What is Privilege?

The Tim Wise video definitely opened up my eyes to the thought of privilege. Personally, I had never really thought much about privilege before. However, I feel like Tim Wise had a lot of great points in his speech and really did make me aware of how real and extremely common privilege is. I think privilege is most definitely still a problem today, but I see quite a bit of hope for privilege to begin to diminish in the future. I think we all can agree that privilege has slowly, but steadily, become less prominent in our country, with much thanks to our younger generations. I think as times go on and we move farther into the twenty first century, people will begin to accept each other without regards to small aspects such as race, maybe I am a "glass half full" type of person, but that is just how I see the world. Obviously though, for the time being privilege is still a current problem, whether it be with job promotions, housing or simple other things like switching social classes at an easier level.




A perfect example of privilege in the media right now is Caroline Kennedy wanting to take Secretary of State Hilary Clinton's former senate seat. Of course Caroline Kennedy is well known for her hard work as a philanthropist and her extremely well known name, so she got quite a bit more media coverage over the other people wanting this spot. If it was not for Caroline Kennedy's well known family who has a strong history in politics, she would not have received this privilege. The media follows around those who can give them the best stories and amp up ratings, and that is just what Caroline Kennedy did.

I found it extremely hard to come up with a minimum of eight ways I find myself or others to be privileged throughout my daily life. Again, this could completely be because I have never thought about too much about privilege, but I feel as though I work hard on a day to day basis to accomplish and earn everything I receive. However, I did make a list and it follows below.
1. My two roommates and i were able to sign a lease for our loft without being questioned at all. Perhaps it was because of the types of cars we drove or way we carried ourselves that the company we chose to lease from had no problem letting us sign without a parent to co-sign. Yet I like to think it was because of my good credit and recommendations from my previous land lords.

2. I did come up with something I see as other's privileges. I am currently applying to eight different law schools and all of them have a very similar essay question that requires us to all talk about a personal hardship we have suffered in our lives, specifically racial or economic. I come from a middle class white family and have struggled to come up with a hardship I have encountered. I have lived a very fortunate life thanks to my parents hard work, yet that isn't what they are looking for. I find it difficult for many people to answer this question and do feel as though it is a bit skewed.

3. My mom is a kindergarten teacher in Plano, TX and has a class not only of neighborhood students but also of inner city children that are bused into the school. My mom has noticed that the inner city children are by no means less intelligent than the neighborhood children, but they struggle when it comes to reinforcing their lessons at home. Many of their parents are single and working two jobs with hours on the weekend to just be able to provide for their families. Because they work so often, they tend to have lower education levels and less of an opportunity to work with their children than that of the neighborhood kid's families.

4. Another example of my mom's students are her hispanic kindergartners. Again, they are not of a lower intelligence level than that of the neighborhood kids, they just typically have parents whose native language is spanish. Their parents can't help them with their homework such as reading or spelling because the english language is not native to them like the other kids' parents.

5. A privilege very noticeable on our campus at OU is the multiple scholarships given to Native American students. This is also common at many other state universities, such as Kansas. My brother's girlfriend is half Creek and so is one of my roommates so I have become fairly familiar with their situations. From what I understand, due to their nationalities they are able to receive certain scholarships and tuition cuts to different universities, OU included. I definitely find this to be a racial privilege not everyone can enjoy.

6. Next, I see gender privileges fairly often. I work at a boutique in Norman that sells exclusively clothing and accessories for women. Of course it was easy for me to receive the job there because I am a woman, but what if a man wanted to apply? I seem to believe that a few of the jobs I have received are because of my gender, not only at the boutique but also in the past as a cart girl. Never have a seen a cart boy!

7. Playing the devil's advocate, there are also jobs that are exclusively male. I have a good friend who just got a job as a bouncer at a bar on Campus Corner. I think if I would have applied for the job, it would have been much harder for me to get it because of my size and gender.

8. I also thought quite a bit about Tim Wise's example of kids driving nice cars. I am fortunate enough to have received a very nice car from my parents, but not because I am a spoiled brat but because they set certain guidelines for me to follow and if done I would receive the car. It makes me think that if a person of another race was driving the same car would others perceive them like Wise said and think they are drug dealers, or would they look at me the same way and unjustly call me a spoiled brat for the car?

I think the one drop rule is slightly held onto nowadays. For instance, President Obama is a person of many racial backgrounds, but it seems like people only notice his one drop of African American ancestry. Yet I believe anyone who comes from multiple racial backgrounds can choose how they want to be perceived, whether it is by one certain race or openly accept everything they are made up of.

I agree with Tim Wise and Beverly Tatum. The times are changing and improving when it comes to privilege and other important racial factors. I think everyone needs to open their eyes to the changing times and accept each other and themselves for who they are and become who they want to be in life. It is you as a person who decides how your life will play out. I think as we grow and mature as adults if we keep an open mind and chose to stay aware of others around us things will only continue to improve.