Learning to See: Identifying Privilege

Transcription

1 The power of story can change our perspectives. Learning to See: Identifying Privilege RESOURCE PACKET Round Table Discussion 1: July 14, :30PM - 8:00PM Round Table Discussion 2: August 25, :30PM - 8:00PM Location: Grand Avenue Temple UMC 205 E 9th St Kansas City, MO 64106

2 What is privilege? According to Wikipedia: Privilege is a special right or advantage available only to a particular person or group of people. The term is commonly used in the context of social inequality, particularly in regard to age, disability, ethnic or racial category, gender, sexual orientation, religion and/or social class. Two common examples would be having access to a higher education and housing. Privilege can also be emotional or psychological, regarding comfort and personal self-confidence, or having a sense of belonging or worth in society. White Privilege Survey Score 5 if the statement is often true for you. Score 3 if the statement is sometimes true for you. Score 0 if the statement is seldom or never true for you. Because of my race or color I can be in the company of people of my race most of the time. 2. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of hassle-free renting or purchasing in an area in which I would want to live. 3. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me. 4. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed. 5. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the newspaper and see people of my race widely and positively represented. 6. When I am told about our national heritage or about civilization, I am shown that people of my race made it what it is. 7. I can be sure that my children (or children from my family) will be given curricular materials that testify to the contributions of their race. 8. I can go into most supermarkets and find staple foods which fit with my racial/ethnic traditions; I can go into any hairdresser s shop and find someone who can cut my hair. 9. Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability. 10. I can arrange to protect my children (or children from my family) most of the time from people who might mistreat them because of their race. 11. I can swear, dress in secondhand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race. 12. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race. 13. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

3 14. I can remain oblivious to the language and customs of people of color without feeling, from people of my race, any penalty for such ignorance. 15. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a racial outsider. 16. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the person in charge, I will be facing a person of my own race. 17. If a police officer pulls me over, I can be sure I haven t been singled out because of my race. 18. I can conveniently buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, and children s magazines featuring people of my race. 19. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied-in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, feared, or hated. 20. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race. 21. I can choose public accommodations (hotels, restaurants, etc.) without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the place I have chosen. 22. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me. 23. If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones. 24. I can comfortably avoid, ignore, or minimize the impact of racism on my life. 25. I can speak in public to a powerful group without putting my race on trial. 26. I can choose blemish cover or bandages in flesh color and have them more or less match the color of my skin. TOTAL Adapted form Peggy McIntosh, Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack Defining Implicit Bias Also known as implicit social cognition, implicit bias refers to the attitudes or stereotypes that affect our understanding, actions, and decisions in an unconscious manner. These biases, which encompass both favorable and unfavorable assessments, are activated involuntarily and without an individual s awareness or intentional control. Residing deep in the subconscious, these biases are different from known biases that individuals may choose to conceal for the purposes of social and/or political correctness. Rather, implicit biases are not accessible through introspection.

4 The implicit associations we harbor in our subconscious cause us to have feelings and attitudes about other people based on characteristics such as race, ethnicity, age, and appearance. These associations develop over the course of a lifetime beginning at a very early age through exposure to direct and indirect messages. In addition to early life experiences, the media and news programming are often-cited origins of implicit associations. A Few Key Characteristics of Implicit Biases Implicit biases are pervasive. Everyone possesses them, even people with avowed commitments to impartiality such as judges. Implicit and explicit biases are related but distinct mental constructs. They are not mutually exclusive and may even reinforce each other. The implicit associations we hold do not necessarily align with our declared beliefs or even reflect stances we would explicitly endorse. We generally tend to hold implicit biases that favor our own ingroup, though research has shown that we can still hold implicit biases against our ingroup. Implicit biases are malleable. Our brains are incredibly complex, and the implicit associations that we have formed can be gradually unlearned through a variety of debiasing technique The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race & Ethnicity - Social Class Privilege Checklist On a daily basis as an upper social class person I don t need to worry about learning the social customs of others. 2. The better people are in my social group. 3. It is likely that my career and financial success will be attributed to my hardwork. 4. People appear to pay attention to my social class. 5. When I am shopping, people usually call me Sir or Ma am. 6. When making a purchase with a check or credit card, my appearance doesn t create problems. 7. When I, or my children, are taught about history, people from my social class are represented in the books. 8. I can easily speak with my attorney or physician. 9. There are neighborhoods I can move to where I feel at home. 10. There are places where I can be among those exclusively from my social class. 11. I can deny Social Class Privilege by asserting that all social classes are essentially the same. 12. Experts appearing on mass media are from my social class. 13. There are stores that market especially to people from my social class.

5 14. I can protect myself and my children from people who may not like us based on my social class. 15. Law enforcement officials will likely assume I am a non-threatening person once they see me and hear me. 16. Disclosure of my work and education may actually help law enforcement officials perceive me as being in the right or unbiased. 17. I can easily speak to my child s college professors. 18. My citizenship and immigration status will likely not be questioned, and my background will likely not be investigated, because of my social class. 19. I can be sure that my social class will be an advantage when seeking medical or legal help. 20. If I wish to my children to private schools, I have a variety of options. 21. I can find colleges that have many people from my social class as students and that welcome me or my child. 22. If I apply for a prestige job competing with people of a lower class, my social class will be to my advantage. 23. The decision to hire me will be related to my background and where I went to school. 24. When I watch TV or read the papers I can see people of my own class represented well. 25. The Newsmakers are like me. 26. I deserve my status because of my accomplishments. 27. If I get offered a job over someone with more experience, it is because I deserve it. 28. My elected representatives share a similar background with mine. 29. Chances the person in charge in any organization is like me or is sympathetic to my status. 30. My child is never ignored in school, and if there are problems, I am called by the teacher or principal. 31. People are usually careful with their language and grammar around me. Additional Examples of Social Class Privilege by Simon Killermann You can readily find accurate (non-caricatured) examples of members of your class depicted in films, tv, or other media. You understand the difference between healthy & unhealthy food and can choose to eat health food if you wish. Politicians fight for your vote in the election season. People aren t surprised if they realize you are intelligent, hard-working or honest You have never used a pay check advance business (ex. Check into Cash, PayDay Loans)

6 You have never been asked to speak for all members of your class. When you choose to use variants of language (ex. slang) people chalk it up to plasticity in the language rather than assuming your particular dialectical variants deserve ridicule or punishment As a kid, you were able to participate in sports and other extracurricular activities(field trips, clubs, etc). White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh nationalseedproject.org/white-privilege-unpacking-the-invisible-knapsack Project Implict Take an online test to measure your implicit bias: implicit.harvard.edu Relevant Magazine The Problem with saying All Lives Matter by Tyler Huckabee Why the Church Can t be Silent about Police Violence by Lisa Sharon Harper Explaining Working Poor to My Privileged, Middle Class Children When Christians Won t Say #BlackLivesMatter Faith & Race Podcast Season 1 features interviews with Missouri African American clergy and laity on matters of race and religion and has a companion curriculum for small group engagement. Available on itunes. Verna Myers TED Talk How to overcome our biases? Walk boldly towards them. boldly_toward_them Haas Institute for a Fair & Inclusive Society

7 General Commission on Religion and Race Jane Elliott s Work A Class Divided, Eyes/ Brown Eyes Exercise Free Learning Materials available at Books: Privilege, Power & Difference by Allan G. Johnson Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love by William H. Willimon America s Original Sin by Jim Wallis A Christian Justice for the Common Good by Tex Sample The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander Blink by Malcolm Gladwell Local Organizations: More Squared (on Facebook) CCO = Communities Creating Change, cco.org

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