or poorer and against minority students who may be richer or poorer but get racial and ethnic preferences. These racial and ethnic preferences are piled on top of other "holistic admission" factors such as family income and "well-roundedness." Wellesley applicants have the additional privilege of not having to compete against male applicants.

Susan commented July 15, 2015

S

Susan

Eastern WA

I have always felt privileged. It was a marvel to me first that I happened to be born in the U.S. instead of anywhere else on earth. Growing up in the 60's I definitely felt white privilege. After my tumultuous teen years, I couldn't get over the fact that I'd been to belong to a loving, tolerant, caring, nonjudgmental, intact family; certainly I'd done nothing to deserve it.

I did not ever have the kind of privilege that Quintanna Roo Dunne grew up with, but my family was middle class and we never wanted for anything. Our parents had college educations, and all of us got them too. There have been glitches along the way, some bigger than others, but we all have basically lived star-crossed existences.

One small difference is that we know it. My husband and I raised our kids in a small, relatively poor rural area, where we as school teachers were among the most educated and financially comfortable. We and our children came into contact with less-privileged folks on an almost daily basis, and count them among our colleagues, neighbors, and friends. This is not the norm among the privileged classes, who often know poor people only as the ones who serve their food, wash their cars, or perform other services for them. They don't know them well, or as individuals.

1 REPLY

Marie commented July 15, 2015

M

Marie

Michigan

College? And you don't know that "star-crossed" mean beset by bad luck, as in the stars are working against you, not for you? Your existence has been star-blest, not star crossed.

Jonathan commented July 15, 2015

J

Jonathan

NYC

Everyone uses whatever they have to get ahead - it is part of human nature. If you are good-looking, if you are intelligent, if your family can introduce you to useful people, you're going to take advantage of it.

Nobody earned their genes, nobody earned their family. You are born where you are born. That is the way reality is. You can protest, and say that reality is not fair, and that if only you were the highly intelligent, good-looking son of Donald Trump your life would be so much better. But people like this seldom even realize what potential they have. You're better off sucking it up, and doing the best you can with whatever you've got. It may be more than you think.

2 REPLIES

Andrew commented July 15, 2015

A

Andrew

Chicago

"if only you were the highly intelligent, good-looking son of Donald Trump..."

...then we would know for sure that biology is not destiny.

Josh Hill commented July 19, 2015

J

Josh Hill

New London, Conn.

True, but how in the world could Donald Trump have an intelligent child? If he married that woman with an IQ of 300, perhaps.

jane commented July 15, 2015

J

jane

san diego

"Privilege" seems to be a another variation of the race and gender card.

It reminds me how "institutional racism" was shouted 20 years ago over any and all frustration blacks felt. I remember how people could be slurred as racist (and to a lesser degree sexist) without anything concrete to back up those assertions. Throwing around that word allows the user of it to silence dissent and get the upper hand. Many women and minorities have succeed in atmospheres far more oppressive than we have in the US today. The fact that systemic racism and sexism are still a crutch the left uses to rally the troops is disappointing. It should also be noted that neither racism, sexism, or homophobia are more prevalent among white males than non-white males. I wonder when that elephant in the room will be brought to light? You can tell who controls you by who you can't criticize. I do not respect women or minorities who banter around terms like "privilege", racism or sexism to silence any and all criticism. We are all guilty of taking the advantages we can get. I have no doubt if the shoe was on the other foot, minorities and women would not hesitate to benefit from unfair advantage.

5 REPLIES

ELI commented July 15, 2015

E

ELI

NYC

@Jane -- If referring to someone as "privileged" means acquiring the upper-hand, then you cannot, using your line of logic, possibly consider doing so unfair, as you seem to say that we are all "guilty of taking the advantages we can get." Lacking a particular privilege perhaps is, under certain circumstances, its own privilege.

Kim commented July 15, 2015

K

Kim

NYC

I wish I could respond to what you've said here as it seems so heartfelt, but it's response-proof. I do sense your frustration however and you have my sympathies.

Kim commented July 15, 2015

K

Kim

NYC

What is the criticism that blacks and other minorities are shutting themselves off from hearing? I sense your tremendous frustration and am dying to understand your feelings about "race and gender cards", "people" being "slurred" and the "silencing of dissent" to "get the upper hand." What would the upper hand be exactly and what might it look like for these hypersensitive overly vocal disgruntleds?

Henry commented July 15, 2015

H

Henry

Petaluma, CA

It is not privilege that blinds, it is experience. Any "thing" that happens to you builds your character and person, including preferences and expectations. All that adds up to being more or less sensitive to those same or different.

So, yes, privilege "blinds" one. But growing up poor also "blinds" one. Different experience leads to different perspectives.

Hayden C. commented July 14, 2015

H

Hayden C.

Brooklyn

The last paragraph (comparing several black males killed by the police with Dylan Roof) is an example not of privilege, but of cherry picking. I would have to think that if privilege were as epidemic as the proponents say it is examples could be found that didn't involve this dishonest and obsessively used tool to arrive at a conclusion that was predetermined. Lee Malvo, the young black male involved in the beltway snipper incident was given a meal during interrogation, as was Lemrick Nelson.

Privilege seems me to be how any white on black act of violence (even in self defense) gets more coverage and outrage then all the far more prevalent black on non-black violence combined. Privilege seems to be how not one person has pointed out the huge difference the media and black activists have reported on the Charleston massacre ("white supremacy", the shooter was a "white racist terrorist") with their very different reporting on the Kosher market attack in Paris (Obama referred to the victims as "random people", no mention of it being a black on Jewish hate crime, or a pattern on black on Jewish violence even though is). Sorry but the people yelping obsessively about privilege need to take the plank out of their own eye.

5 REPLIES

Marilyn Wise commented July 15, 2015

M

Marilyn Wise

Los Angeles

This is a gross over-generalization.

Veronica Femmina commented July 15, 2015

V

Veronica Femmina

NY

And Richard Matt was shot through the head by paramilitary "border partrol" troops under circumstances no one will question because he was an escaped convict and white.

And Ryan Keith Bolinger was killed by police in Iowa in June for acting erractically and then "walking with purpose" toward the officer.

And I could run of allowed charcters in this comment by typing a list of white people who have been unjustly killed, assaulted and tased by the police in the past 12 months.

But we never hear about them and you are correct, the article cherry-picks, as do other activists who use the same examples.

And is not Nkosi Thandiwe the black version of Dylan Roof? Delusional loners gonna act out their delusions. Sometimes their delusions involve race. That is all.

Lonnie Barone commented July 15, 2015

L

Lonnie Barone

Doylearown, PA

You are so conscious of cherry picking vs. detecting a real pattern, and yet you did not note that you had to travel all the way to France to make your point about the left's inconsistency.

Kim commented July 14, 2015

K

Kim

NYC

Thank you for mentioning the fact that many black people live with post-tramatic stress from their daily experiences at work and other places where they interact with insensitive white people lacking in any kind of self-awareness.

Charly commented July 14, 2015

C

Charly

Salt Lake City

I'd love to see a current TV show as incisive and real about the systemic racism (even upper-class!) blacks face, while still being hilarious and quotable, as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Alas, that was 25 years ago.

1 REPLY

Meh commented July 15, 2015

M

Meh

Atlantic Coast

Watch Blackish, about an upper income black family, a dad who wants to "keep it real", with kids who only know their upperclass lives and have no clue as to what dad is getting at - a genuinely funny show, written very talented kid actors.

SM commented July 14, 2015

S

SM

NYC

Race, gender, culture, sexuality, ethnicity... these are all socially highlighted personal details that are used to distract us from the real source of privilege, which is money.

Whites are not inherently privileged, nor are males, nor is any other race/gender/etc... have you never seen a homeless white male? I have. I have also, due to my line of work, encountered many of the world's most economically privileged people from around the world, as they come to visit NYC. They come in all sizes/shapes/colors/genders, but the dollar sign is the pervasive source of power uniting them all.

Let's stop focusing on trivial personal attributes and look at the distribution of money among people, which is the real source of unequal power and privilege, not only in America but in the world at large.

3 REPLIES

Meh commented July 15, 2015

M

Meh

Atlantic Coast

What's that saying? I've been rich and I've been poor and rich was better. In a comedy routine Chris Rock said the poorest white man wouldn't want to be the richest black one. But he also said there would be rioting in the streets, if we really knew how well the rich live.

SM commented July 15, 2015

S

SM

NYC

Chris Rock was capitalizing on the way that race mattered institutionally for a long time, but in reality it matters less and less every year. The differences between living as a millionaire black man and a millionaire white man? I'm not saying they're non-existent, but they're trivial compared to the difference between living as a millionaire of any race, and a person living at or below the poverty line.

Money, or a lack thereof, is the true equalizer - if you're poor, you're poor, and in that situation no one really cares how white your skin may be.

The rich in the US tend to be white men (an overhang from previous eras of institutional inequality), but being a white man does not make you rich, and plenty of them are desperately poor. As we move forward as a society, money is the true source of privilege. Exhaustive discussions about race/gender/sexuality/looks/height/etc/etc all distract us from this fact. Perhaps this is because we as a society are uncomfortable thinking about the extent to which the size of our pocket books affects the daily reality of our lives.

Meh commented July 16, 2015

M

Meh

Atlantic Coast

As I said, rich is better.

But ask any rich black man if he's been stopped driving or walking through his own neighborhood or mistaken for the valet while waiting for his limo. A million little indignities. A million tiny arrows. Would a man prefer to be rich or poor while receiving same? Why rich, of course.

Even Halle Berry's be mistaken for the help at a formal dinner party.

Peki commented July 14, 2015

P

Peki

Copenhagen

If structural privilege saturates and obscures (as it does), it may be interesting to reflect on the omission of national origin from every discussion of privilege.

The fact that one expects to communicate in English wherever one goes, or that one can travel freely at all are but two of the most trivial examples of national privilege, not to mention access to education, health care, etc. The political, economic, and cultural privileges of Western (and especially American) power are so thoroughgoing and extensive so as to be completely unremarked upon, even these days when, as the article says, talk of privilege is everywhere.

Instead, the 10%-15% most privileged people on earth are arguing about which group among this is most privileged. And fair enough, too. Very clearly, race and gender and sexual orientation are still painfully relevant. But let's not forget our shared privileges either, perhaps the hardest to talk about frankly, because we have no wish or inclination to redress them.

NM commented July 14, 2015

N

NM

NYC

When I was in college, it was easy to spot the rich students by their complete helplessness. They arrived armed with their parent's charge cards and had no clue how to care for themselves. (Or others.) They stood there waiting for someone to tell them what to do, step by step, as they had never actually done anything without help from others, from the time they were born.

The international students were the absolute worst, as unlike all by the richest Americans, they were raised with live in servants, and their haughtiness would have been annoying, except the vast majority of them dropped out after the first semester, as the coursework was brutal.

I remember thinking that after the apocalypse, us (very few) poor students would do quite well in the new world economy.

1 REPLY

Meh commented July 15, 2015

M

Meh

Atlantic Coast

I've always thought that the poor and people used to working with their hands would fare the best in an apocalypse. Which brings to mind, why do we consistently vote in the rich, who have absolutely no clue as to how working people live although they try to pretend they do. I try to imagine Trump making do with my 3 bedroom townhouse and driving my 2004 Toyota to work in my cubicle each day. Yet they try to tell us that'll get us somewhere while they private jet to Paris for lunch.

EsmeK commented July 14, 2015

E

EsmeK

Michigan

I get it. I should stop working and earning a living and trying to provide an education and opportunities for my own children. I should be ashamed of this effort and definitely not pass on my sense of initiative because that furthers the privilege. I should, instead, encourage my children to break the law and then when they do, sue the police department and collect a handsome reward. But then those who take this lucrative route --- do they become privileged too? You can't win.

5 REPLIES

Sarah D. commented July 15, 2015

S

Sarah D.

Monague, MA

With an attitude like that, you're right, you can't win.

Andrew commented July 15, 2015

A

Andrew

Chicago

The elephant in the room unacknowledged by the article is the ideology of meritocracy, as you allude to. This has been exhaustively analyzed - literally to death you might say - by Nicholas Lemann ("The Big Test"), and (forgot the author) "Twilight of the Elites" in addition to others: indeed most importantly "Rise of the Meritocracy" the very satire that coined the term, presented a dystopia based on the formula (deliberately asinine, pretty close to what we use) M=I E (merit, intelligence, effort). I like mitt Romney''s: merit is talent, effort, and "a little luck." (Romney is the son of a staggeringly wealthy former governor and automotive magnate.). Katherine Newman ("Falling From Grace" devotes an incisive chapter, though the whole book eviscerates much of the ideology.

Future generations will look back on this "merit" craze as a gross distortion of reality originating in a toxic brew of Darwin, Smith-Mandeville, positivism, pragmatism, and Horatio Alger amid gilded age industrialism, breathed new life by developments on future generations (Binet, iq and WWI recruitment, Conant and the Cold War/Sputnik; the academic achievement/conformity craze of the 50s-80s amid suburbia and rise/ruse of neoconservatism. Meanwhile the social mobility by achievement constantly shown to be mostly a myth, as parental resources is decisive.

Just work, accomplish, contribute. But put "merit" ideology aside. Torah BTW prohibits saying "by the work of my hands."

Andrew commented July 15, 2015

A

Andrew

Chicago

BTW I was referring to "my strength and the power of my hands have gotten me this wealth” (Devarim, 8:17).

"Merit" as a system (and ratione/justification) of distributing spoils of academic and economic contest to me seems connected to this prohibition.

Dan Coleman commented July 14, 2015

D

Dan Coleman

San Francisco

Privilege is just a synonym for slack (as in cut me some), for benefit of the doubt. It's nothing to be ashamed of getting, unless and until you're allowed to do something shameful because you've been given more of it than you can handle. At large in society, it's something to be shared more widely. If all the young black and brown men in America were cut the same slack I am, we'd save hundreds of billions in prison spending. Sharing the privilege, unlike sharing the wealth, doesn't cost anyone a dime, while conveying similar benefits.

Mia commented July 14, 2015

M

Mia

Massachusetts

I'm woman who happens to be a progressive, feminist and millennial. And when I see or hear the phrase "check your privilege," again, I am going to scream.

A completely valid concept has devolved into a manipulative, base appeal to emotion that shuts down almost any substantive dialogue. It is second only to Tumblr and Jezebel's other favorite provocation, "Cultural Appropriation," which by-and-large is misused to manufacture outrage fodder for leftists. A thoughtful column on that term would also be appreciated; my thoughts turn to the recent shut-down by protesters of (in my opinion) a legitimate educational program involving kimonos at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts, as well as cyber-bullying against a 12 year old girl for wearing box-braids. Fellow lefties, please don't #checkyourbrain

4 REPLIES

Peg commented July 14, 2015

P

Peg

NYC Tristate

I agreed with you for the most part until you brought up the the girl because of her braids. Agreed, grown women should not harass a 12 year old child, period. However, Black women and our hair is an incredibly sensitive subject. When you have little White girls wearing a hairstyle that that they think is "cute" when you yourself could not wear to work without some resistance, questioning, unasked for touching and maybe even requests to have them removed then maybe you would understand the anger behind what she did.

Even what is ours in not ours until someone ELSE approves that its okay for it to be ours.

I do not hold the girl accountable but her moms? She needed a quick lesson in not cool crap to let your child do.

To quote what you said about the discussion devolving into a "base appeal to emotion" - that statement really doesn't cut it. Because for about oh I'd say the last 50 years Black folks have been trying rather politely to educate others on what is cool and why. No one was listening. So at what point is it okay to be upset about racial situations that you are constantly bombarded with based on other people's hang ups? If someone was poking you with a stick in the same place for your entire existence, that area would be a bit sore.

Bottom line, IT IS a sensitive thing. Showing sensitivity/awareness doe not mean rolling over on your belly or not having the discussion. But when I tell you it hurts and why, don't dismiss it, respect it and learn from it.

Mia commented July 15, 2015

M

Mia

Massachusetts

I do appreciate the double stand regarding hair and I empathize. It's harmful, it's unfair, and it absolutely should be discussed. But I personally think there's a difference between someone wearing a hairstyle because they think it's beautiful and wearing a hairstyle (or appropriating clothing, linguistics, etc) in an explicitly racist or commodifying way--either to mock a culture or exploit it purely for monetary gain--like Miley Cyrus or Iggy Azalea with their dance moves, use of ebonics, and other things they've clearly lifted from black culture that I don't think they actually admire or appreciate.

There's nothing wrong with emotions running high in discussions about such important, sensitive issues. I only meant that throwing out the term "privilege" or the phrase "check your privilege," has lots it's cache. It isn't being used to inspire reflection, it's being used to disparage. It's a period on a conversation. The concept is becoming bankrupt by overuse. The person who said it feels like they won, when really no meaningful argument was made or conversation was had. And the person on receiving end is rendered unresponsive at best or entrenched in ignorance at worst.

Valerie commented July 15, 2015

V

Valerie

NYC

It is very likely that the little white girl would also be asked by her school to change her long braided hairstyle -- unless she is wealthy, of course.

The children of the wealthy are the ones allowed a great deal of free self-expression.

I am white and was harassed incessantly by administrators in high school for my attire. The public school I went to, predominantly working class white and Hispanic, now requires uniforms. The town is hell bent on controlling how children dress for school because they are repressive control freaks, not because they are racists.

yoyoz commented July 14, 2015

Y

yoyoz

Philadelphia

This article is overly complicated, and fails to adequately deal with the moral dilemma of the article's assumptions.

Maggie Nelson is correct about what privileged means. However, if one knows it is a negative stereotype that thwarts individual experience--preying on statistics as support for the proposition 'all individuals of a given race are likely to be given x'--then isn't the moral implication very similar to how African Americans have felt when white majorities made the same moral arguments in the past?

Linguistically, nigger really seems little different than privileged as it applies to individuals. Both deal with inescapable structure/history. Both cancel out the individual for larger structural narratives.

Thus, ironically, most of our education is about the negative effect both structurally AND morally (individually/personally) negative stereotypes have had on African Americans and other disparaged groups. You would have though such studies would have made us more enlightened about the personal effects of such practices. Yet, clearly this article supports the masculine outcome--just deal with it.

P. K. Todd commented July 14, 2015

P

P. K. Todd

America

I think I prefer Harvard alumnus Conan O'Brien's take on privilege in his commencement address to the Harvard Class of 2000. Here's an excerpt:

"What else can you expect in the real world? Let me tell you. As you leave these gates and re-enter society, one thing is certain. Everyone out there is going to hate you. Never tell anyone in a roadside diner that you went to Harvard. In those situations, the correct response to, 'Where did you go to school?' is 'School? I never had much in the way of book learnin’ and such.' And then get in your BMW and get the hell out of there. Go.

"You see, kids, you’re in for a lifetime of 'And you went to Harvard?' Accidentally give the wrong amount of change in a transaction, and it’s 'And you went to Harvard?' Ask at the hardware store how the jumper cables work, and hear 'And you went to Harvard?' Forget just once that your underwear goes inside your pants, and it’s 'And you went to Harvard?' Get your head stuck in your niece’s doll house ‘cause you want to see what it’s like to be a giant, and it’s 'Uncle Conan, you went to Harvard?'”

Privileged Harvard grads get their own TV talk shows, but sometimes they deserve it.

1 REPLY

NM commented July 14, 2015

N

NM

NYC

If you have to ask at the hardware store how the jumper cables work, you obviously went to Harvard.

W.L. Jusbel commented July 14, 2015

W

W.L. Jusbel

Montana

The comments so far are reflective of this defensive posture people are now taking when being accused of having privilege. The fact of the matter is no one- no matter what their background - likes to be accused of being handed anything. The Kardashian's will argue til they're blue in the face that they've "worked hard" for their success. Trust-funders will argue how hard they've had it, as will white, hetero men (as victims of privilege-accusations, and non-receivers of affirmative action).

What makes recognizing (or "checking") your privilege a powerful concept, is that we are ALL capable of doing it, and we should do it ourselves, to the betterment of those who have it harder. I am a white American, working class woman. Several things in my life have been harder than my male equivalent. They haven't generally had their asses patted by their bosses, or been told that wearing a mid-knee skirt is "distracting to the workplace"- and been denied a promotion based on this accusation.

However- I had great parents and a great safety net and support structure in my family. I know for a fact that there are thousands and thousands of white, American, hetero men that have had it harder than me.

Privilege can run in all directions. It is not a set hierarchy of measurables. We would all be better off if we didn't play it as a card, but recognized it as an opportunity for empathy and reflection with our fellow humans.

3 REPLIES

Rods_n_Cones commented July 15, 2015

R

Rods_n_Cones

Florida

Thank You. You understand that everyone's situation is unique.

I had a mother who had a STEM career who stopped providing me with help and encouragement with school and concentrated her efforts on my sister. She did this after I proved to be slightly faster at flashcards. I'm not angry about it because I don't think she was really aware that there would be any negative affect on me. Because of course, my "privilege" would be enough.

Thomas commented July 15, 2015

T

Thomas

Woodside, ca

I used to be like that. For one thing, I have worked incredibly hard in school and have three degrees from top, top, top universities. That aside, I have been accused of being a trust fund baby, helpless without my parents, things like that. And I argued against it. But I don't care anymore. If anyone ever said anything like that I'd say, "yeah, I do have a trust fund and my life is awesome!" I don't care what anyone else thinks. It's just money, who cares how you got it? Let people call you privileged - you're right, I am! Go write your local congressman about it.

Emma commented July 16, 2015

E

Emma

Edmonton

Thomas, it's not wrong to be privileged. You just need to know it. Don't tell others that they can "make it on their own" like you did, because you know you didn't make it on your own. Acknowledge that other people have barriers you don't face. Don't presume that what is a small loss or setback or inconvenience for you is the same for everyone else, know that your position of privilege makes it easier. And because you haven't had to deal with the same things, don't dismiss them as irrelevant.

The article starts with Chimananda Ngozi Adichie noting her privileges. That's all we ask - don't act as if privilege is meaningless, and yours irrelevant. It's really a call to people to listen to experiences that are not their own.

Tony commented July 14, 2015

T

Tony

Kansas City

"Privilege" isn't something that you can assess about somebody without more information than their skin color. Otherwise it's just a very superficial and base way of assessing somebody's situation. Is a white child who is raised by a poor single mother more privileged than a black child with an intact middle class household? Does his or her "white privilege" actually mean anything in that context? And those are only two factors of the incalculable number of variables to determine whether or not somebody else had an easier than average shot at success in life.

Beyond that it's such a lazy way to derail an argument. "Okay so my opinion is invalid because I get a sunburn when I spend too much time outside. Can I find somebody who had a worse situation than you did growing up who agrees with me so I can win the argument now too?"

1 REPLY

nancy commented July 15, 2015

N

nancy

vance

The poor white child may not have the advantages of being in a middle class, two-parent black family, but the white child never has to think about his race. He doesn't wake up in the morning and say to himself that he's white and should therefore be careful about going about his normal business. He can walk through a white neighborhood without being suspect; he doesn't have to fear being approached by a policeman when he has done nothing wrong. He is not seen as "different" or "other." Why? Because his skin is white. That is my understanding of white privilege.

viator1 commented July 14, 2015

V

viator1

Plainfield, NJ

Actually I can see exactly why Roo Dunne Michael would react so strongly in regards to the concept of "privileged" as it has been used.

I've noticed that the way it actually seems to be used is less the definition you are talking about, that being "unearned advantages" and more of a way for some people to shut down other people. Very similar to the whole "first world problems" thing. Mental illnesses, addiction, even serious medical conditions can be dismissed just by invoking privilege unless the person talking about their problems is a black lesbian with mental illnesses, addictions, and a debilitating disease.

Long story short; very few people want to hear about other people's problems and many people like to derail other people's narratives/control the conversation and the concept of privilege is a fantastic way to accomplish both ends.

2 REPLIES

Susie commented July 15, 2015

S

Susie

Baltimore

Well, I have a mental illness and because of my parents wealth have had access to the best hospitals and outpatient treatment. My parents went to colleges that had quotas and few minoritys. So while I've experienced the pain of mental illness I've had a safety net my whole life. I think that is privilege.

Josh Hill commented July 19, 2015

J

Josh Hill

New London, Conn.

Exactly. A white friend of my stepmother's died a few days ago, only two weeks after she discovered she was sick. How privileged was she?

Brian Wilson commented July 14, 2015

B

Brian Wilson

Las Vegas

It seems to me that the new use of the term privileged is one that is being used exclusively towards Euro-Americans. It appears that privilege means that being Euro-American is the norm and that most products are marketed to them and other minorities are judged in comparison. While in the USA the dominant group is associated with a distinct race, this is not true of other nations. So in France the French ethnic group is the dominant one and Bretons, Alsatians and North Africans live in their world. In other words, its not racism, but the fact that the dominant ethnic groups in a country is the standard. That this is in reality an effort to explain the situation of African-Americans in society. I believe that this is shown to be true based on the "evidence" that is provided that continues the myths in racially charged cases. Michael Brown assualted a police office and was not trying to surrender at the time he was shot. The police officer was cleared by the US Attorney General who refuted the surrender claims. Eric Garner would be alive today, but he refused to let himself be arrested and handcuffed. In the ensuing struggle he was accidentally killed. Neither are the heinous acts alleged. While I agree that Tamar Rice was killed unjustifiably, it certainly does no justify a pattern. Roof gave himself up quietly and did not resist arrest. He was fed because the rules require it in order to use any statements. This was all explained by the police department.

Ashutosh commented July 14, 2015

A

Ashutosh

Chapel Hill, NC

The problem is that privilege, while real, is also highly context-dependent. A black immigrant may be more privileged than a white man under some circumstances while in others it may be the opposite. We do have to recognize privilege, but throwing the word around lazily and generalizing it masks its context-dependent subtleties and makes for impoverished and simplistic thinking.

ELI commented July 14, 2015

E

ELI

NYC

Privilege is something that exists in a number of contexts. As the daughter of a Colombian immigrant, I recognize a form of privilege afforded to me--but not to him--for no reason other than that I happened to be born in one country instead of another. I grew up in an affluent neighborhood. I had parents who were able to put me through undergrad and grad school—and provided me with enough money so I never had to work while attending school. I did nothing to earn these parents; I was simply born to them. I certainly was and am privileged in many ways, among them economically. Yet I encounter others who have privileges that I never could: namely, my partner, who is male, and has never double-thought out of fear of being raped a lonely late-night walk, or my girlfriends (almost all of whom are white) who have never experienced racial profiling in a Bloomingdales whereas I, olive-skinned with dark brown eyes and hair, have.

The concept of privilege is not as nuanced as we make it out to be, and the epistemological and existential questions about its existence, definition, and application only foster defensive attitudes from those on converse sides of the spectrum. Privilege does exist: that is, as a sort of freedom that arises from a pre-existing advantage that later breeds additional advantages. Conceding the existence of privilege is not to undermine one’s capacity to suffer and struggle. However, denying that privilege exists is to abandon social and economic consciousness.

2 REPLIES

mj commented July 19, 2015

M

mj

michigan

And I suggest to you might stop trying to set yourself apart as "OTHER" because of the color of your hair or skin. You are afterall unless of mixed race Caucasian. Coming from a predominately Latino country or origins does not negate the fact that you are WHITE and I am very very tired of hearing it.

Perhaps the prejudice you imagine for being "brown" isn't really even there.

Josh Hill commented July 19, 2015

J

Josh Hill

New London, Conn.

I don't think anyone is denying that privilege exists. It is rather the broad brushing of ever white person with this presumption of privilege that people find offensive. Most white people have much less in common with a Bush than they do with the black guy next door.

Liz J commented July 14, 2015

L

Liz J

New York

People are provoked when their privilege is pointed out because privilege is something ingrained, something the individual cannot change about themselves.

A child doesn't control where it is born, what sort of parents it has, what color hair and facial features it has, how much money its support system has, etc.

Privilige is something that people cannot change, cannot apologize for as much as they can apologize for the size of their teeth or the tone of their voice.

And because it's often presented as a negative (people forgetting their privilege, people being more privileged than others), people get defensive, naturally, as almost all humans do when criticized.

Ken commented July 14, 2015

K

Ken

Charlotte NC

Pointing out the reality that one's status (broadly defined) shapes his or her perceptions, values, daily experiences, and views of justice is entirely on the mark. But using "check your privilege" to silence or delegitimize views with which you disagree is unacceptable and counterproductive. And limiting the privilege discourse to the narrow confines of American society misses the much bigger point that most everyone living in the US, regardless of status, enjoys levels of privilege that those living in the "bottom billion" could not even imagine. When the "check your privilege" rhetoric is wielded by students at Ivy League schools, it borders on theatre of the absurd. and discredits what ought to be a powerful and legitimate discussion about status and perception.

tomsgal09 commented July 14, 2015

T

tomsgal09

Yorktown Hts, NY

Like the author, I grew up believing that "privilege" was a reference to wealth and not race regarding one's placement in societal hierarchy. I lived in a lower middle class Bronx neighborhood the 60's and 70's aware of some minor disparity in the between the inhabitants of the four-family semi-attached homes on my street (first generation European and Puerto Rican) and the mostly African American inhabitants of the housing projects two blocks away. Everyone lived in four-room apartments, but we had a tiny backyard and a basement where larger family could gather for a holiday. Beyond that, we shopped in the same stores, attended the same schools, rode the same busses and trains, and played in the same parks. In the late 60's, the peaceful co-existence was disrupted when stories broke of rioting in other areas of the city and the country. My speculation is that fear was incited resulting in acts of aggression by the neighborhoods' youth (no race or ethnic distinction) until a marked increase in assaults, robberies, and street fighting made it unsafe for my family remain. Was I privileged because my family had some limited resources to be able to relocate to a safer place? Do the sacrifices that my parents made to try to afford a higher cost of living in another Bronx neighborhood in order to protect me from violence not mitigate the notion of their privilege? Who gets to be the judge of who is guilty of privilege or does skin color override personal experience?

1 REPLY

Marilyn Wise commented July 15, 2015

M

Marilyn Wise

Los Angeles

It is interesting that you use the phrase "guilty of privilege." I think this is counter-productive. One can recognize privilege and use it, without being guilty. But to deny it is not much help to anyone.

mike melcher commented July 14, 2015

M

mike melcher

chicago

In every human society that has ever existed there has been a group that was accorded more priviledge than any of the others. The only question is who gets the priviledge?

Given a choice I'll keep mine, thank you very much.

Lori commented July 14, 2015

L

Lori

New York

And, how far does it go? Is a working class white considered "privileged?"

Can any "mindful" white with a social consciousness be exempt from the label?

What about the African American elite?

Is any individual exempt, or does skin color trump all?

When it is an excuse for lazy thinking?

Etc.

4 REPLIES

Really commented July 14, 2015

R

Really

Boston, MA

Thank you for your post - I think of my white working class father, a Vietnam veteran and I reject the notion of white privilege.

I think of my white working class brother who served a mandatory prison term for a non-violent drug offense (with no criminal record) and I reject the notion of white privilege.

In my experience, class privilege trumps all. Of course, those who benefit most from class privilege are the ones who deny its existence.

Peg commented July 14, 2015

P

Peg

NYC Tristate

I agree with you Lori - working class people of ALL colors are in the same boat. However, no one is following you around a store if you "look suspiciosu" i.e. Black. Even Oprah, the richest Black woman in the world was denied entry to a swanky store to buy things neither of us could afford.

Further, if your name was Lakeisha instead of Lori you may not get that job, that apt, that referral. So it is not lazy thinking but really just being aware that you get a half a leg up as I'm assuming a White woman. It may not mean much to you. Yes, we do not get paid as much as a man, and that too is a privilege. So is being able bodied. You may consider none of these things as a big deal but for the person who cannot walk, or cannot get the interview - its huge.

I think its really asking for people to be mindful of who they are and how to mentally walk a mile in their shoes to be more compassionate.

Really commented July 15, 2015

R

Really

Boston, MA

Hi Peg - I get that - it's just that of late it seems that people who "accuse" people of white privilege, for example, and make that judgement based on my skin color alone, and not my class identity or experiences.

There just isn't a shared "white experience" in my opinion, so when an upper class white person, for example, generalizes that all whites enjoy "white privilege" I'm skeptical.

max commented July 14, 2015

M

max

NY

Have you ever had the experience of dining in a restaurant, complaining about the service, and having your friend smugly say "you've obviously never waited tables"? It's the same principle here. "Privilege" is a loaded term because it presumes that one can't have an opinion without first hand experience. Imagine how insulting it would be to tell the underprivileged person that they can't pass judgement on the employer who is avoiding the resumes with black names because they haven't walked in his shoes.

2 REPLIES

Sherman L. Greene commented July 15, 2015

S

Sherman L. Greene

Upper West Side

No. The freedom to have opinions is everyone's birthright, not a privilege. Whoever uses the word in that sense is trivializing it. The privilege at issue here is power -- an unearned advantage over others.

x commented July 15, 2015

X

x

these examples are not parallel. the person who waited tables has direct experience in the exact activity that is being discussed--waiting tables. it is a generic activity that many share similar experiences with. there is no hidden agenda in the experience--just reality.

the employer who is avoiding black names when assessing applicants is committing an unlawful act--discriminaton based on race. that is not a generic activity that many share similar experiences with. moreover, there is a hidden, unlawful agenda to that act. the two do not compare at all.

D Jiang commented July 14, 2015

D

D Jiang

Chicago

"Privilege" became a provocation when it went from an exercise in empathy and enumerating the ways blacks experience America differently than whites to a blunt, angry instrument for bashing whites.

2 REPLIES

jane commented July 15, 2015

J

jane

san diego

"the ways blacks experience America differently than whites..."

It's also a problem when race is obsessed about only in terms of blacks and whites. I'm sure Hispanics, Arabs, Native Americans, and Asians experience America differently than blacks or whites. As do gays, women, etc, etc.

Kim commented July 15, 2015

K

Kim

NYC

Could you provide examples of the blunt, angry instruments of bashing?

D Jiang commented July 14, 2015

D

D Jiang

Chicago

Everyone experiences moments when strangers' treatment of them is based on their group's reputation. (Which group is salient can change - ask any black cop.) Yes, I am "privileged" to belong to a "well-behaved" group.

Unfortunately, the only way to completely alter this response is to change the behavior of enough group members that a stereotype no longer applies. When black students study as hard and achieve as well as white ones, employers will call Jamal back as often as James. And only when the black male violent crime rate goes down to where the white one is (or the white one rises dramatically!), will racial profiling completely stop. That is just how reality works.

"Privilege" isn't something groups with good reputations need to "give up", it's something groups with bad reputations need to earn. (At least as regards the two examples I gave, not the posters and greeting cards, etc.)

3 REPLIES

Peg commented July 14, 2015

P

Peg

Tristate

I teach those Black kids - who go to mediocre, underfunded schools and can't get into the better schools for a variety of reason that are not of their own making. The system is set up for them to fail. Don't believe me; come to Paterson, NJ and I will walk you through a day in the life of kid in a crappy school trying to get the education they deserve.

You can talk about all the Black men locked up and I will discuss how they target them and where they live. How many times sir have you been pulled over just because some officer thought you fit a description or looked out of place. Sadly for me, quite a few times including with a husband in law enforcement.

Even when Black folks acted like "Good Negroes" of my grandmother's day 90 years ago we were still be lynched just for looking at someone the wrong way. Folks walk down the street trying to mind their business and get assaulted, accused of crimes, harassed. Today. In the 21st century.

I think it is rather telling that it is always Blacks who have to be calm, be nice, be polite least we upset the apple cart of everyone else's feelings. Sorry but we are tired of it. We have the right to be angry because we have not been heard.

We need a truth and reconciliation committee in this country. It's the only way to air some of this out into the open. But as long as people have no compassion and are dismissive of what is a reality they do not know, we are never going to get anyway on this.

Courtney commented July 15, 2015

C

Courtney

Florida

You're referring to a thing that has been relatively common amongst the black community known as respectability politics or the desire to be ultra respectable or conservative so as to dissuade the popular stereotypes that negatively affect us as blacks people. It is an outdated concept you're referring to that shifts the focus off of exercising real acceptance and understanding for marginalized communities and onto telling us that we need to be an essentially perfect people if we want to live in a world where racial profiling and similar occurrences don't exist. That is both unfair and indicative of your lack of experience on this matter. And for the record, you really must do your research if you're going to attempt to discuss the differences in the academic performances of black and white kids. All that to say, your argument is ill-formed. I urge you to do better.

Valerie commented July 19, 2015

V

Valerie

NYC

The schools in Paterson, NJ are not underfunded. They are mismanaged. The district spends more than $20,000 per pupil.

The median in NJ is $18,548

Suburban towns surrounding Paterson are spending in the $15K to 16K range to educate their students.

Paterson is an Abbott district that gets extra funding from the State of NJ, taken from other municipalities taxes.

Source: http://www.nj.com/education/2015/04/nj_schools_how_much_is_your_district...

Richard commented July 14, 2015

R

Richard

Los Angeles

We're not called to shame others whom we perceive to be more advantaged than ourselves; we're called to empathize with those who are less advantaged. Those who insist on battering others with accusations of "privilege" are aiming up when they should be handing down.

Everyone enjoys more privilege than someone else.

HN commented July 14, 2015

H

HN

As someone who grew up "privileged" though not necessarily aware of it at the time, I am trying to make my son realize his privileges, as I believe that conscious understanding of it will help my child to grow up as a morally upright person.

This is not an easy task. I have had to adapt my language as he matures. I also note that he is surrounded by other grownups (teachers, coaches, friends) who present a more normative view of the world.

We are not a religious family, but I do believe in morality, especially "do unto others as you would want others to do unto you," with a special emphasis on including ALL as "others". If we can imbue our children with this at a young age, there might be hope in the world.

Randy commented July 14, 2015

R

Randy

NY

Social scientists began using the word (privilege) to refer to the unearned benefits afforded a group of people. How does this differ from the basic understanding of the word 'entitlement' as it applies to those receiving welfare, SNAP benefits, Medicaid, etc?

1 REPLY

Dios Mio commented July 14, 2015

D

Dios Mio

California

Amazing. If you think the abject poverty that qualifies people for SNAP, Medicaid, etc. is any kind of privilege you have obviously never been in those circumstances. Those are people. Should they die? Turn to crime?

As for entitlements...that word (and "privilege" too) would be far better applied to the richest of the rich whose tax rate on capital gains is only 15%. Talk about unearned...

Fred commented July 14, 2015

F

Fred

New York City

"Privilege" is a word that obscures more than it reveals and confuses more than it enlightens. It should be banished to the dust bin of history.

1 REPLY

Sherman L. Greene commented July 15, 2015

S

Sherman L. Greene

Upper West Side

"Privilege" is a very old word simply names a fundamental social reality. If people find the word unenlightening, it's because they don't want to acknowledge that reality.