The privilege to be white, to be male, to be heterosexual.
According to Matthew Krystal, associate professor of anthropology, the way we view privilege comes with how we construct race.
“We believe in a notion of race that has no biological backing to it. But it’s still really important because we still believe it and our society is built around it,” Krystal said.
Race and privilege are constructions. Some of these constructions are ingrained in cultural presence; it takes a movement to repair.
Recently in the media events and movements associated with the Brett Kavanaugh hearing, the MeToo movement and the continuing discussion of Black Lives Matter explicitly seen in the Jason Van Dyke case reflect something about society’s privileges.
Mynk Richardson-Clerk, ‘20, the president of Mosaic, said the concept of privilege is all about people and what they feel like they need to think about. At NCC, she noticed, a lot of white students and professors don’t have to think about specific things. So while she and her roommate, who is also black, were thinking about the Van Dyke case, others had the luxury to not to have to.
“White privilege is all about choosing to think about things,” Richardson-Clerk said. “Privilege isn’t that you have problems or issues, it just means that there are certain things you would never have to face because of the color of your skin.”
The World Population Review’s 2018 polling suggests that Naperville’s population is 73 percent white. But do numbers and demographics make a difference for the display of privilege? For Ibrahim Mahamane, ‘19, co-president of the Black Student Association, Naperville is about as privileged as it comes.
“Naperville is the epitome of privilege,” said Mahamane. “People say we live in a bubble. Anything not familiar to us is a shock. We are ethnocentric in our own Napervillian culture.”
Given NCC’s location, it’s probable that the privilege can be seen in daily campus life. For example, Mahamane explained a situation in which his class was discussing police brutality. A classmate felt personally attacked and left the room because he felt like one race can’t be blamed for all the things that are happening.
The past few years have begun to change the perception of male power and has caused the conversation on consent and power to change.
Recently, the finger is pointed to those in high- level power positions.
In 1991, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was near the end of his hearing when a former worker by the name of Anita Hill came forward with allegations of sexual harassment in the workplace. This situation has been compared to Kavanaugh’s for some notable similarities. However, Kavanaugh being a white man and Thomas being a black man brought up the issue of race.
“Kavanaugh’s situation I think is important to compare to Clarence Thomas,” said Mahamane. “When he was accused, the way he answered the senator’s questions compared to Kavanaugh was different… It’s a very specific type of privilege that is only afforded to rich white men.”
Both Clarence and Kavanaugh had similar emotional reactions and indignant tones during their hearings, however, the way these instances have been reflected upon suggests a difference.
“What’s different is race, obviously, but the era of the MeToo movement… in our current climate of having these conversations about sexual assault makes it a little bit different,” said Ginger Jacobson, visiting assistant professor of sociology. “The added layer of whiteness gives an elevation to the type of privilege.”
The famous Stanford Rape case in which Brock Turner sexually assaulted an unconscious woman on campus and then received a lenient sentence is still a reference point in the discussion of white privilege. While Turner, white and with a well-off family, is given lenient sentencing for his sexual assault crime, other individuals that aren’t white often suffer a more severe form of punishment.
According to the United States Sentencing Commission, black men who commit the same crime as white men serve sentences that are nearly 20 percent longer. This leads to the discussion of how socializing young men or college-age men is impactful down the road and how the conversation with males is shifting.
“Is Brock Turner a younger version of Kavanaugh? Is this what happens when this kind of privilege goes unchecked?” said Jacobson.
Privilege needs to be addressed and challenged from those facing it to make a difference. Those in control of the system also have the power to make a change.
“The solution has to come from the system and the people that actually know the game and how to control the system,” said Mahamane. “But, they are the ones benefitting from the inequality.”
While conversation is the start to change, the exposure and awareness of real-life controversies are ideal.
“On campus, we’ve had instances of alt-right propaganda, so that’s been a teachable moment for people to talk about how this relates to race, to privilege, to oppressed groups and things like that,” Jacobson said.
Beginning to talk about privilege and race is the start of the conversation. People with privilege, despite being the ones benefitting from the system, can create conversations.
Picking up traction last year, the MeToo movement and its conversations are still in effect. As powerful men are being challenged in how they exercise their power, victims are creating a culture of awareness.
Some people, however, may not know where the sexual assault awareness conversation started. “The MeToo movement was started by a black woman and this is a thing that a lot of people don’t know,” said Richardson-Clerk. “It kind of got taken over by white women and they became the face of the movement. Historically, I think white women have been a group that is tried to be protected, but black women are seen as loud and aggressive.”
White privilege as a concept does not change, however perceptions and challenges of it are continuously changing. So while society recognizes the mistakes of these rich white men, are there any repercussions?
“The MeToo movement showed us that these white men even when they are proven guilty are given lenient sentencing,” Mahamane said. “If someone of the minority is even accused, they are given intense sentencing.”
The threat from events like the MeToo movement, the Kavanaugh hearing and the Brock Turner case have on white privilege and calling out male heterosexual privilege suggests a new understanding of these ideas.
However, Jacobson said, when there’s a threat to the dominant group, policies can change so this economic, cultural threat can be lessened.
“There is a rising of nationalistic groups coming together to protect what was once considered ‘great.’ So talking about Make America Great Again, meaning bring America back to a time where we were not challenged as whites, as privileged people,” said Jacobson.
1 Comment
Madison Miller thank you for a relevant and timely article!