Privilege sometimes wields violence to preserve its benefits. More often, it shrouds the privileged in the anesthesia of denial.
And never more so than with racial privilege.
Privilege: Tut-tutting about looting and violence accompanying protests of the homicide of a black man by Minneapolis cops. Tut-tutting is a tranquilizing, diminishing “yeah, but.” It values property and the appearance of order over crushing social norms sustaining the privilege enabling cops to kill without legal penalty.
Privilege: Never fearing cops. Those who cringe at law enforcement only in speed traps are naïve or, more likely today, willfully ignorant. A chosen ignorance is privilege.
Privilege: Believing that we got all we have – excellent schooling, good jobs, nice houses, comfortable lives – without the unearned benefit of others’ positive assumptions. The absence of obstacles is privilege.
Privilege: Saying “I’m not racist.” Kind people don’t declare their kindness. Anti-racists recognize their privilege. They acknowledge their biases. They act. Cheap words are privilege.
Racism continues because the privileged deny their privilege. A nation that permits it was never truly great – and thus cannot yet be great again.
