Each week, the White Privilege Conference and the Matrix Center for the Advancement of Social Equity and Inclusion, housed at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs (UCCS), hosts a half hour radio show called Intersections Radio that features an interview with a different author, scholar, and/or speaker.
When I look at the behavior of Congress during this last year — failure to pass the American Jobs Bill, now failure of the Super Committee to arrive at much-needed cuts in the federal budget — voters should take a lesson from Ole’ Saint Nick as he prepares his sleigh with presents to be delivered for Christmas. Members of Congress certainly have not been “good for goodness sake.”
In her classic article, “White Privilege and Male Privilege,” Peggy McIntosh (1988) offers a long list of examples of white privilege she experiences. She notes that white privilege includes being able to assume that most of the people you or your children study in school will be of the same race; being able to go shopping without being followed; never being called a credit to one’s race, or having to represent one’s entire race; as well as simple details like finding flesh colored bandages to match one’s skin color. These examples highlight the unearned nature of privilege.
The economic downturn that has communities all across America in its grip seems to have no immediate end in sight because of forces here at home and those playing out on the global stage. But as we focus on issues at the national level, the plight of the most vulnerable, and those least prepared to weather sustained unemployment and all the negative conditions that go along with it, too often slips from view.
