And I happen to be white
I have been privileged in my life. I would be lying if I did not state that I had some gifts that made life easier for me. I also happen to be of northern European descent. But the privilege and the northern European descent have little to do with each other. Let me talk about some of my privileges and try to explain.
The first privilege that I was born with was to be fairly smart. While I do realize that intelligence runs in my family, I would definitely not assume that my race is the reason for my intelligence. That would require to me to assume that other races are not intelligent, and I know that to be false.
The second privilege that I have is that I had both a father and mother figure in my family structure to guide me through my growing up years. This is not because of the color of my skin. It has much more to do with the upbringing of my parents. They stayed together because they were brought up to respect family life. Again, that family life is possible no matter what your race.
My third privilege is that I grew up in rural schools rather than inner city schools. I never realized growing up what a privilege that was. But after college, I took a temporary job with St. Louis Science Center teaching an astronomy program that brought together a suburban and an inner city school. Seeing the difference between the teachers of the two schools was eye opening. But this privilege has to do with what towns I lived in, and not the color of my skin. I went to school with people of all races, so I do not consider this to be a race privilege.
My fourth privilege is that my family taught me to have a good work ethic. My parents grew up during the great depression, and the lessons they learned from that time were passed onto me. Lessons about the importance of hard work, showing up on time, and doing whatever was necessary to make ends meet. Again, being a good worker is not a white only characteristic.
My fifth privilege is to have been Christian. Following the Christian faith kept me from doing many things that might have made my life harder. I did not do drugs, drink heavily or smoke. I was not sexually active, so I never had to worry about having kids before I was ready. I believed that marriage was a lifetime commitment, so I have stayed married for over 35 years. Prayer life kept me centered so that I was able to focus on what was important. I think being a Christian was probably the biggest privilege I have had. But again, white Europeans do not have a monopoly on Christianity or morality.
I know that sometimes there can be additional privilege. I am reminded of a parody song from my youth, that talks about the lad who went to Yale, studied hard, got a job, worked hard, and rose to the top. The final line is “And I am thankful to my father who was chairman of the board”. I never had that kind of privilege.
I can honestly say that none of the jobs I had were obtained because of my race. In fact, I expect that several of the jobs I landed would have been easier to land had I been another race. But I will say that I have been privileged. Actually, I prefer to say that I have been blessed by the Lord, and that has helped me to have the successful life I have lived. The more I look at what is referred to as white privilege, the more I realize the concept implies something that is actually very racist. Other than whites preferring to hire people of the same race, which due to affirmative action and diversity goals is highly discouraged, every other “white privilege” implies that whites do things better than other races. I strongly disagree with that sentiment, and do not think that is the message those pushing white privilege really want to send.