Anniversary Post: White Privilege is Not About Feeling Guilty

(originally posted 8/15/2010)

In 1988 Peggy McIntosh wrote a brilliant essay entitled White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Every white person should read it in my opinion, but it should be required reading for white parents adopting transracially. (If you haven't read it you can read it here) 

And while we have passed the 20th anniversary of the writing, little has changed. Certainly a few of the minor things are no longer issues (for instance, Crayola has changed the “flesh” colored crayon to “peach” and you can fairly easily find people colored crayons in some of the variety of hues that people come in) but the major tenets of white privilege remain as unchanged as they were 20 years ago.

Within groups of adoptive parents there are many reactions to the whole concept of white privilege. To some they use the minor details (like skin colored band-aids) that do not continue to hold true as an excuse to negate the entire thesis. Some will argue that other groups have privilege too so it isn’t a white thing. 

There are also other kinds of privilege- you can also be afforded privilege based on your gender, age, physical ability, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, education and religion. But if you look closely at the list you will see how many of these privileges co-exist together, tied up in a nice little bundle with race. The fact that there are other privileges also does not negate the fact that in the United States privilege primarily exists on the basis of your skin. And the amount of privilege you get is also directly proportional to how light your skin is. The lighter you are, the more privilege you get (my African American friends refer to it as how well you can “pass” [for white]) 

GUILTY

1.  responsible for a crime, wrong action, or error and deserving punishment, blame, or criticism

One of the major response from adoptive parents who do not accept the idea of white privilege is the idea that they have no reason to feel guilty about having white privilege because there are that others don’t have privilege. However, guilt has no place here and guilt is counterproductive. There is nothing to feel guilty about. You are not responsible for white privilege. You didn’t ask for white privilege and you did nothing to deserve it or achieve it except have the fortune of being born with white skin. You did not create the conditions that result in white privilege. And even if you did feel guilty, you can’t get rid of your white privilege. You benefit from it- accept it. But at the same time also accept that other people do not have that luxury. Spending all your energy protesting how you aren’t going to feel guilty is an easy way to avoid looking at the real problem. 

White privilege is also about the racism of institutions and socialization far more than it is about the racism of individuals. When someone talks about white privilege, they are NOT calling all white people racists. They are talking about the results of years of socialization, most of which is unconscious and unacknowledged. They are talking about the end result of a GROUP of people who have historically held power over another group-maintaining that power through an intricate web of economics, education, policies, practices and in some cases brute force. Beliefs and practices that we all internalize because we are socialized from birth to believe these things all without ever even realizing that it is happening. Practices that have instilled the dominant culture (in this case white) as the norm and everything else as “other.”

That is what white privilege is all about, plain and simple- it’s not about calling a person racist, it’s not about people feeling guilty. It’s about one group being the norm and the resulting benefits that result from that fact. 

Benefits like(and while I know there are some folks who want to think this doesn’t happen it does). - -never being pulled over for driving while black.

My former boss (an always well dressed black man in his 30’s) and his friend left the mall and were pulled over within minutes under suspicion of robbing the mall. They were both frisked and the officers began to search the car when they received word that the actual suspects in the robbery had been apprehended at the mall. The police however, continued to search the car despite the fact that they no longer had probable cause to even continue the stop, let alone the search)

-knowing that almost anywhere you go you will see people who look like you and if you don’t, you have probably made a conscious choice to be where you are

-knowing that you will not be followed in a store-knowing that you will see people who look like you reflected POSITIVELY in the television shows you watch, the magazines you read, the news you hear and the textbooks your children will learn from

-knowing your history is not relegated to one month a year, IF there is time in the curriculum 

-knowing that you can sleep each night understanding that race is not an issue you have to think about at all if you don’t want to 

One of the examples used in a recent (online) conversation I was having was the example of being able to find dolls that match your skin tone. There were many explanations of why there are not as many dolls of color and they all may be true or partially true. But at the end of the day the privilege is that you can walk into ANY store that sells toys and find a doll to match. Knowing that your skin, your features, your group is represented. The privilege is the fact the doll is there, the why it is there when there are no (or few) dolls of color is the system of socialization that determines what beauty is, what consumers are being marketed to, and what media message is sent- that’s the racism behind white privilege. 

We can’t stop white privilege (at least not yet) and no matter how much we may want to, we can’t get rid of ours. What we can do it understand it exists and recognize when we are benefiting from it. We can do what we can to make sure our privilege is not at the expense of someone else. 

But the best thing we can do if we really want to effect change for the world is to point out our privilege to other white folks. This is not something that is easily accepted by the very people who need to understand it. But once you understand, once you can see it, then slowly change will take place. When enough individuals change, then institutions and practices will change and when institutions and practices change, then this system based on unearned and unmerited privilege will end. 

 People don’t talk about white privilege to make you feel guilty, or like a racist, because it isn’t about guilt or individual racism. If it were it would be a whole lot easier to eliminate. They talk about it because they want you to understand, to become aware because when we all understand, the world will be better for it.