The Undeserved Perks of Being White, Round 2
Two weeks ago a reader posted this comment on my blog:
“As noted in the previous comment, the benefits of being white are universal. One benefit is the ability to go to Africa and be considered an expert while in your early 20’s.”
First, let me vaguely clarify what I do. I am administering sub-grants to local NGOs and facilitating relevant trainings for these NGOs. For the most part, I am not actually giving the trainings. I do not pretend to be an expert on building NGO coalitions, for example.
But there is definitely something to what you are saying. In Liberia and Nigeria I am frequently perceived as being more knowledgeable or powerful than I am because I am white or American or both.
I don’t know how to deal with this. Self-effacement is appropriate for some situations, but not most. In Nigeria there were so few women in positions of political or economic power that I felt my perceived power to be a justified-if-skewed form of affirmative action.
Anyways, I think about this every day. I welcome thoughts or suggestions on how to deal with undeserved privilege.
We have privilege we haven’t earned. We had it from the day we were born. On that day we were pretty much guaranteed a good education including great colleges, we had a life expectency in our 70’s or 80’s, the best health care and the opportunity to work in a bank making over $100K for all our working years. We are the most spoiled people in the history of the human race.
All we can do is appreciate that fact on a daily basis and give some of it back. Use our privilege to help people in Africa or teach kids in Central America or volunteer our services in our communities. Give some of that income to the poor in the third world or Maine for that matter. And for God sake, don’t go to McDonalds.
I think it’s a blessing to to feel some guilt for all the privileges we enjoy. It’s a great motivator.
Making people feel guilty for what they were born into will turn off more people than it will inspire. Discounting the hard work people have done in their lives (even if they started in a really good place) backfires. I agree that we should all appreciate all we have, but just a thought.
I wasn’t saying anyone should be made to feel guilty for their privilege. But some people do feel a need to give something back whether out of guilt or whatever. For those that do feel that need and decide to give a little back the rewards are tremendous.
And I’d never discount hard work. Certainly not the work I put in working in a bank.
Get over it. It’s not healthy. Feeling guilty because you are White is like feeling like a victim because you are Black. You can’t control your color, so why let your color control your emotions. Don’t confuse empathy with guilt. Let your heart and brain control your actions.
yrfavunclee