vaginapagina | MMMMonday! Talking about privilege

It's MMMMonday! Each Monday, we bring you special, maintainer-curated content intended to enrich your VP experience. Please note that you can find past MMMMonday posts using the mmmmonday tag.

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This week's post is about power and privilege. Here's an article that's been going around this week...

“That’s Racist Against White People!” A Discussion on Power and Privilege

Also check out this video that talks about acting in solidarity with folks of color...

One Easy Thing All White People Could Do That Would Make The World A Better Place

Cracking the Codes: Joy DeGruy, A Trip to the Grocery Store

[opening credits fade in on head & shoulders of black woman]

My sister-in-law, uh, who's half-black, half white, but looks white, blue eyes, whiter than most white folks -- very white. Uh, she and I, you know, we kind of grew up together, we raised our children together, uh, so they're first cousins, so, you know, wonderful, very very multi-cultural family.

So we going into Safeway, one day, and, uh, Kathleen, my- my sister-in-law's in front of me, and she's uh, you know, writing a cheque for her groceries. Now my daughter, who at the time was ten years old, was standing with me, and I was directly behind her, you know, getting ready to get my groceries, so Kathleen comes up, and the checker, who was a strawberry blonde, um, freckled, very delightful, warm, um, you know, the checker, this young woman, is talking to Kathleen -- [big grin, higher pitched voice, very enthusiastic] "Hey! How you doing? Isn't it a nice day today?" So they're just chatting up, and yeah, so Kathy writes her cheque, and she steps off to the side with her groceries, 'coz she's waiting for me. Course, again, Kathleen looks white, right? So I come up. -- No conversation. She looks up at me. Absolutely no - just, little chatter - and, uh, I write my cheque.

My daughter, however, is ten, notices immediately the difference in how she responds to me. So I write my cheque, and she goes, "I'm going to need two pieces of ID." At which point my daugher looks at me, and she gets very very embarrassed, and tears are- are kinda coming up in her eye, like, "Mommy, you're not gonna - you're not gonna let her do this? Why is she doing this to us?", right? So I'm trying to figure out what I should do, cause behind me are two elderly white women, right? [laughs] Now I'm thinking, okay, so then I become The Angry Black Woman, right? [laughs] And they're gonna be - and I just, I'm- I'm just trying to second-guess all the drama. So then I- I just give her the two pieces of ID, yes, and you know, some things you gotta choose your battles, right. And then it gets worse. She pulls out the Bad Check Book, right? [laughs] So this - this is the book that shows people who've written bad checks. So she starts searching for my licence in the bad checks, at which point, it's just - out of control, now. [cut]

Just as I'm standing there, um, trying to decide what to do, and this really deeply humilitating, I mean, now my daughter is in full-blown emotionally upset, who's ten, [voice gets quieter] my sister-in-law walks back over. [small smile] And she steps in [points finger], and she says, "Excuse me. Why are you doing this?" And the checker goes, "Well - what do you, what do you mean?" She [Kathleen] goes, "Why are you taking her through all of these changes? Why are you doing that?" She [checker] goes, "Well um, this is our policy." She [Kathleen] goes, "No it's not your policy, because you didn't do that with me." "Oh well, [dismissive hand gesture] I know you, you've been-" She [Kathleen] goes, "No no, she's been here for years [points with thumb], I've only lived here for three months." And so at this point [grins], the two white eldery ladies go, [high-pitched, breathy, taken aback] "Oh! I can't believe what this checker has done with this women, it is totally unacceptable!" At which point [laughing], the manager walks over!

So the manager walks over and says, "Is there a problem here?" And then my sister-in-law again responds. She goes, "Yes, there is a problem here. Here is what happened." So you see, she used her white privilege, and even though Kathleen is half-black and half-white, she recognises what that means, and she made the statement, she pointed out the injustice, and she as a result of that one act [holds up one finger] influenced [makes encircling motion with index fingers] everyone in that space.

But what would have happened - I can't know for certain - had the black woman [indicating herself] said, "This [downward pointing finger] is unfair, why [downward finger] are you doing this to me?" Would it have had the same impact? But Kathleen knew that she walked through the world differently than I did, and she used her white privilege, to educate and make right a situation that was wrong. That's what you can do, every single day [smiles].

[credits]

Because we've been talking about privilege in relation to SSRs and other related topics, and because just about all of us hold privilege of one kind or another, this seemed like an important topic to bring up. Of course, the history of racism is quite different than the history of disablism, or the history of cissexism, but all oppression is related even if we can't draw direct comparisons.

Check these out and tell us what you think. Any questions? Do these pieces broaden your understanding of Safe Space in VP? Let's talk about it!