The Diversity Team has been talking for a while about holding an event on privilege (often compared to ‘an invisible package of unearned assets which…. can be cashed in each day, but to which you remain oblivious’). We have been talking for a while about doing such an event, but we haven’t really settled on what we should do or how to structure it.
We have recently held events on topics including Bystander Intervention Training (focusing on microaggressions) and Implicit Bias in the Workplace. Both of these involved having on-campus representatives of UCI offices speak with us. In terms of a training event on privilege, we’ve been sort of stuck as to what we should plan. So we’re writing this blog post for two reasons: partly to help work through our thoughts, and partly to ask for suggestions and input.
First of all, we have been educating ourselves about the subject of privilege. See, for examples, the article linked in the first sentence of this post, and some of the resources below:
- Creating a Social Justice Mindset: Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice in the Collections Directorate of the MIT Libraries
https://dspace.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.1/108771/MIT_DISJReport_20170209.pdf?sequence=1 - Diversity Toolkit: A Guide to Discussing Identity, Power and Privilege
https://msw.usc.edu/mswusc-blog/diversity-workshop-guide-to-discussing-identity-power-and-privilege/ - “… the topic of white privilege came up. It reminded me of two videos. Both are by Tim Wise and were made in 2014. Tim Wise: On White Privilege appears to be a lecture he gave at Mt. Holyoke. The other one, subtitled Race, Racism & White Privilege in America is less a talking head, but the voice over is mostly Tim Wise. Both are about an hour long. Their summaries (thank goodness for this requirement in catalog records for films) are similar but not identical.”
One of the activities that we’ve considered, dismissed, considered again, and then dismissed again is the idea of us doing a ‘privilege walk’. Read more about the activity here, and see a video of one happening here. While a very powerful demonstration of the role that privilege plays in the world in which we live, one of the reasons that we remain so uncertain about using this activity as a tool to discuss privilege is that it might be a little bit uncomfortable in the context of a workplace… but then, maybe being uncomfortable is good!
This is an ongoing conversation we’re having, and we’re hoping that by writing this and other blogposts, we might open this discussion up to all of our colleagues. It’s an important subject, but one that we’re not entirely sure how to tackle.
Woo says
April 27, 2018 at 5:41 pmAt our Diversity Team Brown Bag talk today (April 27, 2018) on considering holding/participating in a Privilege Walk, I said I’d share the handful of materials I found to prepare my brief remarks on this topic. I searched Academic Search Complete and several other databases for “privilege walk,” plus looked briefly in Google. These are quick reads:
Seeing Whiteness [Exercises in Understanding Race] by Reggie Williams
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=6&sid=5ba181df-e80c-4598-9819-4da4492528d9%40sessionmgr102
or http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=reh&AN=ATLAiGFE160815004467&site=ehost-live&scope=site contains link to PDF full text. Comments sent to the editor in response to Seeing Whiteness: https://www.screencast.com/t/T1qSOIY1j
Beyond the Privilege Walk: https://www.tolerance.org/print/85529/print
Why “the Privilege Line” is a frustratingly unfinished exercise (and how to make it better…maybe): https://christinatorres.org/2015/07/09/why-the-privilege-line-is-a-frustratingly-unfinished-exercise/
Hue and Cry on ‘Whiteness Studies’ (Washington Post): http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nfh&AN=WPT137094048703&site=ehost-live&scope=site
For Resident Assistants, a Race for Inequality (Chronicle of Higher Education): http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eue&AN=507926469&site=ehost-live&scope=site
Stacy Brinkman says
March 15, 2018 at 1:56 pmMy two cents, as a person who has participated in and led privilege walks and other activities of this nature: You cannot have a meaningful conversation about privilege and your own privilege if you are unwilling to be uncomfortable.
If the desired outcome of doing a privilege walk is to simply illustrate that some people have more or less privilege than others, then you can do this activity by stringing beads and making a necklace of sorts (string color A if you answer yes and color B if you answer no). I was at a conference this past year that used this method. It is less “uncomfortable” but overall less impactful.
If the desired outcome of doing a privilege walk is to actually see and experience your privilege in relation to others you interact with on a daily basis, and to acknowledge and reflect upon the specific ways in which you hold privilege and how that may play into your daily interactions (while also learning more about yourself and others in the process)… well, then you should do the actual walk, or some version of it. Being uncomfortable, followed by a chance to reflect (incorporating writing) before discussing, can be powerful.
Happy to share any experiences with leading this activity.
Josh says
March 15, 2018 at 2:05 pmThank you Stacy, that’s really helpful! I hope we’ll talk again about this!
>>If the desired outcome of doing a privilege walk is to actually see and experience your privilege in relation to others you interact with on a daily basis, and to acknowledge and reflect upon the specific ways in which you hold privilege and how that may play into your daily interactions….
I think that’s one area where we’ve struggled. Is that really a desired outcome? I personally don’t know. I know some people want it to be, but what if I don’t want it to be the outcome? What if I don’t want people to know my specific background, and question how I’ve ended up where I am? What if I’m spectacularly insecure and uncomfortable talking about these things?
Does that just sour my relationship with my colleagues, instead of help explain who I am and where I’m from (and the same things about them)?
Thuy says
March 15, 2018 at 3:28 pmYes! Thank you, Stacy, well stated. I agree 🙂
woo says
March 14, 2018 at 1:29 pmI had heard about this from a librarian here, who either observed it or also participated in it. The implicit bias workshop the Diversity Team here led probably also made at least some of us feel (at least a little) uncomfortable, but that didn’t prevent you from offering it. After all, this is a voluntary activity. I was not 100% comfortable, but that’s perfectly fine. For many people, diversity is an inherently challenging topic. After all, one of the common micro-aggressions is “I don’t view you as different [in race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, etc.],” which can be interpreted as “You don’t see the parts of me that I value and play such a huge role in my identity. Those parts are part of our diverse community.”
Josh says
March 14, 2018 at 1:49 pmThanks for your feedback, Woo.
I talked to one of our student assistants who did a privilege walk as part of her orientation. She said (I liked this) “It sounds really interesting before you do it, but afterwards it’s like… Whoa!” and she said it’s probably a lot easier if you’re doing it with people you don’t know, and probably won’t have to deal with again (so her orientation experience was fine in that respect). I can absolutely understand that in a workplace context.