This week I encountered two articles about privilege. One was a series of photos that visually explain privilege by flipping what we expect to see. The other was a thoughtful article about privilege from a conservative point of view. Privilege has been on my list of potential blog topics. The articles were the nudge I needed to write about it.
“Privilege” essentially means that you are born into a world where certain advantages, power among them, tend to come with being in a group or groups to which you belong. Powerful people are more often like you than not. Desirable goods and services are geared toward people like you. You don’t need to worry that if an Airbnb host tells you they cannot accommodate you, it’s because of who you are.
Privilege is often talked about in terms of race. Indeed, it’s very important to acknowledge the existence of white privilege and racism. But privilege can be tied to other things, such as financial status, gender, and religion. When we are willing to acknowledge privilege exists, we can take steps toward a world where equal opportunities for different people really exist.
There’s a lot that can be said about privilege. I want to tackle just a few things here. First, I want to talk about why people may deny that they are in a privileged group, because I think that’s the biggest obstacle to dismantling a system that favors certain groups over others. Then I want to address privilege from two perspectives: that of a Christian and that of a geek.
Why won’t we acknowledge our privilege?
We’ll never address the problems of privilege if we don’t acknowledge privilege exists. So why don’t we?
- Conservatives often see privilege as a liberal idea, and therefore one they must reject. This is why I am so moved by David Marcus’ article in The Weekly Standard. While he disagrees with some of the ways he sees privilege treated by people on the left, he makes the straightforward statement “[White privilege] absolutely describes an actual phenomenon.” I often worry about the gap between liberals and conservatives. It’s one thing to have different approaches to tackling a problem and another to not even agree whether or not a problem exists. People like Marcus give me hope.
- We don’t feel privileged. The world is a scary place, and the problems we face just seem to be getting worse. Wages have been largely stagnant for decades. Good jobs seem scarce. If you feel like you are constantly struggling to stay afloat, if you are worried about retaining your value in a tight job market, you certainly don’t think of yourself as privileged. Likewise, Christians are quick to deny Christian privilege, because we live an increasingly post-Christian society. We fail to acknowledge that Western culture mostly has been based on Christian culture for nearly 2,000 years. Even as we move into a post-Christian society, the advantages of being a Christian still linger. One example? While many people do not celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday, Christians did such a great job of establishing it as a major holiday that schools close around Christmas for winter break, and many people (though not all) get the day off work. As a Christian, I confess I love having Christmas off. But let’s face it — most of us don’t expect our employer to close for Rosh Hashanah or Eid Al-Fitr.
- We can’t see the forest for the trees. This is related to the point above. We may use things like instances of ridicule directed against us as evidence that we are not, in fact, privileged. Similarly, if we fail to “win” something, such as a job, and we see someone from a traditionally underprivileged group get what we wanted, we many conclude we aren’t privileged after all. For decades, white people have used the existence of affirmative action to argue that minority groups are actually privileged, but when so few people of color hold leadership roles, that argument doesn’t hold water. We need to look at the big picture rather than focusing on instances in which we didn’t benefit from privilege.
- We think that people who want us to acknowledge our privileges just want us to feel guilty and ashamed. I’m sure there are people who want just that. There are people who seem to derive great joy from shaming others about all sorts of things. They may be the Eeyores in our life, people who say things like, “Don’t mind me. My birthday doesn’t matter. You just go along and have your fun.” They may be people who delight in leaving nasty letters about things that are none of their business. I have no doubt that there are people whose goal is to make you feel guilty about belonging to a privileged group. But just because people like that exist doesn’t mean you should deny your privilege. Acknowledging privilege isn’t about living a shame-filled life. It’s about working toward a world of equal opportunities.
- We believe that privilege will always exist with one group or another. Maybe it really does rest with us now, but if we change things, it will just go to another group. At any rate, it will always be here. It’s part of human nature. So why bother thinking about it? I actually do believe that there will always be privileged groups this side of heaven. It is, indeed, part of human nature. So are things like murder, rape, and child abuse. That doesn’t mean we don’t fight those things. They are wrong, and it is our job to take a stand against what’s wrong.
- We don’t want to give up our privilege. When life seems to exist to favor people like you, it can be a very scary thing to actively work toward changing things, thus giving up the advantages you were born with. But that brings me to the section of my post that tackles privilege from a specifically Christian point of view…
God’s kingdom is about giving up privilege.
The Bible is subversive. Christians worship a God who “made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death — even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:7-8) If we call ourselves Christians, we are supposed to imitate Jesus. What does this look like?
- Jesus was born into poverty and died the death of a criminal — exhibiting powerlessness in birth and death.
- He hung out with rejects, such as tax collectors; welcomed the powerless, such as children; and told stories in which the respectable came out looking bad and the role of the hero was played by someone unexpected, like the Good Samaritan.
- Jesus preached about an upside-down kingdom in which the first are last and the last are first. He spoke of a day when the hungry would be satisfied, and the well-fed would go hungry. In God’s kingdom, power structures are reversed.
It’s not always easy to figure out how to faithfully follow Jesus in the modern world. What is clear is that it requires willingness to give up power rather than grasp it. As for Christian organizations, wouldn’t be amazing if their leadership looked less like Fortune 500 companies and more like God’s kingdom?
Shedding privilege is an adventure.
If you’ve dreamed of getting an acceptance letter to Hogwarts or having the Doctor offer to take you anywhere in time and space, you’ve felt the pull of adventure. Alas, these daydreams will never come to pass, but there are real-life adventures we can pursue. One of those is the willingness to shed our privileges. If you belong to a privileged group, imagine living in a world that did not accommodate people like you. If you’re a geek, you may have had times when you felt like an outsider. Jump in and embrace that feeling! Shedding privilege is uncomfortable, but as Bilbo learned, adventures aren’t comfortable… but they change life for the better.
I’m short on specifics about how to go about this, because I myself have taken mere baby steps on this adventure. I’ve become aware of my privileges, and I try to think from the perspective of those who do not have them. If I’m donating food to a food shelf, am I including foods that might especially appeal to the immigrants who live in my community? Am I in a position to recommend a talented person from a disadvantaged group for a position of power, so that they can gain experiences that previously may have been denied to them?
Outside of considering the perspectives of people who don’t share my privileges, I need to be willing to become uncomfortable. How do I feel going into a space where I am the minority? How do I feel about accepting leadership from someone who has less privilege than I do?
These are only small steps on the adventure of shedding privilege, but they are steps. What can you do today to notice the privileges you have, and how can you let go of those privileges for the good of others?