From the Union of Black Episcopalians: White Privilege
Whenever anyone slips the words “white privilege” into a conversation, it immediately builds an impenetrable wall. For some white people, the words elicit an uneasy feeling because, for them, the term is accusatory without being specific. It is a nebulous concept that seemingly reduces a complex social phenomena to a nonspecific groupthink phrase. But white privilege is real. Instead of using it as a touchy-feely phrase that gives white people the heebie-jeebies because it conjures up images of Caucasians sitting on plantation porches drinking mint juleps while they watch the Negroes toil in the Southern sun, we should use it as a proper noun, with a clear definition. White privilege does not mean that any white person who achieved anything didn’t work hard for it. It is an irrefutable, concrete phenomenon that manifests itself in real, measurable values, and we should use it as such. Imagine the entire history of the United States as a 500-year-old relay race, where whites began running as soon as the gun sounded, but blacks had to stay in the starting blocks until they were allowed to run. If the finish line is the same for everyone, then the time and distance advantage between the two runners is white privilege. Not only can we see it, but we can actually measure it. If we begin viewing it as an economic term then it might be debatable, but it becomes a real, definable thing that we can acknowledge, explain and work toward eliminating. Race might be a social construct, but white privilege is an economic theory that we should define as such:
Here are three examples that explain white privilege in economic terms.
Education:
If education is the key to success, then there is no debate that whites have the advantage in America. In 2012, the U. S. Education Department reported that about 33 percent of all white students attend a low-poverty school, while only 6 percent attend high-poverty schools. In comparison, only 10 percent of black students attend a low-poverty school, while more than 40 percent of black students attend high-poverty schools. This means that black students are more than six times more likely than white students to attend a high-poverty school, while white students are more than three times more likely than black students to attend a low-poverty school. The logical response to this is for whites to explain the disparity away with statistics of black unemployment and the minority wage gap, but that might not be true. In 2015, a researcher David Mosenkis examined 500 school districts in Pennsylvania and found that—regardless of the income level—the more black students, the less money a school received. While this may not be true for every single school, it underscores a simple fact: white children get better educations, and that is a calculable advantage.
Employment:
Even when black students manage to overcome the hurdles of unequal education, they still don’t get equal treatment when it comes to jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2017, the unemployment rate for African Americans was nearly double that of whites (8.1 percent for blacks, 4.3 percent for whites). There are some who will say blacks should study harder, but this phenomenon can’t be explained by simple economic disparities. A 2016 study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research shows that whites with the exact same résumés as their black counterparts are hired at double the rate. In fact, a white man with a criminal history is more likely to be hired than an African American with no criminal past. If it is statistically easier for whites to get a better education, and better jobs, then being born white must be an advantage in and of itself.
Income:
But let’s say a black man somehow gets a great education and finds a job; surely that means the playing field is level, right? Not so fast. Researchers at EPI found that black men with 11-20 years of work experience earned 23.5 percent less than their white counterparts, and black women with 11-20 years of experience were paid 12.6 percent less than white women with the same experience. And this disparity is not getting smaller. These income inequalities persist to create the disparities in wealth between races, manifesting in generational disadvantages. A black person with the same education and experience as a similar Caucasian, over the span of their lives, will earn significantly less.
Instead of hurling the term “white privilege” around as an imprecise catch-all to describe everything from police brutality to Pepsi commercials, perhaps its use as a definable phrase will make people less resistant. In America’s four-and-a-half-centuries old relay race, the phrase “white privilege” does not mean that Caucasians can’t run fast; it is just an acknowledgment that they got a head start. Some practical steps that congregations can take is to promote sacred conversations that create a safe space for people of different races to come together for a constructive discussion on the topic of white privilege. The goal is to create an understanding that white privilege is real and its effects are measurable, and to be reconciled in the spirit of forgiveness for what we have done to each other. To move forward reconciled to one another we must acknowledge the sins of the past. We must engage in active dialogue to discuss it, no matter how uncomfortable such a discussion may be. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "Our common experience in fact is the opposite—that the past, far from disappearing or lying down and being quiet, has an embarrassing and persistent way of returning and haunting us unless it has in fact been dealt with adequately. Unless we look the beast in the eye we find it has an uncanny habit of returning to hold us hostage."
- Joe McDaniel, Jr.
Here are three examples that explain white privilege in economic terms.
Education:
If education is the key to success, then there is no debate that whites have the advantage in America. In 2012, the U. S. Education Department reported that about 33 percent of all white students attend a low-poverty school, while only 6 percent attend high-poverty schools. In comparison, only 10 percent of black students attend a low-poverty school, while more than 40 percent of black students attend high-poverty schools. This means that black students are more than six times more likely than white students to attend a high-poverty school, while white students are more than three times more likely than black students to attend a low-poverty school. The logical response to this is for whites to explain the disparity away with statistics of black unemployment and the minority wage gap, but that might not be true. In 2015, a researcher David Mosenkis examined 500 school districts in Pennsylvania and found that—regardless of the income level—the more black students, the less money a school received. While this may not be true for every single school, it underscores a simple fact: white children get better educations, and that is a calculable advantage.
Employment:
Even when black students manage to overcome the hurdles of unequal education, they still don’t get equal treatment when it comes to jobs. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2017, the unemployment rate for African Americans was nearly double that of whites (8.1 percent for blacks, 4.3 percent for whites). There are some who will say blacks should study harder, but this phenomenon can’t be explained by simple economic disparities. A 2016 study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research shows that whites with the exact same résumés as their black counterparts are hired at double the rate. In fact, a white man with a criminal history is more likely to be hired than an African American with no criminal past. If it is statistically easier for whites to get a better education, and better jobs, then being born white must be an advantage in and of itself.
Income:
But let’s say a black man somehow gets a great education and finds a job; surely that means the playing field is level, right? Not so fast. Researchers at EPI found that black men with 11-20 years of work experience earned 23.5 percent less than their white counterparts, and black women with 11-20 years of experience were paid 12.6 percent less than white women with the same experience. And this disparity is not getting smaller. These income inequalities persist to create the disparities in wealth between races, manifesting in generational disadvantages. A black person with the same education and experience as a similar Caucasian, over the span of their lives, will earn significantly less.
Instead of hurling the term “white privilege” around as an imprecise catch-all to describe everything from police brutality to Pepsi commercials, perhaps its use as a definable phrase will make people less resistant. In America’s four-and-a-half-centuries old relay race, the phrase “white privilege” does not mean that Caucasians can’t run fast; it is just an acknowledgment that they got a head start. Some practical steps that congregations can take is to promote sacred conversations that create a safe space for people of different races to come together for a constructive discussion on the topic of white privilege. The goal is to create an understanding that white privilege is real and its effects are measurable, and to be reconciled in the spirit of forgiveness for what we have done to each other. To move forward reconciled to one another we must acknowledge the sins of the past. We must engage in active dialogue to discuss it, no matter how uncomfortable such a discussion may be. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "Our common experience in fact is the opposite—that the past, far from disappearing or lying down and being quiet, has an embarrassing and persistent way of returning and haunting us unless it has in fact been dealt with adequately. Unless we look the beast in the eye we find it has an uncanny habit of returning to hold us hostage."
- Joe McDaniel, Jr.
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