On privilige

[sqbr]

EDIT: *cough*, meant to post this to debunkingwhite. But hey, you guys may be able to help too :)(*) If you're unfamilar with the concept of "white privilige" I reccomend White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.

A statement I've seen pop up fairly frequently is "I don't want to give up my white privilege, I want to share it with everyone". I've seen enough criticisms of this statement not to say it myself, but I don't have quite enough of a grip on it's wrongness to explain it to other people.

The counterarguments that I can see (which combine together in complex ways):
-Maybe POC don't want to live exactly like white people, but to have their own lifestyles validated (ie it's like turning women into men to remove male privilige)
-It may not be possible (ie it's like giving all peasants a castle to remove class privilige)
-Certain priviliges only work if there's another, less priviliged group (ie "not getting suspected of shoplifting")

But I have a feeling that's not all there is to it, and can't express it very well.

So, in words of one syllable: why is this wrong? It is wrong, right?

(*)n.b. to sonnlich, I realise this oversimplifies the position you were taking in our particular discussion, but I decided to pare down the question to it's simplest form rather than adding a bunch of qualifiers etc, esp. since I'm interested in general.

Comments

[strangedave.livejournal.com]

One answer is its wrong because it conflates white privilege with the benefits of that privilege.

Now, wanting everyone to have a reasonable quality of shelter, the choice of a quality education, reasonable health services, the chance of a comfortable middle class existence if they want it, and so on, is, I think, a reasonable one. The idea of equality of opportunity is a goal.

But the privilege itself stems from particular social systems and their power over others. The people in Alice Springs I see brutally deprived by our society don't want white privilege - they don't want to just assimilate our culture, our hierarchies, our values, but they surely do want our access to shelter, security, quality food, health services, education, etc.

I think i"d echo what other people have said - the notion of 'sharing white privilege' ultimately denies that tolerance and pluralism need to be part of the solution.

[alias_sqbr]

One answer is its wrong because it conflates white privilege with the benefits of that privilege.

That's a really good way of putting it.