Wednesday, November 15, 2006

White Privilege Checklist: What's Your Score?

I've often said (and adoptkorea.com repeats) that when we adopt transracially, we are no longer a white family with a child of color. We become a transracial family.

But that's at home. When we're out and about in public, there's us white APs (if you're indeed white) and our Asian/AA/biracial children. Consider this checklist below and the privileges that are afforded us because of our majority/mainstream status:

White Privilege Checklist

Peggy McIntosh, Associate Director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, describes white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets, which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was .meant. to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks. (McIntosh, 1989).

___ 1. I can arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

___ 2. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

___ 3. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

___ 4. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization", I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

___ 5. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

___ 6. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the food I grew up with, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can deal with my hair.

___ 7. Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial responsibility.

___ 8. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing, or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

___ 9. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

___ 10. I can take a job or enroll in a college with an affirmative action policy without having my co-workers or peers assume I got it because of my race.

___ 11. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

___ 12. I can choose public accommodation with out fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated.

___ 13. I am never asked to speak for all of the people of my racial group.

___ 14. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk with the"person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

___ 15. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven.t
been singled out because of my race.

___ 16. I can easily by posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and
children.s magazines featuring people of my race.

___ 17. I can choose blemish cover or bandages in .flesh. color and have them more or less match my skin.

___ 18. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

___ 19. I can walk into a classroom and know I will not be the only member of my race.

___ 20. I can enroll in a class at college and be sure that the majority of my professors will be of my race.

As a Jew, change race to religion and I can personally relate to some of these questions. (Invariably depending on the news of the day, I was sought out for the "Jewish" opinion at a mid-size publishing company I worked at years ago.) I grew up in a decidedly non-Jewish neighborhood, as well.

But unlike the race you wear on your face, I can choose to "hide" my faith/ethnicity.

Being recognized as the "other" means you're not the norm. As a writer it's easy to spot. When an adjective is added to a common noun, like "male nurse, woman truck driver, adopted child", you can see what society views as normal and what it does not.

Take the test, share it with your spouse and other family members and friends. Hey, do it at Thanksgiving and you're really get the conversation going :=)

3 comments:

Third Mom said...

Hi, Roberta, I'm so glad you posted this! This view of white privilege is a real eye-opener, and in my opinion should be required reading for all transracial a-parents.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Anonymous said...

Yes, race is an important consideration, but being white does not automatically mean that a person will experience white privilege.

For example, my DH is hard of hearing. With all that he has faced and what I have witnessed in the time that we have been together, I would never say that he experiences any privilege by being white. The fact that he is hard of hearing can't be hidden in public -- the way his speech has been affected by it, the use of sign language, and the behind-the-ear hearing aids he wears are big giveaways. I have no doubt that he will understand what challenges lie before our daughter (who we are adopting from Korea).

I understand how this can be helpful for people who have not faced overt discrimination, but there are white people out there who never experience white privilege because of differing abilities (being blind, being in a wheelchair, etc.) They are as much a part of the "other" as if they were a different race.

Anonymous said...

Hi - this is a very thought-provoking , interesting post. Many of the items you list in your check-list of white privilege apply to people who are 'different' in other ways, whether they're differentiated by a disability, language, culture, or any of the myriad ways that pre-teens and teenagers distinguish different 'tribes.' It might be helpful to think of differences as defined not only by race, but by the many different things that make us individual people.

Personally, I love learning about different cultures, traditions and ideas, and would love to see more people see those differences as something that should be celebrated.