Privilege – I would guess that there is no other country on the face of the earth where saying or utilizing that word in almost any context breeds angst than the United States. Googling “privilege” gives the following definition, “a special right, advantage or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.”

That definition, though correct, seems a bit simplistic. Privilege could be defined as some kind of benefit you get that other people or group of people don’t get, usually not because you did anything specific to deserve it; for example, growing old, the birthplace or family of a person, etc. It could also be those benefits that are institutionally denied to some people but afforded to others, like access to housing, good schools, etc. The main word here is benefit. If there is no benefit or advantage to be gained then it might not be called privilege.

Van Jones, a former Obama White House Advisor and CNN political commentator, was at the University of St. Thomas for the 2017 Forum on workplace inclusion, where he was a Keynote speaker. Before he left he had a Q & A session with students. In a response to one of the questions he got, privilege, that word that breeds consternation, was mentioned.

He said on the scale of privilege, in its many forms, you are either one-up or one-down. Those one-up, usually have blind spots with little to no knowledge about those that are one-down and those one-down, usually have soft spots and a lot of knowledge about those that are one-up. This is usually the case, because most of the time one-ups are the majority or possess the normative culture, and to get by the one-downs must be aware of them and their culture.

The example of “neurotypicals” was used. When Mr. Jones said, “I don’t like the way neurotypicals behave,” the whole room went silent and everyone’s faces seemed vacant. Apparently, most people in the room did not know what “neurotypical” meant.

Neurotypical is a word used describe those that might be categorized outside the tenets of neurodiversity. Hence, those with certain variations in neurological functioning that modern medical science does not categorize as a neurological or mental disorder are neurotypicals.

Many people on the neurodiversity spectrum, like autistic people, must take classes on how to interact socially with neurotypicals. They also experience institutional discrimination, like lack of access to equitable education, health insurance, employment, etc. They have soft spots and lot of knowledge about those who are one-up on the neurodiversity privilege spectrum – the neurotypicals. In fact, the term “neurotypical” originated from the autistic community. But neurotypicals mostly have a blind spot on that privilege spectrum, to those who are one-down.

“How many of you think of yourselves as neurotypicals on a daily basis?” Mr Jones asked the room. About two people, in a room of at least a hundred, raised their hands.

Most people one-up a privilege spectrum never see themselves as privileged, and therefore it almost inevitably becomes a kerfuffle when those who are one-down try to explain to the one-ups their predicament.

Like with all other forms of privilege, the case of the neurotypical finds meaning.
Jones also gave another example of privilege. Not many boys ever really think of themselves as “boys” on college campuses. If you ask the average boy with it meant to be a boy on campus, you might get perfunctory answers like “It is cool,” “I feel I can express myself,” etc.

But when you ask a girl, “What does it mean to be a girl on campus?” you could expect to get answers like sexual harassment and assault issues on campus, fraternities to stay away from on party nights, routes on campus that are less safe at night, etc.

The National Sexual Violence Resource Center estimates that one in five college women are sexually assaulted while in college. In a 2003 study on “Reporting Sexual Victimization To The Police And Others” it was estimated that less than 5 percent of college victims of forcible rape reported their rape to law enforcement. The critically acclaimed 2015 Netflix documentary “Hunting Ground,” described as “lucid” was about the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses in the United States.

One could argue that, as a boy on a college campus, it might be a privilege not to have to think about such things on campus. And this in no way intends to belittle the problem of male sexual assault victims on college campuses.

One form of privilege that breeds the most fire is the racial one. Within academia since the 1980s and in the public sphere since the 2010s, it has been called white privilege.

In 1989 Peggy McIntosh published the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” With comments made like, “I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race” and “I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race,” made in that article, Dr. McIntosh tries to show that in most Western countries, there are benefits, social and institutional, that white people tend to have which are not readily available to people of color.

Between 1934 and 1962 the United States government underwrote over $120 billion in housing loans to Americans. This was part of the New Deal programs in response to the Great depression. It was estimated that 98 percent of those loans went to white people.

Roland Fryer Jr., a professor of economics at Harvard, in a 2016 study titled “an empirical analysis of racial differences in police use of force” confirmed, according to The New York Times, “that black men and women are treated differently in the hands of law enforcement. They are more likely to be touched, handcuffed, pushed to the ground or pepper-sprayed by a police officer, even after accounting for how, where and when they encounter the police.”

Conversations about privilege in its many forms bring more heat than light, especially on social media platforms, but until the veracity of the evidence, with respect to the its different forms, through objective study, is called to question, it might just be important to take a position of compassion in talking about its issues.

It is also important to note that privilege in it many forms should never be seen as a monolith. It complexities and dynamics are best understood in an intersectional study of its nuances.

Being privileged in whatever form, is usually not a single individual’s fault or it wouldn’t be called privilege. So don’t ever feel guilty by whatever form of privilege you have. But remember, on the different forms of the privilege spectrum you are could be one-up in one respect and one-down in another, hence the prudency of empathy.

Tam Kemabonta can be reached kema4033@stthomas.edu.