Business Privilege and White Privilege

A couple days ago, a friend and I were discussing business ideas when he put words to a feeling that has been nagging me for some time now, “I don’t even know where to begin.” And that’s true. When I look at the startup world, in many ways I have no idea where to begin, who to talk to, how to start a project, or where to find funding. It’s a daunting cliff to climb. Of course, this is the first step among many that make starting a business hard. How does that quote go? “If it was easy, everyone would do it.”

I have for a long time loved reading books and listening to podcasts on business and entrepreneurship. I particularly love interviews with founders, where they describe how the company first came together. One thing I have noticed is that for every story of a founder who had nothing and forced a business into being through force of will alone, there are 3 or 4 stories where the founder had help. Some had business contacts or friends who had worked in the startup world. Others dormed beside a full-stack developer. Or perhaps they just happened to meet the one other person who had a passion for an idea that matched their own. Quite simply, most business founders pull from a network of social capital in order to gain the first gentle “pushes” that help them get their idea off the ground.

Let me be clear here. This is in no way an excuse. The truth is, if I am willing to put the immense sacrifices and effort into an idea, I can probably find a way to make it happen. Every business founder has poured their blood, sweat, and tears into turning a dream into a reality. They fully deserve every success they achieve.

Yet I do wonder if most founders realize how much business privilege they pull from. I doubt they do. I suspect that many founders and small business owners don’t think about the social capital endemic in the frameworks that allowed them to take their first shot at success. To use a recent example, many are probably more like Trump, who started from absolutely nothing, save a “small”, million-dollar loan from his father. To him, this probably was nothing. To many founders, the social capital they’ve called upon is something they are partially blind to. Trump, like most business owner, sees only the immense amounts of risk, work, and sacrifice that they made to be where they are.

To bring this idea even closer to home, I am currently working on a house that I am renting out. I have very little experience with handyman work, but I’m quite proud of the changes I’ve made, the problems I’ve solved, and many hours I’ve invested in making the house a place people are willing to pay me for. However, I am starting from a privileged position. My father once worked as a carpenter; I know how to operate most of the tools required because he taught me on small projects as a child. I know that if I have questions or get stuck, I can always give him a call. A couple friends in the area also have houses; I often find myself swapping stories or borrowing tools and labor from them. The truth is, my success was not achieved in isolation.

This is finally helping me to better understand the current debate concerning white privilege. I know white people who scoff at the idea. They point out that they came from poor beginnings, or suffered prejudice, and yet were able to push past it through hard work and effort. When they hear this phrase, they become defensive, feeling that the phrase is used as a weapon against them to discount the struggles and achievements in their lives. Or, they see it as an excuse, bantered about by a people group they see as having little financial restraint or personal responsibility. These conversations always result in stories of how they were standing behind some guy from the inner city in a grocery store line, silently seething as he used their tax dollars to buy soda with food stamps, while talking on a cell phone that’s newer than theirs is.

Let me be clear again, I am not making excuses for people. In the end, each of us is inevitably responsible for the decisions we make, how we treat other people and their property, how hard we work, and how we handle our money. Life is not fair, and our character is defined by how we respond to that unfairness. Yet I also need to be aware of the privilege I’ve grown up in. I’ve been given a push up that initial incline. For as much as each one of us likes to believe that our work ethic, good morals, and social capabilities are natural to us, endemic to our personalities, the truth is they’re not. They are nurtured into us, shaped by our parents and community. I work hard because my father forced me to, teaching me personal responsibility. My grandparents taught me to save money. I treat people and property with respect because my mother punished me if I didn’t. I trust authority because I was taught the police were trustworthy, most adults could be reasoned with, and teachers were looking out for my interests. I have never had anyone treat me negatively due to the color of my skin, other than perhaps in jest concerning my dancing abilities. I have never questioned why I was rejected by organizations or my peers, I always knew it was due to my lack of ability or experience, never wondering if it might be tied to how I looked.

These are privileges that I have been given. These are blessings that I am almost never aware of due to the fact I have them. I’m only making the connections now thanks to seeing privileges that others may have that I lack. We can only fully appreciate blessings when they are objects we desire, but yet lack.

I wanted to write these thoughts down now. Quite simply, even hopefully, someday I will have made more connections than I have now. I’ll probably start out small, perhaps creating a very small business or blog or connection, and that will open up new doors and new networks. Social capital is like investing. The more of it you have, the more it compounds, and the more connections you make. The rich only get richer. And the simple truth is, I’ll never know when I arrive. It will be my normal life. I’ll only see the hard work and brains it took to get me to that point, and not recognize the privilege and capital it took to get me there. Perhaps at that point, it’ll be even harder for me to empathize with the privilege I’ve received simply because I was born as a white male in a prosperous section of America.

I don’t know where to begin with starting a business. And I don’t know where to begin with closing the class and race divides in our country. I believe in personal responsibility. Part of that means, if I’m partially responsible for these problems, then I’m partially responsible for helping be part of the solution. I want to be part of the solution. Perhaps becoming aware is the first step. Now I need to figure out the next one.