Privilege- The gift I didn’t understand
With all the recent happenings in America, I don’t think the topic of racism is too far off anyone’s radar. The insane rally in Charlottesville in August became headline news for a while (Time). With news like this, I couldn’t help but realize that I have never really taken the time to process the impact these events have on people.
I was raised in a conservative Mennonite family and we didn’t really involve ourselves in current happenings or social justice issues. For me, hearing about the rally in Charlottesville was just another happening out there. I didn’t really concern myself with the issue since it isn’t my first instinct to even spend time evaluating such an event. Yet, the more I think about the issue the more questions I have surfacing for me.
I spent time discussing some thoughts on racism with some classmates the other week and I realized how little I have wrestled with the tough questions of racism and white privilege. I am white. Before judging me, please listen to my thought processes carefully.
Until last week, I did not really grasp the “white privilege” issue. I am white. I didn’t think I had been given more than anyone else. I didn’t really believe that I am more important than anyone else. I most certainly didn’t feel like I had more than anyone else. Then, one night last week, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw a link to a video that changed me. This video totally shook my belief system about white privilege.
You can view the video here: $100 To the Winner of the Race (YouTube).
The video captures a large multi-ethnic group lining up for a race. The director calling the shots begins to tell people they can move forward if they have had the following opportunities in life:
- Both parents are still married
- Had a father figure in your home
- Access to private education
- Access to a free tutor
- No worries about your cellphone being shut off
- Never assisted parents with their bills
- Didn’t pay for college and you weren’t on an athlete scholarship
- Never wondered were the next meal would come from
I watched the video with a fascinated horror. As people kept taking big steps forward, a few young men remained on the line where they had started. Most of these fine young men were African-American. Could it be that all of these opportunities have not been present in their lives?
Suddenly, I began to feel this deep sorrow inside. I would have taken steps forward on ninety percent of those opportunities. As this reality sank into my soul, I began to realize for the first time that I am privileged far beyond what I had ever even known or understood before. I had been given a lot of steps forward in life that I never even saw until this very moment, sitting alone with my laptop.
What rock have I been living under?
It is hard not judge myself or other people. The one temptation is always to defend or dismiss the uneasy feeling that wells up inside. But this time, I sat in silence. I realized that I have many things to learn about the opportunities I have that I haven’t fully owned or acknowledged. I am indeed privileged and blessed. But, the real question really is: What will I do with this opportunity?
I see a lot of young individuals walking through life with an entitlement issue. They didn’t work for what they have; it was handed to them; and yet, they feel like they deserve it. Simon Sinek addresses this topic of entitlement among the millennials saying, “they are accused of being entitled, narcissistic, self-interested, unfocused, and lazy” (YouTube). I heard him speak at Live2Lead in 2016 and realized that this man has something to say about my generation.
When I heard Simon Sinek speak about the millennials and the entitlement they carry, it raised some questions for me in my own life. Yet, not once in all the questions and processing did I ever tie that question to another issue that envelopes my life, privilege. Even now it is hard for me to write “white privilege” because the connotation that carries really does not sit well with me. However, the truth is: it is “white privilege”.
What is white privilege?
The Washington Post described white privilege as “the level of social advantage that comes with being seen as the norm in America, automatically conferred irrespective of wealth, gender or other factors” (Emba). In simple terms, I would describe white privilege as the ability to go through life with opportunities that I do not even realize and to be unconcerned about my future opportunities because skin color doesn’t keep me from advancing. This privilege is not earned or rewarded, it is inherited as a blessing or a curse from our nation’s long standing racial history.
White Privilege — is it a blessing or a curse?
Wrestling with the reality that I am a white woman living in an incredibly racist society, I begin to ask whether this “white privilege” is a blessing or a curse. In some respects, it is a tremendous blessing. I have life options that many people do not have. In other respects, it can be a deathly curse. This privilege forces me to wrestle constantly with my life choices. I am responsible in more ways to live with discernment and wisdom.
If this issue of privilege were put on a balancing scale, I am sure most people would view those who live with “white privilege” as incredibly blessed people. And, I absolutely agree! This blessing wasn’t meant to be claimed in entitlement; it is meant to provide us an opportunity to share with others. Jesus said, “to whom much is given, of him much will be required” (Luke 12:48). Because I have been given much, I must live my life responsibly. I am commanded to love.. love.. love. The greatest commandment of all, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and the second greatest commandment is “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37–39).
It is comforting to me that these issues didn’t escape the Lord. Having lived most of my life ignorant to my privilege, I feel like I missed thousands of opportunities to love well. Yet, the Lord offers grace to those who haven’t fully understood His commandments. Romans 8:1, one of the loveliest passages of all, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”.
Even though Christ offers grace and forgiveness, I cannot simply continue to live in the ignorance I once did. Now that “white privilege” has been placed on my radar, I have the choice to decide how I will live my life. Will I continue trying to convince myself that I am no different? Will I find ways to love people who have less of an advantage than I? Will I look for ways to engage with my community and offer opportunities to those who currently do not have as many options as I?
Opportunities come in all shapes, sizes or categories. Some of the most fulfilling memories I have are from years ago when I participated in giving young girls from Lancaster City the opportunity to spend a week in the wilderness on a canoe trip. As a child, I played in the woods, in the dirt, or in our wide open back yard. My love for the outdoors is a huge piece of my life. Giving kids from Lancaster City the opportunity to experience God’s creation in ways they never have before, that makes me smile.
I have been deeply challenged by those experiences and hope to spend a life-time offering people the opportunity to spend time in creation. I am humbled by the reality that my love of the outdoors is one small way in which I can offer my surrounding community an opportunity they never had. I cannot change the environment in which many of my precious friends have grown up, but I can offer them the chance to see the world differently.
Every one of us who have been given much — We have much to give!
The challenge for me personally is to never forget that I have much to give. I so easily get caught up in my own little world of family, school and work. My days slip by and I forget that someone out there is needing the love of Jesus to show and offer them the chance of a life-time. There is someone out there waiting for the opportunity to go to school, to have a better job, to have a home to live in.
Someone is waiting for an opportunity.
Someone is waiting for love.
Someone is waiting for you.
Someone is desperately needing the chance you always had.
Someone is waiting.
Are you willing to use the blessing you have and give it away?
“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than receive.’” Acts 20:35
Works Cited:
“$100 TO THE WINNER OF THE RACE.” YouTube, YouTube, 7 Oct. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwx5IvypC5Q.
“Charlottesville: ‘Unite the Right’ Rally, State of Emergency.” Time, Time, time.com/charlottesville-white-nationalist-rally-clashes/.
Emba, Christine. “Opinion | What Is White Privilege?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 16 Jan. 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/01/16/white-privilege-explained/?utm_term=.9ab38988e000.
“Simon Sinek on Millennials in the Workplace.” YouTube, YouTube, 29 Oct. 2016, www.youtube.com/watch?v=hER0Qp6QJNU.
The Bible. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2008.
