From when a person is born and old enough to recognize what is going on around them they see the different opportunities that they have that other kids do not, whether they are good opportunities or bad, they notice. To me this has a lot to do with the privileges that not everyone has, and your skin color plays a large role in what privileges a person gets and what privileges a person does not get. The definition of privilege to me is an opportunity that only a certain person or a specified group gets and is not equal to everyone. An example of some privileges that a certain group gets is if you are a Latino there is a grant if you are the first in your family to go to college that will help out with your tuition of course with certain specifications. Another example that has to do with society, is that when I was growing up I noticed that at my grandmas house there were no street lights when it got dark, on the way home that night I asked my mother why there were no street lights and why it was so dark, she said “Mijo, its dark because the city does not put up street lights because the people that live here do not care enough about their community, so neither does the city” I noticed then that I was privileged even if they are just street lights. I felt privileged because I did not live in a low income area, and that my family did well, and it was then where I started being grateful and I still am.
The truth is that having privileges does create racism in a sense, because for example the white kids are getting more then the colored kids are vice versa. One cannot give opportunities to a specific group and not expect the others to be upset. Everyone can be racist because racism is just anger at a certain specified group. For example when white kids make fun of a Latino or a Black person, the individual that is getting teased has anger not only towards that one person that is making fun of them, but associates them with all white people and not just that one person, and I know that from personal experience. This is absolutely wrong on both ends, but eventually the person learns that it was that individuals ignorance and not the whole race. Racism is a very complicated subject and always will be.
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Hi Nelson,
ReplyDeleteYour working definition for privilege is very clear, " an opportunity that only a certain person or a specified group gets and is not equal to everyone". The readings that we do for this week look specifically at White Privilege and how those opportunities get divided up along racial lines. In this sense, I would challenge you to think about your example about Latinos having specialized grants or scholarships- compare this to the examples of White Privilege that McIntosh lists in her text. The example about your grandma's neighborhood is a great example of class privilege! Another follow-up question for you: Admittedly, racism is a complicated subject, does that mean we shouldn't engage with it? Why is it important to (attempt to) figure it out?