Do I Have Privilege?

The short answer is “Yes.”

The longer answer is more nuanced, because of course I don’t see or experience my privilege. It just is, because I live in a society and culture that by default caters to me and my own identity and my own sense of belonging here.

There is a great paper written by Peggy McIntosh in 1988, with an excerpt in this link.

Some things that stuck out:


  • When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
  • I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person’s voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.
  • I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.
  • I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race
  • I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
  • I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the “person in charge”, I will be facing a person of my race.
  • I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children’s magazines featuring people of my race.
  • f I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn’t a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.
  • I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

“White privilege” isn’t something you see or notice. It is, however, something you experience, and you usually  notice only if someone calls it to your attention, and then you claim you aren’t really experiencing it because of many reasons, chief among them that you are an OK person who doesn’t feel bad or have bad thoughts about others.

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