Date: Thu, 25 Feb 1999 10:57:35 -0600 From: Wail Hassan <w-hassan-AT-wiu.edu> Subject: Re: Is free thought dead? The following essay was posted on another discussion gourp. It is relevant to your question. > >>Subject: an article forwarded from the Duke Femilist >> >> >>>>> This article appeared in the Baltimore Sun newspaper >>>>> and was written by a white professor at the U of >>>>> Texas. >>>>> >>>>> "White people need to acknowledge benefits of >>>>> unearned privilege" By Robert Jensen >>>>> >>>>> BALTIMORE: Here's what white privilege sounds like: >>>>> I'm sitting in my University of Texas office, talking >>>>> to a very bright and very conservative white student >>>>> about affirmative action in college admissions, which >>>>> he opposes and I support. The student says he wants >>>>> a level playing field with no unearned advantages for >>>>> anyone. >>>>> I ask him whether he thinks that being white has >>>>> advantages in the United States. Have either of us, I >>>>> ask, ever benefited from being white in a world run >>>>> mostly by white people? Yes, he concedes, there is >>>>> something real and tangible we could call white >>>>> privilege. >>>>> >>>>> So, if we live in a world of white privilege -- >>>>> unearned white privilege -- how does that affect your >>>>> notion of a level playing field? I asked. He paused >>>>> for a moment and said, "That really doesn't matter." >>>>> That statement, I suggested to him, reveals the >>>>> ultimate white privilege: the privilege to >>>>> acknowledge that you have unearned privilege but to >>>>> ignore what it means. >>>>> >>>>> That exchange led me to rethink the way I talk about >>>>> race and racism with students. It drove home the >>>>> importance of confronting the dirty secret that we >>>>> white people carry around with us every day: in a >>>>> world of white privilege, some of what we have is >>>>> unearned. >>>>> >>>>> I think much of both the fear and anger that comes up >>>>> around discussions of affirmative action has its >>>>> roots in that secret. So these days, my goal is to >>>>> talk openly and honestly about white supremacy and >>>>> white privilege. White privilege, like any social >>>>> phenomenon, is complex. >>>>> >>>>> In a white supremacist culture, all white people have >>>>> privilege, whether or not they are overtly racist >>>>> themselves. There are general patterns, but such >>>>> privilege plays out differently depending on context >>>>> and other aspects of one's identity (in my case, >>>>> being male gives me other kinds of privilege). Rather >>>>> than try to tell others how white privilege has >>>>> played out in their lives, I talk about how it has >>>>> affected me. >>>>> >>>>> I am as white as white gets in this country. I am of >>>>> northern European heritage and I was raised in North >>>>> Dakota, one of the whitest states in the country. I >>>>> grew up in a virtually all-white world surrounded by >>>>> racism, both personal and institutional. Because I >>>>> didn't live near a reservation, I didn't even have >>>>> exposure to the state's only numerically >>>>> significant nonwhite population, American Indians. I >>>>> have struggled to resist that racist training and the >>>>> racism of my culture. >>>>> >>>>> I like to think I have changed, even though I >>>>> routinely trip over the lingering effects of that >>>>> internalized racism and the institutional racism >>>>> around me. But no matter how much I "fix" myself, one >>>>> thing never changes - I walk through the world with >>>>> white privilege. >>>>> >>>>> What does that mean? Perhaps most importantly, when I >>>>> seek admission to a university, apply for a job, or >>>>> hunt for an apartment, I don't look threatening. >>>>> Almost all of the people evaluating me look like me >>>>> -they are white. They see in me a reflection of >>>>> themselves - and in a racist world, that is an >>>>> advantage. I smile. I am white. I am one of them. I >>>>> am not dangerous. Even when I voice critical >>>>> opinions, I am cut some slack. After all, I'm white. >>>>> My flaws also are more easily forgiven because I am >>>>> white. >>>>> >>>>> Some complain that affirmative action has meant the >>>>> university is saddled with mediocre minority >>>>> professors. I have no doubt there are minority >>>>> faculty who are mediocre, though I don't know very >>>>> many. As Henry Louis Gates Jr. once pointed out, if >>>>> affirmative action policies were in place for the >>>>> next hundred years, it's possible that at the end of >>>>> that time the university could have as many mediocre >>>>> minority professors as it has mediocre white >>>>> professors. >>>>> >>>>> That isn't meant as an insult to anyone, but it's a >>>>> simple observation that white privilege has meant that >>>>> scores of second-rate white professors have slid >>>>> through the system because their flaws were >>>>> overlooked out of solidarity based on race, as well >>>>> as on gender, class and ideology. >>>>> >>>>> Some people resist the assertions that the United >>>>> States is still a bitterly racist society and that >>>>> the racism has real effects on real people. But white >>>>> folks have long cut other white folks a break. I >>>>> know, because I am one of them. >>>>> >>>>> I am not a genius - as I like to say, I'm not the >>>>> sharpest knife in the drawer. I have been teaching >>>>> full time for six years and I've published a >>>>> reasonable amount of scholarship. Some of it is the >>>>> unexceptional stuff one churns out to get >>>>> tenure, and some of it, I would argue, is worth >>>>> reading. I worked hard, and I like to think that I'm >>>>> a fairly decent teacher. Every once in a while, I >>>>> leave my office at the end of the day feeling like I >>>>> really accomplished >>>>> something. When I cash my paycheque, I don't feel >>>>> guilty. But, all that said, I know I did not get >>>>> where I am by merit alone. I benefited from among >>>>> other things, white privilege. >>>>> >>>>> That doesn't mean that I don't deserve my job, or >>>>> that if I weren't white I would never have gotten the >>>>> job. It means simply that all through my life, I have >>>>> soaked up benefits for being white. All my life I >>>>> have been hired for jobs by white people. I was >>>>> accepted for >>>>> graduate school by white people. And I was hired for >>>>> a teaching position by the predominantly white >>>>> University of Texas, headed by a white president, in >>>>> a college >>>>> headed by a white dean and in a department with a >>>>> white chairman that at the time had one nonwhite >>>>> tenured professor. I have worked hard to get where I >>>>> am, and I work hard to stay there. But to feel good >>>>> about myself and my work, I do not have to believe >>>>> that "merit" as defined by white people in a white >>>>> country, alone got me here. >>>>> >>>>> I can acknowledge that in addition to all that hard >>>>> work, I got a significant boost from white privilege. >>>>> At one time in my life, I would not have been able to >>>>> say that, because I needed to believe that my success >>>>> in life was due solely to my individual talent and >>>>> effort. >>>>> >>>>> I saw myself as the heroic American, the rugged >>>>> individualist. I was so deeply seduced by the >>>>> culture's mythology that I couldn't see the fear that >>>>> was binding me to those myths. Like all white >>>>> Americans, I was living with the fear that maybe I >>>>> didn't really deserve my success, that maybe luck and >>>>> privilege had more to do with it than brains and hard >>>>> work. I was afraid I wasn't heroic or rugged, that I >>>>> wasn't special. I let go of some of that fear when I >>>>> realized that, indeed, I wasn't special, but that I >>>>> was still me. >>>>> >>>>> What I do well, I still can take pride in, even when >>>>> I know that the rules under which I work in are >>>>> stacked to my benefit. Until we let go of the fiction >>>>> that people have complete control over their fate - >>>>> that we can will ourselves to be anything we choose - >>>>> then we will live with that fear. >>>>> >>>>> White privilege is not something I get to decide >>>>> whether I want to keep. Every time I walk into a >>>>> store at the same time as a black man and the >>>>> security guard >>>>> follows him and leaves me alone to shop, I am >>>>> benefiting from white privilege. >>>>> >>>>> There is not space here to list all the ways in which >>>>> white privilege plays out in our daily lives, but >>>>> it is clear that I will carry this privilege with me >>>>> until the day white supremacy is erased from this >>>>> society. >>>>> >>>>> Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) Baltimore Sun. >>>>> >>>>> The writer is a professor of journalism. Wa=EFl Hassan Assistant Professor Department of English and Journalism Western Illinois University Tel 309 298-1112 =46ax 309 298-2974 --- from list postcolonial-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---
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