Harmony at the top of the ladder, and how to get there

Let’s talk about that! Article 3, series 1

Kristopher Hinz
Sep 2, 2018 · 3 min read

This is an unplanned mini article prompted by comments that were made following my previous one. There was some confusion about white privilege and the notion that those who are privileged have a responsibility to help those who are by contrast underprivileged.

Two of my friends, including my current employer (who has been wonderful in allowing me the freedom to pursue this in my own time) posted some extremely useful links that explained privilege using the metaphor of an unequal running race, where some of the privileged were given extra starting steps.

I was reflecting today that perhaps a ladder analogy I came up with might also be equally useful.

Imagine for a minute that at the outset (and prior to) the development of Australia, America, France, the UK etc development as a modern nation, Whites. and men in particular were at the top of the ladder and had access to the best of what was on offer. At this stage, nonwhites weren’t even allowed access to the ladder itself and had to stay on the ground. With time and hard work from both Whites and nonwhites, people of colour finally gained some traction through civil rights.

In some White people’s perception, this is where racism stops and a free and equal world begins. This is a common argument in the era of Obama, marriage equality and Australian of the Year Adam Goodes. But people of colour can’t be at the top of the ladder during a time where Black Australians are demonised by the Prime Minister, where a member of parliament harks back to the good old days of the White Australia policy and where children of asylum seekers are self harming in desperation because their lives are in limbo, owing to the torture of mandatory detention.

Let alone the issues now, people of colour hadn’t been given access to the top or even middle rung of the ladder in the immediate aftermath of civil rights. They were been allowed onto the ladder, but kept at the bottom through methods that seemed less racist than they were, at least in the eyes of those with power. Examples like the sneakiness of redlining in housing and loans in the US and the European language test in the White Australia policy could be used here. Yes, housing discrimination was banned, but redlining meant that the systems that kept white neighbourhoods rich were still in place. Yes. the White Australia policy was slowly being rolled back, but the language test was sneaky, as it meant the examiner could choose at their discretion any language they thought the applicant might not know. What are the effects of this now? Redlining means that neighborhoods of colour are still poor and lacking in quality education and the ripple effect of Australia’s xenophobia around immigration has negative repercussions for asylum seekers.

Now that some ground is being gained, people of colour are slowly making their way up the ladder, Disenfranchised Whites feel that their position is threatened, and we can see this through the rise of Donald Trump, who gained a lot (but not all) of his votes from this group and their fear of Latin American migration. These groups have misinterpreted nonwhites, women and LGBTIQ folk’s attempt to climb the ladder as a personal insult and slight at them.

The reality is, helping people of colour further up the ladder won’t mean that you will eventually end up in the same chains they were, nor does it mean that you will earn less because a woman earns more. It also doesn’t mean that you will put on the bottom of the ladder. It simply means that minorities will be able to join you at the top.

Kristopher Hinz

Written by

Sports Journalism student La Trobe

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