White Privilege & Advocacy
If you’re like us, you’ve been grieved and challenged over the devastating news of the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Nina Pop, and more. Each of these deaths tell us something important (and tragic) about the condition of this country. Racism and injustice are deeply embedded in the fabric of our society, and as an organization whose vision is to imagine a world without slavery, we would be remiss not to dig deeper into the impact slavery has had on the United States, specifically for people of color. The effects of slavery are still experienced and have resulted in years of bias, prejudice, violence, and more. It takes work and attention to dismantle things like this, and we invite you to journey with us in becoming more aware and active.
In her new book Untamed, Glennon Doyle writes, “we are mugs filled to the brim, and we keep getting bumped. If we are filled with coffee, coffee will spill out. If we are filled with tea, tea will spill out. Getting bumped is inevitable. If we want to change what spills out of us, we have to work to change what’s inside us.”
Glennon again shared this quote in response to the story of Amy Cooper, a white woman who threatened to call the police when an African American man asked her to put her dog on a leash. Cooper did call the police and was caught on camera yelling hysterically that she was afraid and repeatedly asked the police to come to the scene. When pressed, or as Glennon calls it, bumped, racism came out of Amy Cooper. Though she has since apologized, this story reveals something about white America. If we do not do the work of dismantling racism and unconscious bias, it will remain. When bumped, what will come out of me, of you, of us?
As a white woman, my privilege affords me the luxury of not having to deal with things like police brutality, black victims of violent crime, and racist threats. I don’t have to think about my safety everyday, nor do I feel triggered every time I read the news or open my Facebook feed. Racism is easy to ignore because it’s not happening to me. Put simply, that is white privilege.
Here are some other ways to look at white privilege. It’s important to remember that having privilege does not mean you haven’t gone through hard things, nor does it dismiss hard work. Instead, It points to an advantage experienced by white people on an institutional and societal level.
“White privilege is an institutional (rather than personal) set of benefits granted to those of us who, by race, resemble the people who dominate the powerful positions in our institutions. One of the primary privileges is that of having greater access to power and resources than people of color do; in other words, purely on the basis of our skin color doors are open to us that are not open to other people.”
Robin DiAngelo writes that “White people in North America live in a social environment that protects and insulates them from race-based stress.” Regardless of your family history or economic status, there is something unique to being white that protects you from things people of color experience every day.
Over the next six weeks we’re going to dive into the topic of white privilege and advocacy. There are many kinds of privilege, but for the purpose of this series, we are going to dig into white privilege and what to do about it. In light of recent news events (which have been happening long before people started recording them on video), the stakes are too high not to. If you are a white person, we humbly invite you to do the work of looking at what’s inside your own heart and mind. What biases, expectations, or beliefs do you have against or toward people of color? Because if you don’t do any work in this area or think you are above it, then racism will inevitably come out. We’ve been conditioned toward it. It takes a conscious unlearning and relearning, which is uncomfortable and hard.
We believe this work is central to our advocacy as it’s important to understand our individual influence, platform, position, and voice. Without awareness, we lack the authority to advocate genuinely and with sincerity. My actions seem hollow when I advocate for those enslaved in human trafficking without acknowledging our ancestors’ part in perpetuating racism and creating a society catered to people like me. In many ways, this country was built on systems that harmed and excluded people of color, and the reality is that I consistently benefit from these systems. That’s a very hard and humbling pill to swallow.
And yet complicity is no longer an option. It’s time we joined the fight.
About the Author
Tori Schaulis, Dressember Communications Manager, is originally from the Midwest, spent her growing up years in the South and ended up in sunny Southern California to start her Masters at Fuller Seminary. She’s currently in pursuit of her M.A. in Intercultural Studies with a focus in Race, Cultural Identity, and Reconciliation. After living abroad twice and working with international students at Baylor University, Tori decided to pursue work where she could use her passion to advocate for others. She is also a certified Cultural Intelligence coach and is passionate about combating bias and challenging systems. You can find her leading workshops in Unconscious Bias and having conversations about social justice and sustainable practices. When she’s not studying or working, Tori enjoys baking (and dancing) in her kitchen, writing, and traveling someplace new.