Many Americans deny the existence of privilege even while we see it, hear it, and feel it tear us apart. To end the destruction, we need to recognize that having privilege harms the privileged, talk about it so we can get over it, and make the New Privilege a reality.
The Privilege is Real
People are uncomfortable talking about, even thinking about privilege—particularly their own. I mean avoid eye contact, short of breath uncomfortable. I see this as I work around the country training executives, employees, community leaders, and young people on equity, diversity, and inclusion—all to create opportunities for good health. No matter how many times I say there is “no shame or blame associated with privilege,” eyes drift downward and I see people struggle to just breathe. As America’s gaping wounds grow more visible each day, this is not the time to look away. It’s the perfect time to settle into our discomfort.
In the 1970s, growing up in New York was a special mix of rap before it was hip-hop, jumping double-dutch in the street, cookouts and block parties, afternoons at the Police Athletic League, St. Paschal’s Church on Sunday, and school days at P.S. 95. A child of immigrants, I lived in a multi-generational household filled with Jamaican culture, sweetened by my grandmother’s afternoon English tea, and alive with my grandfather’s stories. My mother was a fashion designer who graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and my father was a musician who played at the Apollo Theater in Harlem when he wasn’t entertaining around the world. Sometimes my parents were stressed because money was tight but I was oblivious because all I ever felt was loved.
In the midst of that, my parents had wealthy musician friends who would sometimes arrive at our house in a limousine—taking us to the circus and upstate New York where we spent holidays at their mansion—unusual for a black kid from working-class Queens. Their family loved ours and we loved theirs. Still do. As a seven-year-old, I knew their life was different from ours. With them, we went to special places in Manhattan without questions or explanations—places where no one looked like me or lived like we lived. As an adult I now realize we experienced the benefits and perks of their class, their race—their privilege.
Privilege is never having to explain to your child how to survive being stopped by a police officer or feeling confident they won’t be stopped at all. Privilege is never having to discuss your sexual attractions or correct your gender pronoun. Privilege is being late and no one attributes it to your race. Privilege is forgetting something, being reminded of it, and the other person doesn’t assume it happened because of your age. Privilege is feeling physically safe regardless of where you are walking or what you are wearing. Privilege is never being asked what country you are from even though you were born in the United States.
Privilege is never being called a racial slur or having that slur be the name of a professional sports team. Privilege is being able to express disagreement without being perceived as “emotional” or “angry.” Privilege is not being accused of using bad judgment because of the size of your house or because you bought the car you actually want. Privilege is knowing the only reason you didn’t get the job is because someone else was better qualified. Privilege is not having to explain your religious holidays and knowing they are legally observed. Privilege is not having to ask for an able-bodied accessible room when you check into a hotel. Privilege is knowing that your rights were written into the original version of the Constitution, not retrofitted as an amendment, and they can’t ever be threatened or overturned.
As hard as it is to admit, privilege and oppression reflect how society assigns disparate value to all of us based on social identities and how we, consciously or unconsciously, assign value to ourselves. Social identities are based on characteristics of groups to which we belong. We can be born with certain characteristics of privilege such as our biological sex; others we can work to acquire like education; and some are out of our control and change throughout our lives such as aging. Based on those characteristics, individuals experience certain rights, benefits, freedoms, and advantages intentionally subscribed to them.
Oppression is the opposite and manifests as intentional, unfair burdens, limitations on, or control of a specific group of people. Similar to those with privilege, oppressed people experience oppression regardless of their actions or inactions but the difference is that the cumulative effects of oppression are easily recognized as catastrophic: physically, emotionally, mentally, financially, and socially.
Modern-day discussions of privilege started in the U.S. with the early 20th century work of sociologist W.E.B. Dubois through his explorations of white-skin privilege. More recently, Wellesley’s Dr. Peggy McIntosh contemporized privilege in “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”[1] and her extensive scholarship on male privilege.
Today, privilege is most often discussed (when it is talked about at all) within the context of race, specifically whiteness. Given the roots and fruits of white privilege in American society, we have all witnessed it, experienced it, suspected it, or at the very least, debated and then denied it. Although white privilege is the most commonly debated and controversial form of privilege discussed in polite (and not so polite) society—more than one type of privilege is at play in our lives. In fact, there are as many types of privilege as there are types of oppression.
The Intersection of Privilege and Social Disadvantage
Before we can talk about privilege, we have to tune out the noise. The existence of privilege and oppression is not an accident or a reflection of some bizarre natural order. They are persistent states-of-being sanctioned by people with power who create the policies that define our daily lives. Privilege and oppression lead to social advantage and disadvantage: personal circumstances and interactions based on social and cultural norms; social mobility/immobility; social inclusion/exclusion; implicit bias; and personal affinity that lead to positive or negative life experiences for an individual or group.
Imagine that Devon, a 29-year-old from Denver, has linguistic privilege because American English is his first language. He moves to Hidalgo County Texas for a new job as a third grade teacher. While systems and communications in America are primarily in English, according the 2010 U.S. Census, close to 85 percent of Hidalgo County’s population has Spanish as their first language[2]. On a daily basis, people first speak to him in Spanish and he struggles to understand most conversations, making it difficult for him to establish relationships and learn his new community. While Devon maintains the privilege associated with being a native English speaker regardless of where he is in the country, in Hidalgo County he experiences social disadvantage–not linguistic oppression.
Expect social advantage and disadvantage to materialize when conversations about privilege and oppression become uncomfortable and overwhelming—every single time. People try to escape difficult questions and painful truths regarding why we allow both to persist because absent taking action to dismantle privilege and oppression, we endorse and ensure their existence—making us complicit. That guarantees that shortly after a conversation about privilege starts, someone inevitably mentions how they felt that one time they were the minority in the room or how they had to work two jobs just to make it through the Ivy League.
Life’s challenges are very real as is social disadvantage but they are not oppression; they do not exempt us from simultaneously being privileged; and when they derail us from the discussions we need to have to heal and move forward–they are nothing more than noise.
Unbundling Oppression, Privilege, Policy and Culture—or Not
On a daily basis, we are exposed to various forms of privilege—class, sex, gender, race, age, ability, education, language, religion, and sexual orientation—to name a few. At the same time, we are exposed to those same forms of oppression. When I say exposed, I mean that whether or not the privilege or oppression applies to us directly, their very existence has implications for the ways in which we perceive and experience society and each other.
It is possible and common to be privileged and oppressed in different ways, at the same time. For instance, a 27-year-old, college-educated, able-bodied, Latina woman may experience the privileges of being under the age of 40, college educated, and able-bodied while simultaneously experiencing oppression as a Latina and a woman. The intersections of those experiences are complex and powerful. The value or weight of each form of privilege or oppression may vary based on where in America a person lives, the evolution of cultural and social norms, and public policy.
As the systemic host for privilege and oppression, policy is also the gatekeeper for social change and can either respond to or lead to shifts in culture. One example would be women’s suffrage in the United States. Until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment (1920), women in America were disenfranchised.[3] Upon its passage, women went from being oppressed with regard to civic participation to being privileged based on gaining the right to vote. Although women have voted at higher rates than men since 1980[4], they have yet to achieve proportionate representation among elected officials. So although policy change may officially end oppression, the evolution of social and cultural norms is necessary to erase its residual effects. How people treat each other changes society more than policy ever will.
What Does Privilege Feel Like?
Have you ever noticed that some people can float in a swimming pool by doing nothing more than relaxing on their backs while other people have to tread, staying in a constant state of motion to keep their heads above water? That’s how privilege and oppression work. We are all in the water by virtue of the fact that we live in America. Whether we are conscious of it or not, based on our social identities, the water (privilege) buoys some of us up while at the same time gravity (oppression) works to pull others of us to the bottom. These forces are in action regardless of what we do or don’t do—and to varying degrees.
At any time, a person with privilege can choose to tread water to reposition themselves or to move to a better part of the pool. A person who experiences oppression can only rest for a moment or risk sinking and never making it back above water. Exhausted from the constant effort of treading, there is little if any energy left to reach a better position in the pool. Survival is the highest and at times, the only priority.
Here’s the hidden truth about privilege: If you’re floating on your back, you only have one view–the sky. The more privilege you have, the more sky that’s in your line of sight. You rarely glance away to see or engage with others in the pool. Why would you? You have very little awareness of the currents in motion beneath the surface or feel the gravity that pulls down others in the pool around you. Similar to fish, it’s unlikely you are even aware that your current existence is within water, much less that you are wet. If the water gets choppy and requires you to tread, you might discover the muscles you need to use are under-developed or have atrophied. You will struggle with the effort, feel uncoordinated, and experience the challenges faced by those who can’t naturally float. It is utterly exhausting.
Privilege feels positive, uplifting, and secure. It confirms you are special. While it affords consistent opportunities and benefits, it is far from one-dimensional. A true exploration of privilege indicates that it cultivates limitations, creates blind spots, and hinders our resilience. When it comes to our awareness of the human condition and its role in our relationships, I liken privilege to watching the latest Star Wars movie on a 13” black and white television with an antenna wrapped in aluminum foil while you sit on your couch and hunt for the remote to increase the volume. You can see the movie, understand the plot, and even hear the sound but the experience will never compare to watching it in the opulence of an IMAX theater; seeing the clearest images and brightest colors; hearing people around you laugh or gasp; and feeling the surround sound vibrate through the plush leather recliner.
Consistently reinforced privilege keeps us sitting on the couch, searching for the remote. It positions us to be numb to the oppression and struggles of others; perpetuates social inequities that are counter to human nature; encourages a savior mentality—as in, we can and should take action to save “those people” without privilege; gets in the way of genuine, meaningful relationships that have the potential to end sexism, classism, racism, and the other –isms; and it fails to prepare us for equality or social disadvantage which to a person with privilege can feel like oppression. Privilege is not all it’s cracked up to be.
According to a 2015 Stanford University study by L. Taylor Phillips and Brian S. Lowery, “The hard-knock life? Whites claim hardships in response to racial inequity,”[5] when presented with evidence of their privilege, white people frequently disagree that they personally benefit from systemic privilege. It challenges their self-perceptions related to merit and hard work and they perceive the personal benefits attached to privilege as an indictment of their individual character rather than as the reflection of society’s values.
In addition to that, privilege is killing the privileged. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that life expectancy for middle and working class white women has declined and we may be starting to see a decline for white men.[6] Those data are largely attributed to increasing rates of suicide and prescription drug abuse, specifically opioids. Why? Some health researchers and economists speculate that increased stress from unemployment; newly experienced or perceived economic inequality; and social immobility over the past 10-15 years, coupled with sharp increases in the use of prescription pain medication, led to higher rates of suicide, drug abuse, and drug overdoses within white, privileged populations.
While the constant struggles of the oppressed lead to illness and early death, it also makes them more resilient during challenging times. On the other hand, privilege creates fewer opportunities to develop resilience and may leave people less prepared to survive adversity. While this does not describe every person’s response, the mounting evidence calls for our attention and begs the question—What is your privilege worth to you?
Listen to the emerging and long-standing narratives associated with various forms of privilege, not just white privilege. They reflect deeply held beliefs, are frequently crafted to ensure that privilege is not “lost” and its benefits continue, demonstrate that claims of privilege are perceived as a threat, and attempt to make the case that the privileged group is in jeopardy of being marginalized, eliminated, or oppressed. Consider advocates against marriage equality who have historically experienced heterosexual privilege through various forms of public policy. Language from the National Organization for Marriage website (www.nationformarriage.org) says, “As you know, we are in a critical period in our work to protect the rights of Americans to be free of government persecution for living out the truth of marriage in their daily lives and at work.”[7]
Whether you agree or disagree with marriage equality, this language communicates feelings of oppression that emerge when people with privilege experience equality. While it may seem easy to dismiss the anxiety and fear of the privileged—because they are privileged, it is no less real or meaningful than the pain and stress experienced by oppressed people. In fact, the implications of those feelings may be more far-reaching because they are felt by individuals who have the power to define reality for themselves and for others.
The Toxic Idiosyncrasies of Privilege
- Privilege makes us indifferent to the oppression and struggles of others.
A person of privilege might say, “I’m doing well and everyone I know is doing well because with hard work, you can achieve anything in America. People who are struggling financially struggle because they don’t want to work and they expect for someone to hand it to them on a silver platter.” This mindset indicates no acknowledgement or awareness of the opportunities and supports experienced by people with privilege or the forces that work against those who live in the grips of oppression. They overlook the constant treading it takes to survive.
Privilege can make us assume that struggle, failure, or under-achievement reflect a lack of effort or worse, laziness on the part of people experiencing oppression; not necessarily that their circumstances are their fault, but changing those circumstances is completely within their control. It demonstrates a lack of empathy or compassion for differences in life experiences and opportunities.
Think about the white family that has been legally allowed to use homeownership to amass wealth for 12 generations compared to the black family that has only had that right for six. Is it any wonder there are vast differences in their net worth and that the black family relies on debt and credit to survive? Consider the female veteran who doesn’t have access to gynecological health services because the local Veteran’s Affairs facility was staffed only to meet men’s health needs and as a result, she goes without care for several months. Is it any wonder that her ovarian cancer wasn’t diagnosed until it was stage III and as a result, her treatment will cost significantly more than was originally necessary and more importantly, she might not survive?
Given America’s rich Judeo-Christian underpinnings, we are socially, religiously, and culturally oriented to think and talk about oppression. We are rewarded for our efforts to help the oppressed—hence why our charitable donations are tax-deductible and we name hospital wings in honor of major donors. Yet, when are we ever encouraged to discuss privilege? Never. What could possibly be the reward?
- Privilege should feel counterintuitive because human beings are hardwired for fairness.
Unearned advantage (privilege) goes against our very nature. Scientific evidence indicates that human beings are hardwired for fairness and that hardwiring may be evolutionary.[8] The survival of groups of early humans hinged on the wellbeing of every member of the group. Inequities in resources like food or shelter may have jeopardized the individual, thereby putting the entire group at risk.
While humans are biologically oriented to fairness, we are also prone to in-group bias. That preference is usually for people in the group with which we identify most at any given time—people who share our social identity. We inherently favor people who are most like us, sometimes jeopardizing fairness for people outside of our group.
The struggle between those two seemingly opposing concepts may be one of the reasons that societies with the greatest inequities have some of the highest rates of “dis”-ease. Studies indicate that fairness actually makes emotionally healthy people happy and the brain reacts to it in the same ways it reacts to chocolate and money–by firing up our pleasure receptors. Conversely, when we witness or experience unfair conditions or treatment, we have a strong negative response. “As reported in the April issue of the journal Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, the brain finds self-serving behavior emotionally unpleasant, but a different bundle of neurons also finds genuine fairness uplifting. What’s more, these emotional firings occur in brain structures that are fast and automatic, so it appears that the emotional brain is overruling the more deliberate, rational mind. Faced with a conflict, the brain’s default position is to demand a fair deal.”[9]
- Privilege makes it seem like it’s the privileged person’s job to “save” anyone who is oppressed.
As I listen to people in the nonprofit, government, or the corporate sectors, I hear “savior mentality” in their language almost daily. There are droves of well-intended people of privilege who work to “empower” the “underserved” and “vulnerable.” These are the words that make it hard for me to breathe because they compel me to point out how condescending and patriarchal they are which should make everyone uncomfortable. Not to mention, this language fuels the belief that oppressed people live in self-imposed victimhood, which is ridiculous and wrong.
People who experience institutional or systemic oppression are not waiting to be “served” or saved, they are under-resourced. No one can bequeath someone with power they already have. Who are the people with privilege to label someone else as vulnerable? People become financially, socially, and physically vulnerable when they interact with systems and institutions that weren’t designed with them in mind or that were intentionally designed to oppress them and have now been retrofitted for equality—think constitutional amendment. It’s wrong to throw around the phrase “vulnerable” and brand people with it like it’s some quantifiable measure of strength or a character assessment.
The role of people with various forms of privilege shouldn’t be to “save” the oppressed. Instead, we each need to leverage our privilege to create an equitable society. What if I told you that an equitable society won’t require a complete loss of privilege, necessitate making anything other than worthwhile sacrifice, or diminish quality of life as you know it? There are ways. Read on.
- Privilege gets in the way of meaningful relationships and is a precursor to the -isms.
The only way we truly know ourselves is in relationship with other people. Privilege creates social isolation that feels comfortable as we settle into “sameness” and surround ourselves with like-minded people. So, if the people with whom we are isolated are just like us, how will we ever know ourselves? How will we be tested or affirmed? We won’t because privilege distorts reality in ways that limit our potential and inhibits our humanity. It settles us on private islands in the midst of society that are crowded and deserted all at the same time. It quarantines us from human differences that could lead to our most meaningful life experiences while sparking creativity and innovation. Most frighteningly, privilege is a breeding ground for prejudice in many forms, (e.g., sex prejudice, class prejudice, race prejudice, etc.). Why? As human beings, we fight to remain safe and one mechanism we use to do that is to prejudge. As a result, the unknown and the unseen spark fear, cultivate assumptions, and often lead us to jump to the wrong conclusions–prejudice.
On August 21, a white man from North Carolina called into C-SPAN to ask Heather McGhee of Demos what he could do to stop being prejudiced and be a better American. He mentioned that he was afraid of black people based on what he sees in the media about crime. Her first recommendation was that he get to know black families as opposed to forming his beliefs based on television.[10]
When you breathe life into your prejudice through your actions, that manifests as an -ism (e.g., sexism, classism, and racism, etc.). The most commonly accepted first step to undo an -ism and contribute to an equitable society is to build relationships with the very people against whom you are prejudiced and recognize the pitfalls of your privilege. That’s not possible if you are so busy floating and staring at your patch of the sky that you miss the people around you who are treading water to survive.
- Privilege makes periods of social disadvantage or even equality feel like oppression and that is dangerous.
When you spend a lifetime experiencing privilege you take it for granted, grow to feel a sense of entitlement, and you might be tempted to equate struggles or challenges to being oppressed; but more importantly, you may genuinely feel oppressed. Feelings matter. They influence and at times dictate decisions, behaviors, and actions. They factor into how you engage in society and with whom you choose to engage. Chris Boeskool explains this with great clarity in, “When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression.” [11] Interestingly, it’s the loss of privilege and the associated loss of life that has finally gotten some people to admit it exists.
Equity is the New Privilege
Say what? Equity is fairness, not defined subjectively but instead defined by whatever is necessary to get to the best possible outcome for each person. Equity is more than every child having access to a good school. It’s when that school is structured to provide each child with the tools, teachers, social support, disciplinary norms, and instruction necessary to maximize what children can learn and retain. Equity is more than having access to healthcare. It’s when a medical professional sees beyond the physical and social characteristics of a patient to address the root cause of their pain and then treats that pain based on what that patient needs, without assuming what they can tolerate. Equity is more than setting up STEM education programs for women and people of color to get into the tech industry. It’s when companies recruit from those programs while making every effort to ensure that new hires have professional and social supports necessary for inclusion and retention. Equity is more than passing voting rights legislation. It’s when we make the voting process easily accessible to registered voters without undue burdens associated with certain voter identification requirements.
Equality and equal access are not enough. They never have been and never will be because the diversity of human beings requires different options and different approaches for different people. Equity, when active throughout society, creates opportunities for each of us to maximize our potential and our possibilities.
Given that privilege is mentally, emotionally, and socially toxic, it’s time to admit that it is dangerous for individuals and to society. While dismantling systems of oppression is daunting, long-term work and the loss of privilege alludes to sacrifice, the evidence points to the opposite—value added. Eliminating privilege helps us stay connected to the human condition; aligns us with our true nature of fairness; keeps us humble enough to support others in solving their own problems while helping to move unfair obstacles out of their way; creates opportunities for us to engage in genuine relationships without fear or prejudice; and makes us each more resilient when faced with adversity.
Equity creates a new type of privilege, one that is a collective advantage available to all people—where everyone has whatever is necessary to achieve their best possible life and self, never at the unfair expense or oppression of others. The New Privilege will ensure that regardless of class, sex, gender, race, age, ability, education, language, religion, sexual orientation, or any other identifier, society will honor our individual efforts and abilities by removing barriers to opportunity and ensuring that we all get to tread and float from time to time.
As I listen to public vitriol stoked by nearly two years of poisonous political campaigning and recklessness on social and traditional media; and I witness the ways in which privilege and oppression tear at the fabric of American society as manifested in violent acts and attempts to exclude anyone without privilege, I’m heartbroken and I’m pissed. The pain of our collective history and current inequities suffocate us and cast us into darkness. Our leaders continue to espouse American exceptionalism but refuse to do anything to heal society. In fact, they protect the status quo—privilege and oppression.
We can’t give up so what can we do? I maintain hope for a few reasons. The graying of America will serve as a significant wake-up call with regard to the oppression of older adults. Even if you cannot identify oppression in your life now, you will as you age. Also, there is a narrative in development that challenges our assumptions about privilege, power, and oppression and that will hopefully light our path to meaningful action and change. I’m hopeful that more people will begin to identify their privilege–recognizing that privilege, just like oppression, is a persistent liability but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Stepping from under the Cone of Silence and releasing our individual death-grips on privilege frees our hands to grab hold of what we’re missing from our human experience and what we have yet to develop within ourselves. We can do this. We have to.
I could close this with a pithy list of 10 Tips to Manage Your Privilege but frankly I’m still recognizing my own privilege in the midst of accepting that oppression plays a role in my life. Yes, at times I am treading furiously and at others, my privilege has me floating languidly as I reflect on my patch of the sky. So instead of 10 tips, I’ll give you one. Use your privilege for good, not evil. In this instance, complacency is evil. Turning a blind eye and deaf ear from the truth of the evening news to avoid the suffering caused by oppression, that’s evil too. Pretending that “equality” exists or that it will ever be good enough, well that’s stupid and evil, especially if you know it doesn’t work. Resting solely on diversity and inclusion efforts as the answer for all that ails us—you get the idea.
Whether you agree or disagree, Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel as a sign of protest during the national anthem reflects his decision to use not only his fame and visibility, but also his class privilege to bring attention to the flawed relationship between police and community. He used his privilege to donate $1 million to support people in inner city communities. In response, the owner of the San Francisco 49ers Jed York has committed $1 million to fight inequality and improve police-community relations. Kaepernick used his privilege to influence the most important audience of all, the privileged.
If I’m recommending a strategy, this is it and here is why. If you have privilege, you are better positioned to be heard, acknowledged, and believed by others with power and privilege. Your privilege grants you access to people who make decisions and take actions that either reinforce oppression or dismantle it. This is the best place to focus your energy because oppressed people have been advocating for themselves forever, supporting others experiencing oppression, and doing what they can to influence the powerful and the privileged. They have covered their bases, now you can cover yours. Deal with your own people, the ones that share your privilege. Talk about it. Explore it. Challenge it. It’s time to disrupt the dangers of privilege and co-opt its power in order to create an equitable society.
Think back to the pool. Remember you’re in it. Take a deep breath. Glance away from your patch of the sky. Stop floating and feel the true weight of your experience in our society. See the people treading water around you. Join them and tread for a while too. Develop the muscles. Build up your courage. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Look your privilege and the privileged squarely in the eye and dare to talk about it. If you get tired and can’t catch your breath–flip onto your back. Float. Your privilege? It will be right where you left it.
Now breathe.
[1] Rothman, J. (2014, May 12). The Origins of “Privilege”. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-origins-of-privilege
[2] Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_Spanish-speaking_population
[3] General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives. (1919, May 4). 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women’s Right to Vote. [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/global-pages/larger-image.html?i=/historical-docs/doc-content/images/19th-amendment-l.jpg&c=/historical-docs/doc-content/images/19th-amendment.caption.html
[4] Rampell, C. (2016, July 17). Why Women Are Far More Likely to Vote Than Men. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/catherine-rampell-why-women-are-far-more-likely-to-vote-then-men/2014/07/17/b4658192-0de8-11e4-8c9a-923ecc0c7d23_story.html?utm_term=.a1fcfbef11f0
[5] Lowery, B. S., & L., T.P. (2015, July 2). The hard-knock life? Whites claim hardships in response to racial inequity. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103115000852
[6] Tavernise, S. (2016, April 20). White Americans Are Dying Younger as Drug and Alcohol Abuse Rises. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/health/life-expectancy-decline-mortality.html?_r=0
[7] National Organization for Marriage. Summer Membership Drive. Retrieved from https://www.nationformarriage.org/advocacy/illinois2?msource=EB130302NANT
[8] Tavernise, S. (2016, April 20). White Americans Are Dying Younger as Drug and Alcohol Abuse Rises. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/health/life-expectancy-decline-mortality.html?_r=0
[9] Association for Psychological Science. (2008, April 15). Are Humans Hardwired for Fairness? Retrieved from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/are-humans-hardwired-for-fairness.html
[10] Itkowitz, C. (2016, August 24). ‘A C-SPAN caller asked a black guest how to stop being prejudiced. Here’s how she responded’. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/08/24/a-c-span-caller-asked-a-black-guest-how-to-stop-being-prejudiced-heres-how-she-responded/
[11] Boeskool, C. (2016, March 14). ‘When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression’. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-boeskool/when-youre-accustomed-to-privilege_b_9460662.html?
natalie insighting health 
Why I Won’t Give You Ten Tips to Manage Your Privilege
Many Americans deny the existence of privilege even while we see it, hear it, and feel it tear us apart. To end the destruction, we need to recognize that having privilege harms the privileged, talk about it so we can get over it, and make the New Privilege a reality.
People are uncomfortable talking about, even thinking about privilege—particularly their own. I mean avoid eye contact, short of breath uncomfortable. I see this as I work around the country training executives, employees, community leaders, and young people on equity, diversity, and inclusion—all to create opportunities for good health. No matter how many times I say there is “no shame or blame associated with privilege,” eyes drift downward and I see people struggle to just breathe. As America’s gaping wounds grow more visible each day, this is not the time to look away. It’s the perfect time to settle into our discomfort.
In the 1970s, growing up in New York was a special mix of rap before it was hip-hop, jumping double-dutch in the street, cookouts and block parties, afternoons at the Police Athletic League, St. Paschal’s Church on Sunday, and school days at P.S. 95. A child of immigrants, I lived in a multi-generational household filled with Jamaican culture, sweetened by my grandmother’s afternoon English tea, and alive with my grandfather’s stories. My mother was a fashion designer who graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology and my father was a musician who played at the Apollo Theater in Harlem when he wasn’t entertaining around the world. Sometimes my parents were stressed because money was tight but I was oblivious because all I ever felt was loved.
In the midst of that, my parents had wealthy musician friends who would sometimes arrive at our house in a limousine—taking us to the circus and upstate New York where we spent holidays at their mansion—unusual for a black kid from working-class Queens. Their family loved ours and we loved theirs. Still do. As a seven-year-old, I knew their life was different from ours. With them, we went to special places in Manhattan without questions or explanations—places where no one looked like me or lived like we lived. As an adult I now realize we experienced the benefits and perks of their class, their race—their privilege.
Privilege is never having to explain to your child how to survive being stopped by a police officer or feeling confident they won’t be stopped at all. Privilege is never having to discuss your sexual attractions or correct your gender pronoun. Privilege is being late and no one attributes it to your race. Privilege is forgetting something, being reminded of it, and the other person doesn’t assume it happened because of your age. Privilege is feeling physically safe regardless of where you are walking or what you are wearing. Privilege is never being asked what country you are from even though you were born in the United States.
Privilege is never being called a racial slur or having that slur be the name of a professional sports team. Privilege is being able to express disagreement without being perceived as “emotional” or “angry.” Privilege is not being accused of using bad judgment because of the size of your house or because you bought the car you actually want. Privilege is knowing the only reason you didn’t get the job is because someone else was better qualified. Privilege is not having to explain your religious holidays and knowing they are legally observed. Privilege is not having to ask for an able-bodied accessible room when you check into a hotel. Privilege is knowing that your rights were written into the original version of the Constitution, not retrofitted as an amendment, and they can’t ever be threatened or overturned.
As hard as it is to admit, privilege and oppression reflect how society assigns disparate value to all of us based on social identities and how we, consciously or unconsciously, assign value to ourselves. Social identities are based on characteristics of groups to which we belong. We can be born with certain characteristics of privilege such as our biological sex; others we can work to acquire like education; and some are out of our control and change throughout our lives such as aging. Based on those characteristics, individuals experience certain rights, benefits, freedoms, and advantages intentionally subscribed to them.
Oppression is the opposite and manifests as intentional, unfair burdens, limitations on, or control of a specific group of people. Similar to those with privilege, oppressed people experience oppression regardless of their actions or inactions but the difference is that the cumulative effects of oppression are easily recognized as catastrophic: physically, emotionally, mentally, financially, and socially.
Modern-day discussions of privilege started in the U.S. with the early 20th century work of sociologist W.E.B. Dubois through his explorations of white-skin privilege. More recently, Wellesley’s Dr. Peggy McIntosh contemporized privilege in “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”[1] and her extensive scholarship on male privilege.
Today, privilege is most often discussed (when it is talked about at all) within the context of race, specifically whiteness. Given the roots and fruits of white privilege in American society, we have all witnessed it, experienced it, suspected it, or at the very least, debated and then denied it. Although white privilege is the most commonly debated and controversial form of privilege discussed in polite (and not so polite) society—more than one type of privilege is at play in our lives. In fact, there are as many types of privilege as there are types of oppression.
The Intersection of Privilege and Social Disadvantage
Imagine that Devon, a 29-year-old from Denver, has linguistic privilege because American English is his first language. He moves to Hidalgo County Texas for a new job as a third grade teacher. While systems and communications in America are primarily in English, according the 2010 U.S. Census, close to 85 percent of Hidalgo County’s population has Spanish as their first language[2]. On a daily basis, people first speak to him in Spanish and he struggles to understand most conversations, making it difficult for him to establish relationships and learn his new community. While Devon maintains the privilege associated with being a native English speaker regardless of where he is in the country, in Hidalgo County he experiences social disadvantage–not linguistic oppression.
Expect social advantage and disadvantage to materialize when conversations about privilege and oppression become uncomfortable and overwhelming—every single time. People try to escape difficult questions and painful truths regarding why we allow both to persist because absent taking action to dismantle privilege and oppression, we endorse and ensure their existence—making us complicit. That guarantees that shortly after a conversation about privilege starts, someone inevitably mentions how they felt that one time they were the minority in the room or how they had to work two jobs just to make it through the Ivy League.
Life’s challenges are very real as is social disadvantage but they are not oppression; they do not exempt us from simultaneously being privileged; and when they derail us from the discussions we need to have to heal and move forward–they are nothing more than noise.
Unbundling Oppression, Privilege, Policy and Culture—or Not
On a daily basis, we are exposed to various forms of privilege—class, sex, gender, race, age, ability, education, language, religion, and sexual orientation—to name a few. At the same time, we are exposed to those same forms of oppression. When I say exposed, I mean that whether or not the privilege or oppression applies to us directly, their very existence has implications for the ways in which we perceive and experience society and each other.
It is possible and common to be privileged and oppressed in different ways, at the same time. For instance, a 27-year-old, college-educated, able-bodied, Latina woman may experience the privileges of being under the age of 40, college educated, and able-bodied while simultaneously experiencing oppression as a Latina and a woman. The intersections of those experiences are complex and powerful. The value or weight of each form of privilege or oppression may vary based on where in America a person lives, the evolution of cultural and social norms, and public policy.
As the systemic host for privilege and oppression, policy is also the gatekeeper for social change and can either respond to or lead to shifts in culture. One example would be women’s suffrage in the United States. Until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment (1920), women in America were disenfranchised.[3] Upon its passage, women went from being oppressed with regard to civic participation to being privileged based on gaining the right to vote. Although women have voted at higher rates than men since 1980[4], they have yet to achieve proportionate representation among elected officials. So although policy change may officially end oppression, the evolution of social and cultural norms is necessary to erase its residual effects. How people treat each other changes society more than policy ever will.
What Does Privilege Feel Like?
Have you ever noticed that some people can float in a swimming pool by doing nothing more than relaxing on their backs while other people have to tread, staying in a constant state of motion to keep their heads above water? That’s how privilege and oppression work. We are all in the water by virtue of the fact that we live in America. Whether we are conscious of it or not, based on our social identities, the water (privilege) buoys some of us up while at the same time gravity (oppression) works to pull others of us to the bottom. These forces are in action regardless of what we do or don’t do—and to varying degrees.
At any time, a person with privilege can choose to tread water to reposition themselves or to move to a better part of the pool. A person who experiences oppression can only rest for a moment or risk sinking and never making it back above water. Exhausted from the constant effort of treading, there is little if any energy left to reach a better position in the pool. Survival is the highest and at times, the only priority.
Here’s the hidden truth about privilege: If you’re floating on your back, you only have one view–the sky. The more privilege you have, the more sky that’s in your line of sight. You rarely glance away to see or engage with others in the pool. Why would you? You have very little awareness of the currents in motion beneath the surface or feel the gravity that pulls down others in the pool around you. Similar to fish, it’s unlikely you are even aware that your current existence is within water, much less that you are wet. If the water gets choppy and requires you to tread, you might discover the muscles you need to use are under-developed or have atrophied. You will struggle with the effort, feel uncoordinated, and experience the challenges faced by those who can’t naturally float. It is utterly exhausting.
Privilege feels positive, uplifting, and secure. It confirms you are special. While it affords consistent opportunities and benefits, it is far from one-dimensional. A true exploration of privilege indicates that it cultivates limitations, creates blind spots, and hinders our resilience. When it comes to our awareness of the human condition and its role in our relationships, I liken privilege to watching the latest Star Wars movie on a 13” black and white television with an antenna wrapped in aluminum foil while you sit on your couch and hunt for the remote to increase the volume. You can see the movie, understand the plot, and even hear the sound but the experience will never compare to watching it in the opulence of an IMAX theater; seeing the clearest images and brightest colors; hearing people around you laugh or gasp; and feeling the surround sound vibrate through the plush leather recliner.
Consistently reinforced privilege keeps us sitting on the couch, searching for the remote. It positions us to be numb to the oppression and struggles of others; perpetuates social inequities that are counter to human nature; encourages a savior mentality—as in, we can and should take action to save “those people” without privilege; gets in the way of genuine, meaningful relationships that have the potential to end sexism, classism, racism, and the other –isms; and it fails to prepare us for equality or social disadvantage which to a person with privilege can feel like oppression. Privilege is not all it’s cracked up to be.
According to a 2015 Stanford University study by L. Taylor Phillips and Brian S. Lowery, “The hard-knock life? Whites claim hardships in response to racial inequity,”[5] when presented with evidence of their privilege, white people frequently disagree that they personally benefit from systemic privilege. It challenges their self-perceptions related to merit and hard work and they perceive the personal benefits attached to privilege as an indictment of their individual character rather than as the reflection of society’s values.
In addition to that, privilege is killing the privileged. Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that life expectancy for middle and working class white women has declined and we may be starting to see a decline for white men.[6] Those data are largely attributed to increasing rates of suicide and prescription drug abuse, specifically opioids. Why? Some health researchers and economists speculate that increased stress from unemployment; newly experienced or perceived economic inequality; and social immobility over the past 10-15 years, coupled with sharp increases in the use of prescription pain medication, led to higher rates of suicide, drug abuse, and drug overdoses within white, privileged populations.
While the constant struggles of the oppressed lead to illness and early death, it also makes them more resilient during challenging times. On the other hand, privilege creates fewer opportunities to develop resilience and may leave people less prepared to survive adversity. While this does not describe every person’s response, the mounting evidence calls for our attention and begs the question—What is your privilege worth to you?
Listen to the emerging and long-standing narratives associated with various forms of privilege, not just white privilege. They reflect deeply held beliefs, are frequently crafted to ensure that privilege is not “lost” and its benefits continue, demonstrate that claims of privilege are perceived as a threat, and attempt to make the case that the privileged group is in jeopardy of being marginalized, eliminated, or oppressed. Consider advocates against marriage equality who have historically experienced heterosexual privilege through various forms of public policy. Language from the National Organization for Marriage website (www.nationformarriage.org) says, “As you know, we are in a critical period in our work to protect the rights of Americans to be free of government persecution for living out the truth of marriage in their daily lives and at work.”[7]
Whether you agree or disagree with marriage equality, this language communicates feelings of oppression that emerge when people with privilege experience equality. While it may seem easy to dismiss the anxiety and fear of the privileged—because they are privileged, it is no less real or meaningful than the pain and stress experienced by oppressed people. In fact, the implications of those feelings may be more far-reaching because they are felt by individuals who have the power to define reality for themselves and for others.
The Toxic Idiosyncrasies of Privilege
A person of privilege might say, “I’m doing well and everyone I know is doing well because with hard work, you can achieve anything in America. People who are struggling financially struggle because they don’t want to work and they expect for someone to hand it to them on a silver platter.” This mindset indicates no acknowledgement or awareness of the opportunities and supports experienced by people with privilege or the forces that work against those who live in the grips of oppression. They overlook the constant treading it takes to survive.
Privilege can make us assume that struggle, failure, or under-achievement reflect a lack of effort or worse, laziness on the part of people experiencing oppression; not necessarily that their circumstances are their fault, but changing those circumstances is completely within their control. It demonstrates a lack of empathy or compassion for differences in life experiences and opportunities.
Think about the white family that has been legally allowed to use homeownership to amass wealth for 12 generations compared to the black family that has only had that right for six. Is it any wonder there are vast differences in their net worth and that the black family relies on debt and credit to survive? Consider the female veteran who doesn’t have access to gynecological health services because the local Veteran’s Affairs facility was staffed only to meet men’s health needs and as a result, she goes without care for several months. Is it any wonder that her ovarian cancer wasn’t diagnosed until it was stage III and as a result, her treatment will cost significantly more than was originally necessary and more importantly, she might not survive?
Given America’s rich Judeo-Christian underpinnings, we are socially, religiously, and culturally oriented to think and talk about oppression. We are rewarded for our efforts to help the oppressed—hence why our charitable donations are tax-deductible and we name hospital wings in honor of major donors. Yet, when are we ever encouraged to discuss privilege? Never. What could possibly be the reward?
Unearned advantage (privilege) goes against our very nature. Scientific evidence indicates that human beings are hardwired for fairness and that hardwiring may be evolutionary.[8] The survival of groups of early humans hinged on the wellbeing of every member of the group. Inequities in resources like food or shelter may have jeopardized the individual, thereby putting the entire group at risk.
While humans are biologically oriented to fairness, we are also prone to in-group bias. That preference is usually for people in the group with which we identify most at any given time—people who share our social identity. We inherently favor people who are most like us, sometimes jeopardizing fairness for people outside of our group.
The struggle between those two seemingly opposing concepts may be one of the reasons that societies with the greatest inequities have some of the highest rates of “dis”-ease. Studies indicate that fairness actually makes emotionally healthy people happy and the brain reacts to it in the same ways it reacts to chocolate and money–by firing up our pleasure receptors. Conversely, when we witness or experience unfair conditions or treatment, we have a strong negative response. “As reported in the April issue of the journal Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, the brain finds self-serving behavior emotionally unpleasant, but a different bundle of neurons also finds genuine fairness uplifting. What’s more, these emotional firings occur in brain structures that are fast and automatic, so it appears that the emotional brain is overruling the more deliberate, rational mind. Faced with a conflict, the brain’s default position is to demand a fair deal.”[9]
As I listen to people in the nonprofit, government, or the corporate sectors, I hear “savior mentality” in their language almost daily. There are droves of well-intended people of privilege who work to “empower” the “underserved” and “vulnerable.” These are the words that make it hard for me to breathe because they compel me to point out how condescending and patriarchal they are which should make everyone uncomfortable. Not to mention, this language fuels the belief that oppressed people live in self-imposed victimhood, which is ridiculous and wrong.
People who experience institutional or systemic oppression are not waiting to be “served” or saved, they are under-resourced. No one can bequeath someone with power they already have. Who are the people with privilege to label someone else as vulnerable? People become financially, socially, and physically vulnerable when they interact with systems and institutions that weren’t designed with them in mind or that were intentionally designed to oppress them and have now been retrofitted for equality—think constitutional amendment. It’s wrong to throw around the phrase “vulnerable” and brand people with it like it’s some quantifiable measure of strength or a character assessment.
The role of people with various forms of privilege shouldn’t be to “save” the oppressed. Instead, we each need to leverage our privilege to create an equitable society. What if I told you that an equitable society won’t require a complete loss of privilege, necessitate making anything other than worthwhile sacrifice, or diminish quality of life as you know it? There are ways. Read on.
The only way we truly know ourselves is in relationship with other people. Privilege creates social isolation that feels comfortable as we settle into “sameness” and surround ourselves with like-minded people. So, if the people with whom we are isolated are just like us, how will we ever know ourselves? How will we be tested or affirmed? We won’t because privilege distorts reality in ways that limit our potential and inhibits our humanity. It settles us on private islands in the midst of society that are crowded and deserted all at the same time. It quarantines us from human differences that could lead to our most meaningful life experiences while sparking creativity and innovation. Most frighteningly, privilege is a breeding ground for prejudice in many forms, (e.g., sex prejudice, class prejudice, race prejudice, etc.). Why? As human beings, we fight to remain safe and one mechanism we use to do that is to prejudge. As a result, the unknown and the unseen spark fear, cultivate assumptions, and often lead us to jump to the wrong conclusions–prejudice.
On August 21, a white man from North Carolina called into C-SPAN to ask Heather McGhee of Demos what he could do to stop being prejudiced and be a better American. He mentioned that he was afraid of black people based on what he sees in the media about crime. Her first recommendation was that he get to know black families as opposed to forming his beliefs based on television.[10]
When you breathe life into your prejudice through your actions, that manifests as an -ism (e.g., sexism, classism, and racism, etc.). The most commonly accepted first step to undo an -ism and contribute to an equitable society is to build relationships with the very people against whom you are prejudiced and recognize the pitfalls of your privilege. That’s not possible if you are so busy floating and staring at your patch of the sky that you miss the people around you who are treading water to survive.
When you spend a lifetime experiencing privilege you take it for granted, grow to feel a sense of entitlement, and you might be tempted to equate struggles or challenges to being oppressed; but more importantly, you may genuinely feel oppressed. Feelings matter. They influence and at times dictate decisions, behaviors, and actions. They factor into how you engage in society and with whom you choose to engage. Chris Boeskool explains this with great clarity in, “When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression.” [11] Interestingly, it’s the loss of privilege and the associated loss of life that has finally gotten some people to admit it exists.
Equity is the New Privilege
Say what? Equity is fairness, not defined subjectively but instead defined by whatever is necessary to get to the best possible outcome for each person. Equity is more than every child having access to a good school. It’s when that school is structured to provide each child with the tools, teachers, social support, disciplinary norms, and instruction necessary to maximize what children can learn and retain. Equity is more than having access to healthcare. It’s when a medical professional sees beyond the physical and social characteristics of a patient to address the root cause of their pain and then treats that pain based on what that patient needs, without assuming what they can tolerate. Equity is more than setting up STEM education programs for women and people of color to get into the tech industry. It’s when companies recruit from those programs while making every effort to ensure that new hires have professional and social supports necessary for inclusion and retention. Equity is more than passing voting rights legislation. It’s when we make the voting process easily accessible to registered voters without undue burdens associated with certain voter identification requirements.
Equality and equal access are not enough. They never have been and never will be because the diversity of human beings requires different options and different approaches for different people. Equity, when active throughout society, creates opportunities for each of us to maximize our potential and our possibilities.
Given that privilege is mentally, emotionally, and socially toxic, it’s time to admit that it is dangerous for individuals and to society. While dismantling systems of oppression is daunting, long-term work and the loss of privilege alludes to sacrifice, the evidence points to the opposite—value added. Eliminating privilege helps us stay connected to the human condition; aligns us with our true nature of fairness; keeps us humble enough to support others in solving their own problems while helping to move unfair obstacles out of their way; creates opportunities for us to engage in genuine relationships without fear or prejudice; and makes us each more resilient when faced with adversity.
Equity creates a new type of privilege, one that is a collective advantage available to all people—where everyone has whatever is necessary to achieve their best possible life and self, never at the unfair expense or oppression of others. The New Privilege will ensure that regardless of class, sex, gender, race, age, ability, education, language, religion, sexual orientation, or any other identifier, society will honor our individual efforts and abilities by removing barriers to opportunity and ensuring that we all get to tread and float from time to time.
As I listen to public vitriol stoked by nearly two years of poisonous political campaigning and recklessness on social and traditional media; and I witness the ways in which privilege and oppression tear at the fabric of American society as manifested in violent acts and attempts to exclude anyone without privilege, I’m heartbroken and I’m pissed. The pain of our collective history and current inequities suffocate us and cast us into darkness. Our leaders continue to espouse American exceptionalism but refuse to do anything to heal society. In fact, they protect the status quo—privilege and oppression.
We can’t give up so what can we do? I maintain hope for a few reasons. The graying of America will serve as a significant wake-up call with regard to the oppression of older adults. Even if you cannot identify oppression in your life now, you will as you age. Also, there is a narrative in development that challenges our assumptions about privilege, power, and oppression and that will hopefully light our path to meaningful action and change. I’m hopeful that more people will begin to identify their privilege–recognizing that privilege, just like oppression, is a persistent liability but it doesn’t have to stay that way. Stepping from under the Cone of Silence and releasing our individual death-grips on privilege frees our hands to grab hold of what we’re missing from our human experience and what we have yet to develop within ourselves. We can do this. We have to.
I could close this with a pithy list of 10 Tips to Manage Your Privilege but frankly I’m still recognizing my own privilege in the midst of accepting that oppression plays a role in my life. Yes, at times I am treading furiously and at others, my privilege has me floating languidly as I reflect on my patch of the sky. So instead of 10 tips, I’ll give you one. Use your privilege for good, not evil. In this instance, complacency is evil. Turning a blind eye and deaf ear from the truth of the evening news to avoid the suffering caused by oppression, that’s evil too. Pretending that “equality” exists or that it will ever be good enough, well that’s stupid and evil, especially if you know it doesn’t work. Resting solely on diversity and inclusion efforts as the answer for all that ails us—you get the idea.
Whether you agree or disagree, Colin Kaepernick’s decision to kneel as a sign of protest during the national anthem reflects his decision to use not only his fame and visibility, but also his class privilege to bring attention to the flawed relationship between police and community. He used his privilege to donate $1 million to support people in inner city communities. In response, the owner of the San Francisco 49ers Jed York has committed $1 million to fight inequality and improve police-community relations. Kaepernick used his privilege to influence the most important audience of all, the privileged.
If I’m recommending a strategy, this is it and here is why. If you have privilege, you are better positioned to be heard, acknowledged, and believed by others with power and privilege. Your privilege grants you access to people who make decisions and take actions that either reinforce oppression or dismantle it. This is the best place to focus your energy because oppressed people have been advocating for themselves forever, supporting others experiencing oppression, and doing what they can to influence the powerful and the privileged. They have covered their bases, now you can cover yours. Deal with your own people, the ones that share your privilege. Talk about it. Explore it. Challenge it. It’s time to disrupt the dangers of privilege and co-opt its power in order to create an equitable society.
Think back to the pool. Remember you’re in it. Take a deep breath. Glance away from your patch of the sky. Stop floating and feel the true weight of your experience in our society. See the people treading water around you. Join them and tread for a while too. Develop the muscles. Build up your courage. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Look your privilege and the privileged squarely in the eye and dare to talk about it. If you get tired and can’t catch your breath–flip onto your back. Float. Your privilege? It will be right where you left it.
Now breathe.
[1] Rothman, J. (2014, May 12). The Origins of “Privilege”. Retrieved from http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-origins-of-privilege
[2] Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_Spanish-speaking_population
[3] General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives. (1919, May 4). 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Women’s Right to Vote. [PDF file]. Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/global-pages/larger-image.html?i=/historical-docs/doc-content/images/19th-amendment-l.jpg&c=/historical-docs/doc-content/images/19th-amendment.caption.html
[4] Rampell, C. (2016, July 17). Why Women Are Far More Likely to Vote Than Men. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/catherine-rampell-why-women-are-far-more-likely-to-vote-then-men/2014/07/17/b4658192-0de8-11e4-8c9a-923ecc0c7d23_story.html?utm_term=.a1fcfbef11f0
[5] Lowery, B. S., & L., T.P. (2015, July 2). The hard-knock life? Whites claim hardships in response to racial inequity. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022103115000852
[6] Tavernise, S. (2016, April 20). White Americans Are Dying Younger as Drug and Alcohol Abuse Rises. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/health/life-expectancy-decline-mortality.html?_r=0
[7] National Organization for Marriage. Summer Membership Drive. Retrieved from https://www.nationformarriage.org/advocacy/illinois2?msource=EB130302NANT
[8] Tavernise, S. (2016, April 20). White Americans Are Dying Younger as Drug and Alcohol Abuse Rises. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/20/health/life-expectancy-decline-mortality.html?_r=0
[9] Association for Psychological Science. (2008, April 15). Are Humans Hardwired for Fairness? Retrieved from http://www.psychologicalscience.org/index.php/news/releases/are-humans-hardwired-for-fairness.html
[10] Itkowitz, C. (2016, August 24). ‘A C-SPAN caller asked a black guest how to stop being prejudiced. Here’s how she responded’. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2016/08/24/a-c-span-caller-asked-a-black-guest-how-to-stop-being-prejudiced-heres-how-she-responded/
[11] Boeskool, C. (2016, March 14). ‘When You’re Accustomed to Privilege, Equality Feels Like Oppression’. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-boeskool/when-youre-accustomed-to-privilege_b_9460662.html?