Privilege (n) a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.
We recognize our own privilege when the term is used in the positive: You would like for me to speak at the Fall Conference? It would be my privilege. I had the privilege of meeting Dizzy Gillespie back in 1979.
The other use of the word, the negative use, is generally directed at someone who likely doesn’t recognize the perceived privilege: Every time we go out to eat with them, she complains about the service. She didn’t come from money – I wonder why she acts so privileged. He’s never worked a day in his life. It must be nice to come from privilege.
There is a huge difference between the first set of examples and the second. In the first, I feel privileged and recognize the circumstances surrounding my privilege. In the second, someone perceives that I am privileged whether I feel it, recognize it or even agree with it. It is this second type of privilege that I want to focus on as it is this perception of privilege, or more accurately, this construct that an entire race of people can be privileged over another in a free and open society, which bears scrutiny.
The concept of white privilege is one of the cornerstones of the new religion that sprang from Critical Race Theory. You can’t brand an entire population of people as oppressed if you can’t brand another group as the oppressors. However, in reality, privilege is relative, not absolute. Here’s an example a friend shared with me recently. He’s a white guy in his 50’s:
I was in college at the same time Dell Curry was a student athlete at Virginia Tech. Dell graduated and went on to a successful career in the NBA, most of that time with the Charlotte Hornets. He was and still is a popular figure in Charlotte. He also raised two sons in Charlotte, Steph and Seth, one who went to Davidson and the other Duke on basketball scholarships and both currently play in the NBA. I possess a small fraction of the wealth that Dell or his sons have accumulated. So, who grew up with more privilege – my son, who went to Community College – or either of the Curry brothers? Whose call is the CEO of Bank of America going to return first, mine or Dell Curry’s?
To take my friend’s example a step further, whose call is the CEO of Bank of America going return first, Dell Curry’s or a call from Roger Goodell, current commissioner of the NFL? The answer is most likely Roger Goodell. From the CEO’s perspective, Roger Goodell has more privilege than Dell Curry who has more privilege than my friend. But the privilege is based on influence and opportunity, not race.
It was easy to identify a type of white privilege in the 1940s and 1950s. There were bathrooms, water fountains, restaurants, hotels, banks, neighborhoods, and schools that whites had access to that no black individual did, even if it were Louis Armstrong, Joe Louis, or Hank Aaron. However, it is important to note that not all white people had access to those institutions either. Yes, they could drink from the fountains, but if they were poor, they had little more chance of getting a loan to start a business than the black person did. So, privilege was fluid in the white community even when the black community had visible structural barriers.
Fast forward to 2021 when the majority of those visible structural barriers are gone. There is no white privilege that flows from the wealthiest, most influential white people all the way down the economic scale to homeless whites who have no power or influence. There is no black oppression that flows from the wealthiest, most influential black people all the way down to homeless blacks. Some whites have more privilege than others and some blacks have more privilege than most whites.
It seems that white privilege is something that is perceived by people that perceive they don’t have it. Unfortunately, modern Diversity, Equity and Inclusion leaders focus on getting white people to admit they have it, even when they don’t. And getting black people to believe they have no privilege, even when they do.
My white friend does not owe a homeless black person an apology for any privilege he has accumulated (i.e. bankers returning his call). Nor does Dell Curry owe my friend an apology for having earned more privilege than my friend has. Nor does Roger Goodell… Perhaps it’s time to stop giving imaginary privilege so much power in our national discourse.