I belong to the earth

white privilege January 17, 2010

I recently read an article by Tim Wise, who according to himself is “among the nation’s most prominent anti-racist educators.” You can read the article here and visit his scary facebook page here.

The article starts with an assumption: “Whites generally have…white privilege” and that this privilege is “unearned.”

He speaks of white people as if we all share the same culture, ignoring the differences of experience among immigrants and others who are white skinned but do not belong to the “dominant culture”. To make an example of myself: i felt alienated a lot in my young years as a result of having parents who did not partake in the american (especially materialistic) lifestyle. No i wasn’t discriminated against for being from Russia per say, but (for years) my clothes did not fit in and the things the other kids did (go to the movies, mc’donalds, eat chinese food) i could not do and so those “dominant culture” kids kept away from me (resulting in perhaps depressed self esteem and poorer performance in school) It wasn’t an issue of poverty because we weren’t that poor. Doing these things was simply not a part of my parents culture. But Wise disregards such experiences or demotes them and i take issue with that. In any society where people of diverse backgrounds integrate, there will be a tug-of-war between this need to fit in and maintaining your own culture. This is normal and inevitable. It’s not a bad idea to mitigate the rifts somehow – but how?

“Indeed, one could even argue that students of color from lower-income backgrounds who strive and achieve, despite not having had the advantages so common to many white students, might actually be more deserving of admission than those who have had a wealth of opportunity since birth.”

So white children and wealthy children should be punished because of attributes they were born into/with? It reminds me of this moral dilemma story about the doctor with 5 sick patients who need different organs to survive, and one healthy man who comes to his office. Is killing this man and taking his organs to save the other patients justifiable? In the white/non-white student situation the consequences are even more muddy. Sacrificing one child for the sake of another doesn’t result in a 4x benefit.

“…families of color will be less likely than white families to have prior connections to independent schools. As such, they may not be aware of the steps involved in applying, or know which forms to fill out, or how to set up a school visit or evaluation for their child.”

Of course because white people (like me) have known from birth what forms to fill out. In fact I think there’s a connection in my pants!

“As for programming, though such events are often valuable, they can sometimes be little more than celebrations of the food and holidays of racial and cultural “others” — hardly the kind of efforts that erase the privileging of the dominant group. Learning about Diwali, Chinese New Year, or Kwanzaa doesn’t challenge the dominance of whites within our schools. In fact, because these celebrations sometimes allow students and families to view the traditions of non-whites as “exotic,” they may (absent a discussion of power and privilege) serve to reinforce the privileging of whites, whose traditions are deemed normal and mainstream, as opposed to the strange and fascinating rituals of “others.””

By definition he who is not me is “other.” I don’t understand what Wise is proposing in this paragraph. How should these occasions be celebrated so as to not reinforce “the privilege of whites”?

“Whites in independent schools typically have the privilege of feeling as though they belong. They can feel confident that their presence won’t be questioned or presumed to be the result of someone rigging the game on their behalf.”

“Privilege of feeling” sounds like an oxymoron! The reason that the presence of a non-white person may be questioned is because affirmative action DOES rig the system! Very often standards WERE lowered to foster diversity.

“Yes, schools may now have diversity clauses as part of their mission statements, but is the school’s commitment to diversity fully “operationalized” throughout the institution?…Are candidates for admission, faculty positions, or administrative jobs screened not only on the basis of traditionally understood qualifications, but also on their commitment to the mission of the school, including its focus on diversity and equity?”

Makes me think of ideologues interrogating candidates in a crazy horror style fashion.

“One way to foster healthy discussions about these subjects is to create affinity group structures, whereby people of color provide support to one another, and whites striving to be antiracist allies do the same. Although affinity groups are structured as intra-racial groupings, over time they can spark productive interracial dialogue as well because some of the conversation-stopping and tension-creating comments that might otherwise be made in mixed company can be tackled first in a less tense and more secure environment.”

Sure, separation will make us equal =/