July 26, 2013
Wearing privilege
Earlier this week, one of our Links of the Day featured an essay and video defining white privilege. Today’s link illuminates the concept further. In a post for Sociological Images, Dr. Jennifer Lee, a sociology professor at the University of California, Irvine, tells of an incident that drove home to her in a new way what racial privilege means. “I have always known about my privilege intellectually, but I felt it keenly last Saturday.” Dr. Lee describes herself as an Asian American female, and her partner, Mike, as a white male. She tells of their not being regarded as suspicious in any way —even as the two of them were wandering around a vacant condo advertised for rent in an affluent neighborhood. They were dressed exactly as Trayvon Martin had been when he was followed and then killed by George Zimmerman. Dr. Lee writes: “Mike and I don’t have to wear our class in order to obviate being treated like threats or criminals; we can wear hoodies and board shorts without worrying that others will be suspicious, fearful, or make assumptions about our class status. Just being ‘not black’ affords us the benefit of the doubt.” She goes on to say that we “would like to believe that we don’t make assumptions based on race or gender, but evidence proves otherwise. . . .” She points to a social experiment (from the ABC hidden-camera program, What Would You Do?”) in which three separate scenes show different individuals (a white male, a black male, and a white woman) each trying to steal a bicycle. Note the different assumptions operating as passersby observe them. Also, take time to watch the other brief video included with Dr. Lee’s essay. It’s from Howard University and is called, “Do I Look Suspicious?”
