[WAsummit] Using the language of privilege

[Dottye Burt-Markowitz]

Thank you, Paul, for sharing these ideas.  I love and so
appreciate this kind of sharing of concrete ideas for getting
past white resistance.  (And please say hi to Donna for me.)

Dottye

On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:18 -0400, "Paul Marcus"
<pmarcus at communitychangeinc.org> wrote:

  I also just had the chance to follow this conversation and
  really appreciate the comments and insights. In our work,
  Donna Bivens and I do something very similar to the exercise
  Dottye uses. After we have provided a good deal of space for
  an analysis of systemic racism and viewed the second half of
  “Race the Power of in Illusion, Part 3 (housing policy and
  creation of the wealth gap – a great window into white
  privilege) we do a rank inventory (“The Power or Rank” adapted
  from VISIONS and Arnold Mindell) where participants check off
  the categories where they have systemic rank.  This gives
  participants and opportunity to acknowledge those places where
  they have  systemic rank and those where they do not as well
  as to acknowledge the intersections. And, it it does allow
  people to be heard and have their thoughts and feelings
  acknowledged (I really like Dottye’s question about  those
  areas you are most aware of and least aware of.)  We then do a
  deeper examination of the racial rank, i.e. privilege. There
  is a lot a baggage around the term privilege and we are  very
  clear that we are not using the word privilege in the ways in
  which it is often thought about.  I have found it helpful to
  define privileges as things that some people have as opposed
  to rights which are things that all people have.(While we can
  get into a discussion about how rights are often trampled,
  this does invite people to apply a new lens to thinking about
  privilege)  We also always keep the focus on systemic racism
  talking about a system  that impacts all of us at the
  internal, interpersonal, institutional and cultural dimensions
  and being clear that in order for transformation to occur, we
  need to pay attention to all 4 dimensions.
  Finally, I have found it helpful to use the excellent table:
  “The Reality of White Privilege: Lifetime benefits of being a
  working class white person in the early 21st Century” from
  Chip Smith’s book, “The Cost of Privilege.”  (rough copy
  attached)
  Our experience, especially over the past 2 years is that we
  have not had a lot of resistance from white people in our
  workshops when we examine white privilege and the ideology of
  white supremacy
  Much of this work for me is driven by the sentiment in the
  title of a paper written by environmental educator, Ed Clark:
  If I Hadn’t of Believed It, I Wouldn’t have Seen It!”  Rather
  than back away from these terms, I think  our work is to
  change the public discourse on racism. One (among many others)
  important way of doing that is providing experiences that
  expand people’s contexts and invite them to see things in new
  ways.
  In peace,
  Paul
  --
  Paul Marcus
  Executive Director
  Community Change, Inc.
  14 Beacon Street, Rm. 605
  Boston, MA 02108
  Phone: 617-523-0555
  Fax: 617-523-0555
  www.communitychangeinc.org
    __________________________________________________________

  From: Dottye Burt-Markowitz <pasoconsulting at fastmail.fm>
  Reply-To: White Anti-racist Summit <wasummit at lists.wacan.org>
  Date: Tue, 22 Sep 2009 10:50:50 -0400
  To: White Anti-racist Summit <wasummit at lists.wacan.org>
  Subject: Re: [WAsummit] Using the language of privilege
  Just had the chance to read this conversation.  I agree with
  the need to work thru the assumptions about privilege being
  about wealth (this is the most typical response we get in
  workshops), and I actually think those assumptions can be used
  as a "bridge" for people who understand class oppression to be
  able to own their white privilege.  I think what can stand in
  the way is if people don't feel they have been heard about
  their own experience, or had their experience denied or
  trivialized.  That has always been for me one of the major
  challenges of anti-racism work--keeping the spotlight on
  racism and white privilege, but allowing some space for
  looking at the intersections.  A good way we've found to do
  this is doing an exercise (adapted from "Social Group
  Membership Profile" in Teaching for Diversity and Social
  Justice:  A Sourcebook) listing different forms of oppression
  and having people fill out a chart where they say how they
  identify themselves in each category and look at where they
  fall in the "privilege" column and where in the "oppressed"
  column.  The most powerful part of the exercise is when you
  ask "which category are you most aware of on a daily basis?
  Which are you least aware of?"  It's a quick way of
  illustrating how privilege for the most part is invisible (or
  at least not much thought about) to those who have it.  And it
  acknowledges the complexity of the "big picture", but enables
  you to get back to a focus on race.

  I also think Francie, that your idea about a chapter on
  discussions about language sometimes being a diversion is VERY
  important.

  One last comment....Our group in Baltimore usually talks about
  white supremacy as the ideology or belief system (very
  deliberately created and propagated) that underlies white
  privilege.  And white skin privilege as the benefits every
  person with white skin carries because of the continuing power
  of white supremacy in our society.  Relating that to the email
  about internal and external resources, as long as the dominant
  world view of our country is permeated with the ideology of
  white supremacy, whiteness will always add to whatever level
  of access to external resources a person or group has.

  Dottye


  On Tue, 22 Sep 2009 01:52 -0700, "Nancy" <narvold at sfo.com>
  wrote:


  Hi - I've loved this conversation. I'm taking the  dialogue to
  our Saturday Dialogue this Saturday - if any local folx are
  interested - 1-4PM at the Neibold-Proctor Marxist Library in
  North Oakland. Our  topic this week is white supremacy - what
  does it mean, how do you react when  you hear it, where do you
  use it and with whom...so this dialogue gives a  different
  perspective.

  I think it all depends on the level of awareness  the audience
  has. It is very different for beginners than veterans in the
  field.

  I think the terms white supremacy or white  supremacist system
  is far more scary than white privilege for most white folx to
   hear, so I rarely use white supremacy unless I'm preaching to
  the choir.It  has taken me some time to get it out of my own
  mouth without  slurring. White privilege still works for me,
  but I do have to make it  clear that white skin privilege is
  different from class privilege, and doesn't  mean support for
  white supremacy. I try to get people to see some of the for
  instances of where they do have it, whether or not they want
  it or even if they  think they don't have it. I will often use
  examples from Peggy McIntosh. At  least some which are
  class-free.

  I agree that people love to hide behind arguing  about words -
  it avoids getting the reality of the issue, and defensiveness
   protects  against becoming aware of the  nastiness of
  privilege and white supremacy. It is uncomfortable for people
  to  begin to look at, so of course they are likely to react to
  words that seem  deprecating to their identity. I try to
  engage about that.

  Class, for working class and poor folx, is always  way
  pertinent, and it is useful to speak to intersections of
  "isms" - that  validates every person who feels marginalized
  in some way, without arguing about  which is worse, but that
  they really do compound geometrically, as Jack said -
  multiple "isms" are harder. But at least today racism seems
  like the "glue" that  is holding all of the other "isms"
  together in one lump of injustice and  inequity.

  I'm interested if anyone comes up with a new and  better term.
  Time for language development?

  nancy

  ----- Original Message -----
  From:    Frances Kendall
  [1]<mailto:francie at franceskendall.com>
  To: White Anti-racist Summit
  [2]<mailto:wasummit at lists.wacan.org>
  Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 1:05    PM
  Subject: Re: [WAsummit] Using the    language of privilege

  Hello folks,
  I need some feedback, please. For    the third time in 2
  weeks, I have heard people say that “privilege” is no
  longer a useful word (when related to oppression, I guess) and
  that they would    prefer me to use another word. My belief is
  that people are scared that the    word puts whites off.
  Anybody else heard about    this?
  Thanks.
  Francie

  --
  Dottye Burt-Markowitz
  Paso Training and Consulting
  425 South Chester St.
  Baltimore MD 21231
  phone: 410-327-0134
  pasoconsulting at fastmail.fm
    __________________________________________________________

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References

1. mailto:francie at franceskendall.com
2. mailto:wasummit at lists.wacan.org
3. http://lists.wacan.org/listinfo/wasummit
-- 
Dottye Burt-Markowitz
Paso Training and Consulting
425 South Chester St.
Baltimore MD 21231
phone: 410-327-0134
pasoconsulting at fastmail.fm

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