E-race-ism

The term white privilege is used to label the contemporary advantage that Anglo lineage has gained from the likes of convenience, legacy, exploration, exploitation, commercialism, education, slavery, genetics, industry, technology, and other factors.  I find that this concept is difficult for some Anglo people to recognize or acknowledge.  As people grow closer and closer to identifying with the colonial concept called 'prosperity' so does the belief in their right to property.  What role does generational advantage (A.K.A privilege) play in the understanding of prosperity?    

I think privilege is a characteristic of competition and life doesn't have to be a matter of winning or losing.  I feel bound to intellectual concepts that promote culturally tainted values like competition and advantage.  I feel like I have missed out on how valuable sharing, collaboration, and vulnerability can be in commerce, education, and technology.  The word privilege points to the corrosive prosperity that very few in the dominant societies care to confront.  Dominant societies, meaning those that participate in luxurious markets or have first world problems.  Prosperous peoples rarely relinquish their desire for prosperity.  How else can we help these self-made believing peoples feel valued?  (Self-made by Franklin's definition and not the definition of Douglass...for which Douglass' definition is more appealing)

Privilege is a strategy of luxury, possibly leading to the understanding of being owed, honored, obliged, or authorized.  I find that this darker quality exists in close minded, fearful, stubborn, aspiring, and dogmatic peoples.  The hard part is that when you put a racial component in the front of such an authoritative word, I see the disservice it does to the commonality that all people suffer from the misuse of privilege.  Even more complex is that the definition for the proper use of privilege is too personal or perceptual.  

I wouldn't disagree if we called white privilege, colonial privilege.  I do find it unfair to many humble and modest Anglos that white privilege has become a blanket condition.  But I have spent many hours and thoughts on how to find peace when dealing with privileged people.  I found that privileged people who live in luxury or thoughtless spending, cannot see themselves as excessive or thoughtless with their resources.  I find the opposite.  Privileged people believe they are bettering the world by bettering themselves.  There is virtue and rational in what luxuries they are participating in.  Privileged people can almost always see themselves as blessed.   Privileged people conjugate with and around similarly privileged people.  Racial privilege is real, but it distracts from the real corrosive privilege that pollutes cultures of people.  

I find that cultural privilege is a formidable concept worth confronting.  I see that racial privilege is far to radioactive to approach.  I think as I have erased the racial component that often precedes privilege, I can encounter truer shared value for life, resources, and technology.  I have also added to the concept of privilege a heavy dose of responsibility.  I have this idea, a faithful belief, to be responsible to questioning and bringing awareness to the irresponsible.  I hope others do the same for me.

Arthur Schatz—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Happy Birthday Cesar Estrada Chavez.  You helped me to prefer responsibility over privilege; service over commerce; and progress over profits!