Thoughts on Privilege: Why race STILL matters in the 21st Century.

Thanks to my wonderful employers, I had the pleasure of attending the 14th Annual White Privilege Conference that was held in Seattle this year. After three days of intense discussion about the disparities between race, sex and class, I am still digesting some of this information, but I want to share with you some of the take-aways from my workshops & speakers. But for those wondering, I should probably first define what White Privilege is and why we were there.

White Privilege: "...[T]he various ways society confers unearned social, economic and political advantages on those who are perceived to be part of the white group. This can range from social courtesies, to housing, employment, educational, and judicial decisions."

If you are white, please continue to read. This isn't a place to make you feel guilt for being born of a certain color but instead to realize that white privilege does exist and the goal of the workshop was to engage in this discussion but also offer solutions to help create a world of equity. I imagine it may be hard to digest, thinking of yourself as privileged based on one's skin tone, but it's more difficult for us that are on the receiving end of not having this innate privilege. Have you ever been followed around a store because someone suspects you'll steal? I have. When you're in said store, can you find the products that you need (hair care, food, make-up shades)? I have this struggle. Have you ever been called arguably the worst word in the human language because of the color of your skin? I have. Have you ever met a stunned person that has only conversed with you via telephone and when they meet you in the flesh their look conveys the shock of "she's b l a c k?!" I have. Because according to some, I'm an Oreo (Black on the outside, White on the inside). Or I'm "white-washed." I'm not sure which qualities make me white, but I'm interested to know. It certainly isn't my skin color.

I attended about 10 sessions, key notes included, but I just want to highlight the sessions I found most applicable in the education field as I am an educator. There were also things that related to my personal life and some things that have occurred and still are occurring.

1. Listening is Power.
The first workshop I attended was by Dr. John Igwebuike and this was a wonderful place to start the conference. For those that know me, I have a tendency to talk. I get paid for talking. He highlighted the importance and responsibility that we have to listen to one another. No, not planning what you are going to say next and gathering your language to encode that message while the other person is talking, but being fully present and listening.

We live in a society that rewards those of us who speak up and we frequently dismiss each other's ideas by way of interruption or insulating our listening (not listening to those things that we find uncomfortable or are not interested in). One of my fellow conference goers made the revelation that we aren't formally taught to use our ears. We are taught how to speak and how to use our language, but not to actively engage and listen. After all, what is our First Amendment right? Oh yeah.

It's only when we are protecting ourselves that we then mention silence: "You have the right to remain silent..." so that big mouth of yours you've been training won't get you into trouble.

Take away: "Let us acknowledge before we assert."-Dr. John Igwebuike

2. Racial Justice & Classism.
Every time we make a comment according to the following, we are judging someone by their class status:
White Trash. Trailer Trash. Ghetto. Rednecks. Elitist. Welfare mom.
We usually blame the victim for their class status and make overarching assumptions about the character of these people based on their class status: "They're poor because they're lazy."

I've heard this comment in the very recent past and it disgusts me.

Ask yourself, have you had a personal conversation with any of these people to check your perception? We need to give people the opportunity to open their mouths before we write an entire lifestyle for them and check them off as measuring up to our small-minded stereotype. Are people lazy? Sure. But let us not assume that all of any group abides to one lifestyle.

If this is how you are trained to think about all poor people, you my friend have been led astray and you are a part of the problem by victimizing them.

We can all agree that we came into this world involuntarily, right? None of us chose to be born-our parents made a choice. Are we all born in the same house? In the same neighborhoods? To the same family? No.

There is a very real difference between people having wealth in this country and people having income. Wealth is when your family possesses stocks, assets and these have had the opportunity to build overtime, leading to the ability of a family to pass money down to subsequent generations. Think to yourself: Who has had the opportunity to build wealth in this country?

Not Native Americans.
Not African-Americans.
Not Latinos.

One groups possessions were taken from them while others started out in this country as a part of a White mans' wealth; as their very property. And we are probably fully aware of the inequities that Latinos face currently.

When we discuss income we are looking at periodic payments to pay for our day-to-day living costs like your groceries, electricity, water, etc. You can certainly be rich in your lifetime, but accumulating wealth takes time. One of the examples Betsy Leondar-Wright uses for looking at the disparity is the GI Bill after WWII. Was it the White soldiers or the Black soldiers that took home money after they both fought for this same country? And who did that allow to save money for their kids' education?

On the note of education, Leondar-Wright also brought to light this shocking fact: There are more legacy students admitted to higher education institutions than there are...

a) Affirmative Action scholarships
b) Athletic Scholarships
c) Geographic Admissions

combined!!...Who has the privilege? Please, do not tell me that Affirmative Action is negative until you have looked at all those people who are simply let in because of who their great grandfather was.

Take away: Class does not equal race although sometimes, there are these very obvious connections between the conditions that some have experienced because of the way this social construct of race has perpetuated in our society.

3. N!gga/DJANGO.
This was probably the most challenging workshop I attended. Although Django was only mentioned in the title and very briefly in this room, the session still offered some very insightful techniques for us to realize our stereotypes as well as dealing with the N-word.

Dr. Eddie Moore Jr. began the session with having us all close our eyes and then told us there is a door. The door opens. Dr. Moore then told us to picture a nigger walking through the door.

What did you see?

Black. Man. Saggy pants. Gangsta. Slave. Weapon. Fear. Danger. Chains. These were some of the things our collective group of 80 or so people came up with.

Perhaps my favorite part of the session came at this point. Dr. Moore said "How many of you in here consider yourself a George Zimmerman?" People looked at their descriptors and maybe down with shame as George Zimmerman might be in all of us. He made a quick point of judgement and stereotyped this young man. We were all so quick to tweet about Trayvon and order and wear, "I am Trayvon Martin" sweatshirts," without looking to see what part of us were also George Zimmerman's.

[Deep breathe]

He later had us engage in a repeat after me exercise. "I am a nigger. You are a nigger. We are niggers." I had great difficulty with this as I can imagine some of you might no matter what color you are, so I responded to the room:

"This exercise was really hard for me, particularly saying 'I am a nigger.' Like some of the other people in this room, I've been called this and that is not who I am. Every time we repeated it and is repeated, the word stings more. Most words lose power when you repeat it, but this one doesn't take that same pattern."

Take-away: The ending of something doesn't make it all better. Ending slavery, ending Jim Crow Laws, shutting down internment camps, giving Natives land in the form of reservations, does not make it all better. It's a start, but everything doesn't get neatly swept away as if it were dust. Think of it more as flood damage that has caused pipes to burst, streets of garbage to be waded through and mold to grow in the very foundations of us.

Dr. Moore offered this metaphor: "If a parent cusses in front of their child from the time they're born for the next 20 years and on their 20th birthday decides they aren't going to cuss anymore, is this going to change what the child has heard?" This may be a positive decision, but does it erase the conditioning in that child's brain? Is that child going to magically forget how to cuss and not have that as a part of their vernacular? I can make the same metaphor to the abuse of drugs, smoking, drinking, but I think that example really vivifies a complex issue.

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The uneducated think that our work for racial equity is done simply because we have a black (talk about the one drop rule-he is equal parts black and white) President in the White House. You are sadly mistaken. Here are some examples of blatant racism that no one can argue with, that were blasted across comment sections and message boards on our lovely internet, but there are also things said daily by people in power (Senate, House) to their boss, our commander in chief.

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"@Walken4GOP: "Why did Obama's great grandaddy cross the road? Because my great grandaddy tugged his neckchain in that direction."

@pukingvagina: "So the nigger is still living life in that big white apartment."

@KG39baseball: "The movie 2012 first New York floods and there is a nigger in office also. See a coinensadince."

Yes. A coinensadince.

@madhouse12345: "No NIGGER should lead this country. #Romney"

@madhouse12345: "Only thing black people are good at is basketball #run #shot #steal"

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I'll continue this discussion in another blog later, but this should have us all thinking. And not just thinking about it today because you read this, but look how our lives are determined by privilege of race, sex and class; arguably the most visible things to another person. We should also be thinking of our place of privilege and if we have a job we can do. When someone is being bullied, do you stand there and turn away? When someone is being mistreated, do you turn a blind eye even though your contact prescription argues that you have 20/20 vision?

Ask yourself: "My silence allows . . ." 

At the end of the day, we are all human beings, folks. Let's not forget that. We can no longer wonder why our gun crimes are so high when we have all of the information as to why. We need to treat each other with respect, like they matter, like they have blood in their body and flesh just like you, and skin just like you...it just may be a different color.

We can do better.

Note: This conference had 2,000 attendees from all over the US and I believe 21 countries. We were made up of all different skin colors with a large portion being white.

A Tale of a City.

Chapter 1:

I’m 18. I’ve just stepped out of the mundane, judgmental halls of a homogenous high school. Everyone dresses the same, wants to act the same and wants to not be seen as different. I never had daydreams of being a wallflower. Freedom came to me in the form of an 8x8 dorm room cell infested with Ladybugs on the 7^th floor of Bloss Hall at Oregon State University, shared with my best friend. I guess that whole thing of Ladybugs being good luck had some sort of truth to it, and we had a ton.

In those four years of Undergraduate, Oregon State gave me friends. Lifelong friendships birthed in walks at halftime to and from the stadium, neighbors made in dorm room hallways coming back from midnight snacks or the country store and from proximity of sitting next to someone repeatedly in class and being forced out of awkwardness to say, "So is this class in your major?"

Barbecues were a weekday staple when afternoon classes let out Spring afternoons and friendships were strengthened around marinating chicken and steaks in the classiness of front porches and yards. And on some special Fridays when the sun was really out for the day, we may have taken a personal day to go to the beach 45 minutes away.

[This was one of those days]

Oregon State gave me the world. My international experience was confined to the landmasses that we share on the North and South ends of our country. Before I went to college the “world” always seemed to be something I could only touch with my hand by lying my palm on a globe while it spun in its circles. That was the extent of my orbit. It wasn’t a tangible place; somewhere my feet would ever be able to touch upon the soil of a different nation. I’m not one for being fond of being wrong, but I’m so glad I was on this one.

[Those are my Pumas. On Left. In Greece]

[It gave me this sunset]

Oregon State gave me employment. From Student Orientation, to a Liberal Arts Ambassador, to working in the International Office to speak to students about going abroad (seriously, I’m being paid for this??) and my coveted position of a tour guide. Yes, I wore an adult men's medium Orange polo that perpetually faded with every wash and sunbeam that touched it, and I wore that thing proud. I love that I know the intricacies of the behind-the-scenes of OSU. I feel like it’s the inside look you get when you click on the extra features on a DVD.

[Fun Fact: Betty Crocker went to OSU and it was also where the Maraschino Cherry was invented.]

Oregon State gave me love. And oh, did I fall. Down that Rabbit Hole, I did fall and I couldn't seem to find Alice's hand to grasp onto.

Chapter 2:

I’m 22. I’m at CH2M Hill Alumni center searching for a future in the rows of employers represented by booths and cardboard signs. People are shoving their business cards my way and I’m reciprocating with smiles and an elevator speech of why my 4 years of education makes me better than the other nervous college student behind me who has an almost identical speech prepared.

I interviewed. I convinced myself that sales would be right for me, why wouldn’t it be? The only thing I’ve ever dreamed of doing was to write and there’d surely be writing involved there.

Then came my Department Chair with an opportunity to not only get my Master’s Degree, but on a full scholarship while teaching courses as a Graduate Teaching Assistant. Up until this point, I had never thought about a Master’s Degree. No one in my family had one, why should I? But thinking back to the row of party-pumps turned interview-attire at the career fair and showing me the very real nature of my competition while trying to discern why I was special, made me think that maybe this isn’t a half bad deal.

My aforementioned Best Friend and I roomed for all four years of college (and we remain Best Friends which is some sort of wonderful with the ways that roommate situations can go). Now I was on my way to living alone for the first time in my life that wasn’t a weekend that she’d be away for. I was very much the independent gal who didn’t need a friend in tow for every outing, but being alone had its whole other reality.

So here I was, still at OSU while most of my friends had departed (except for a selection in their 5^th year :) ); it was time to make new friends with a new cohort.

Chapter 3:

Thesis defended. Master’s degree on the bookshelf as that is the only place anyone will ever see it. No one asks to see those things. Leave OSU for the corporate world only to be back a couple years later. This time as an educator.

I’m 26.75 and I am driving to Corvallis for my last time in the foreseeable future. A thought like this is kind of inconceivable being that I have been making this journey three times a week for about a year and a half. It’s a part of my routine, and I’m a sucker for those. As I’m taking Exit 228, the violin sounds from one of my favorite songs by The Verve “Bittersweet Symphony" comes on. No truer words have been spoken.

I made a special route today to drive by Bloss Hall. And by Reser Stadium. I drive by the shop where I got my nose pierced for the first time while bored during a snowstorm that shockingly shut down OSU for two days. And a few front yards where I convinced myself I could smell barbeque even as the rain splashed onto the street making it close to impossible for any flame to burn. I drove by the dirtiest shanty of a house I had ever lived in and could not fathom sleeping in today. In fact, when we viewed the house the first time, there was a dead bird in the living room. We took it anyway. Completely different meaning to Put a bird on it.

I walk out of my last class I'll teach there and find myself in front of the Valley Library. I pull out my camera despite the rain and take a picture, even though I can’t imagine the day where I forget what this gorgeous building looks like and the way I feel so small walking down its infinite aisles of books which now includes my own work (actually, I’m not sure if they printed it or if it just exists online).

[I know it looks dreary, but you can smell the Cherry Blossoms, I promise.]

Chapter 4:

The U-Haul will pull away with my brother at the wheel and my dad following behind. My mom and I wave from my new home, surrounded by daunting cardboard boxes in the living room behind me. She’ll help me unpack, clean as she has always done and make some food to sustain what will be a busy week, but this time I’ll put her on a train back home (and she’ll all-too-soon end up in Barbados) and I’ll be alone. Left to figure out on my own devices what this freedom means in a new city, 9 years later. If a place like Corvallis could show me the non-textbook version of the world, love, teaching and friendships, I wonder where I'll find myself on these new city sidewalks. But that's another tale I suppose I'll have to tell.

Healthcare 'scoreboard'

Fox News' latest opinion piece is titled "Obama to America: I win, you lose." Can someone please explain this to me? How does Healthcare reform amount to an 'Obama: 1 America: 0' scoreboard?

Spoiler Alert to Fox News: Obama has health care. I would go out on a limb here and say that Obama has the best healthcare in America. Hell, Obama's dog Bo probably has better health care than the majority of Americans as I'm sure he is able to have regular check ups; A luxury- most don't get to see the fruits of the inside of a doctor's office, let alone a vet's office. Obama is pretty much set. If anything, this healthcare reform is the opposite of selfishness as he is trying to spread the stethoscope love to make sure we have healthy hearts beating in your chests. How dare he.

On 'The View' this morning, Elisabeth Hasselbeck stated that this is not the will of the majority of the people. Really, because I'm pretty sure that the majority of the people that don't have healthcare and even those that do, try to avoid the doctor like the plague, because of the fear of extreme co-pays for a simple check-up and prescriptions. Problem is, while avoiding the office, they might get the plague (Note: Not the ACTUAL Bubonic plague, I'm being metaphorical for all illnesses, stay with me). What do you think is cheaper Elisabeth, treating a disease after it is in advanced stages or treating it early? Or wait, secret door #3 offers preventing preventative illness altogether by seeing the doctor on a regular basis and staying on top of your health. Yes, I know, in a perfect world, right? I'm pretty sure the best thing that happened on this chat fest was the following:

Elisabeth: Anything that is mandated is a problem.

Whoopi: It's just like any other insurance Elisabeth. Are you upset that you have to have insurance for your car?

Whoopi: 1 Elisabeth: 0

And also, I'm pretty sure the majority (let's revisit: 219-212) voted for this. But not one Republican. When Americans are able to take themselves and their children to the doctor's office and they're reading their 'Highlights' magazine in the waiting room, I hope they remember that not one Republican wanted them to have the right to sit in that seat and read that 'Highlights' magazine at the doctor's office. Well, unless you were just with your 'rich' friend tagging along on their doctor's appointment, because that's how it should be. Duh.

The goal of having healthcare reform is so we can focus on being preventative instead of reactive. It is so much cheaper to fix an ill in our bodies when caught early on rather than in its advanced stages. It's also much less emotional and financial stress when you aren't going through the turmoil of stage 4 cancer than if detected at stage 1. We find ourselves saying "if only we'd known sooner" and "early detection is best" but here we are arguing against something that will help us with this. WTF Republicans?

Can someone please explain this to me??

In conjunction with healthcare reform, people will be educated by being able to go visit a physician. A lot of people eat unhealthy because they don't know the longterm ramifications of saturated fats in their daily diets. They shovel this food in their mouths as well as their childrens and this habit becomes a lifestyle. 75% of people are overweight in this country, are we really not seeing any type of relationship between this and the amount of people who are uninsured?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this healthcare reform will magically change the way all people think, eat, live, exercise, etc. But I'm saying that it will give people the opportunity that they may not have to live better. And isn't that what this great land is all about?

"This was a vote of common sense." -Obama.

Now this is what I would call Obama: 1 GOP: 0