White Privilege

It is clear from our discussion yesterday that there is a variety of privilege that exists in society. This privilege gives some opporunity and denies it to others. We have all agreed that these privileges exist. I think yesterday I realized the the greatest privilege the middle-class White heterosexual male has is his ability to deny that his privilege exists. In the same vein, White people are afforded the ability to deny they are privileged, heterosexuals are able to deny they are privileged, and so on. Those who are seen as the "other," that is, non-White, non-heterosexual, non-male, are seen as bringing issues such as racism and homophobia into the discussion without any sort of basis for doing so, when there usually is. Of course if a White heterosexual person were to present an even in which these were clearly at play, this would seem to be a credible source. What a primitive idea. This same sort of thing occurred in slave narratives when a White person had to state their opinion that the narrative was valid, because without this White voucher, it would be seen as an invalid account. The privileged need to stop hiding behind privilege and instead embrace a new-found sense of responsibility.