“I Don’t Have White Privilege Because I Suffered in Life!”
Let’s examine what your “I don’t have white privilege” argument really looks like
You Don’t Have White Privilege Because… What?
I have had the privilege to read a good amount of “conservative views” on white privilege for some strange reason. Hilariously, they are all the same, following a particular pattern:
“I don’t have white privilege, because I don’t have economic privilege”
There are of course, variants of this argument:
“I don’t have white privilege, because I didn’t grow up rich!”
“I don’t have white privilege, because I grew up poor!”
There’s also deeper variants on this argument, branching beyond financial privilege:
“I don’t have white privilege, because I suffered in life!”
“I don’t have white privilege, because my life sucks!”
“I don’t have white privilege, because I was abused by a family member!”
“I don’t have white privilege, because I have mental issues.”
“I don’t have white privilege because I’m obese.”
“I don’t have white privilege, because I was sexually harassed/assaulted!”
“I don’t have white privilege, because I know what hardship is!”
Another variant can prove a tad bit more interesting. Usually served with a pinch of anger:
“I don’t have white privilege! I worked for every goddamn thing I ever got!”
Um, the concept of white privilege doesn’t mean that you as a white person are handed a silver platter in life to the point at which every possible material possession is given to you. Having white privilege doesn’t mean your life requires zero effort on your part, my friend. I, Johnny Silvercloud, have male privilege, cisgender privilege, and heterosexual privilege, all while having to pull effort in life, earning everything I got. Still, I have those privileges in our United States. It’s possible to recognize your own privilege cousin. So calm down, have a soda or something.
The list of claims can go on in combinations even, but I remain unfettered. I’ll watch you like a movie, but you don’t move me.
I find it strange for someone to present an argument like these because saying you don’t have something because you don’t have something else, is absurd.
The flaw in the logic here is something even a pre-school kid can figure out.
Imagine we are all in kindergarten. We are all five or six years old, and we are deeply engaged in a coloring exercise. What would you do if we asked little Timmy right beside us for a red crayon, and he said he doesn’t have any red crayons because he never had any blue ones. What would you do? Especially if we can clearly see him having freshly used his red crayon? Would Timmy have a valid argument for not having red crayons by stating he never had any blue crayons? That’s precisely what all the white people look like when they argue they don’t have white privilege.
“I don’t have red crayons, because I never had blue crayons!”
The examples of this absurd white privilege denial argument can go on. Saying you don’t have white privilege because some other privilege is beyond your grasp is like saying you don’t have a home because you don’t own a mansion, despite the fact you do live in an apartment or a house — and you’re saying this to a homeless person.
“I never lived in a home, because I never lived in a mansion!”
The standards at which many whiteness rangers attempt to delete their white privilege can reach ridiculous heights. Most white conservatives in America claim white privilege doesn’t exist (read: denial), so when they construct this argument of not having it, it’s like they are arguing something impossible to have. But of course, privilege will be invisible to those who have it because to examine it requires a higher level of critical thinking and analysis their fragile egos cannot engage in.
A House Cat in an Ocean
Getting a white conservative American to observe their white privilege is like getting a salt-water fish in an open ocean to recognize that there’s a privilege in having a gill-based respiratory system underwater. There is a privilege in simply breathing water while all others who are different from you drown. There is a privilege in breathing in water, swimming with ease when systems (e.g., gills) are made for you, for the institutions (e.g., ocean depths) provided. While I doubt a fish can engage in introspection, you — random white person — sure can. So technically, there’s no excuse for this situational stupidity.
I get it; your ignorance has to be maintained. To hell with your maintenance. To hell with your ignorance.
Whiteness Rangers Lie a Lot
As a working civilian professional it said to be wise council to not share how much you get paid with coworkers. When it comes to the topic at hand, I believe this is the underlying logic of our whiteness rangers, defending toxic white identity. You see, for the civilian professional, if you inform your coworkers that you make more than they do, they might then demand more pay from their superiors, based on your level-of-effort in the workplace contrasting theirs. This is precisely what whiteness defenders hate; nonwhites demanding better treatment upon being informed on the sociological value of white privilege in our United States. A lot of our white peers do not want our nonwhite asses to demand better treatment. So, much like the civilian professional in the workplace, the America white person does not want to discuss white privilege.
The problem with their stance is the fact that, much like in the military, we already know how much they make. In the military, unlike the civilian world, all monthly payments are unclassified published data. An Army Private knows how much a Brigadier General makes. An Army Private knows how much his immediate supervisor makes. This is the same relationship with knowledge Black people and other nonwhites have with white people and white privilege; we already know the data. Why lie? The lies and deceptions concerning white privilege becomes absurd. Just because you didn’t read the published pay charts, it doesn’t mean NO ONE knows how much you got.
We know white privilege exist, regardless of how much you try to pretend it doesn’t.
The denial, pretending, excuses and bad arguments only makes you look stupid.
If I can engage in the minor self-reflection and understand as a Black man that I have cisgender, heterosexual, Christian, male privilege…then you as a white person can point out your own white privilege.
Self reflection is key here.
Sometimes I think the main reason they hate us (specifically, the sociologically-intelligent and vocal Black folk) is not because we are Black people with melanin in the skin, but we are Black people as the silver in the mirror. We are the mirror in which forces self-reflection in whites.
They hate it.
Conclusion
I been through life’s highs and lows / you can’t surprise the soul with lies exposed // ~ Some shit I wrote when I was trying to rap (circa 2006)
You, the white person, white people of America, have white privilege in the same manner a Chinese person has Chinese privilege in China. There is no lying that can eradicate this fact. Ironically, your attempt to control and adherence to mythology and narrative control in America is also a white privilege.
If you are a Christian (which many will claim because, um, Christian privilege in the USA) you should be familiar with the Eve and Adam apple story. The apple was regarded as from the Tree of Knowledge, and from eating the fruit of that tree, those folk gained knowledge and the rest if history (or mythology, depending on your point of view). The bigger point that might have been missed is the fact that one cannot undo knowledge. No one or no institution can erase knowledge once known. Upon having knowledge of white privilege and seeing you lie about having it is no different than Adam and Eve pretending to not know they were naked. Of course, if you know their story in the Bible (as any elementary Christian should know) you’d know that they could not undo the knowledge they had. The fact that they could not undo knowing knowledge is the bigger picture missed.
The point I’m making, if I’m saying anything at all, is the fact that even the Bible knows that pretending away knowledge doesn’t fucking work. Pretending ignorance, or situational stupidity, doesn’t work. It didn’t work on God, and it doesn’t work on Black people.
So, um, stop bullshitting.
Johnny Silvercloud is a U.S. Army vet turned civil rights/conflict photographer and anti-racism/sexism writer. Not a fan of intentional stupidity or passive-aggressive racism supporters, which tends to overlap. You can subscribe to Johnny here, and get his street photography, here. Twitter, here. Instagram, here. Facebook fan page, here. His publication of like-minded educational activists, here