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PRIVILEGE
Yes, Brown Privilege Can Be A Thing
Light-skinned Black is still not white but can afford you certain instances of tolerance; not acceptance.
I first learned about Brown Privilege when years ago someone said to me: “You’re not Black right… so you’re good.” As if, in their mind, being Black was an affront to humankind. The worst thing that someone could be, or at the very least, perceived.
Though those words left an air of WTF hovering above, I knew exactly what they meant. Because I wasn’t fully Black (or Blackish), it meant I was okay, passable — tolerated. This faux acceptance, mostly by the white community, I have come across throughout my life.
Being a biracial person in a predominately white space somehow gives me a pass in certain limited situations — sometimes.
What has been embedded into the subconscious American mind for centuries is that skin color is on a sliding scale of acceptability and tolerance. Black skin; considered worthless, unacceptable, and disgusting is at one end of the spectrum whereas the extreme opposite end (or at the top) is reserved for the untainted purity of white skin.
The classic good vs. evil trope.
Any shade in between, however, could either catch you a case or cause you to be the recipient of privilege, depending on how you are perceived by the majority — the only opinion that matters apparently.
Ideally, in a country that functions on systemic racism (such as America), any color other than white is considered disgraceful and thus viewed as a threat to the Caucasian majority. Isn’t this the root philosophy by which white supremacists live their lives?
The browning of America
When discussing privilege what comes to mind is that only white people benefit from such a special right. Though this is true for the most part, a side salad to the privilege conversation is how it can benefit those from the human color spectrum having a lighter shade of Blackness.
The perceived threat level does go down slightly as skin color gets lighter.
Light-skinned Black people are seen to be…
