- "So when I say the semi driver is privileged, it isn’t a way of calling him a bad person or a man-slaughterer or saying he didn’t really earn his truck, but just way of acknowledging all that–infrastructure, laws, gov’t, culture–and the fact that if he and I get in a collision, I will probably die and he will just have to clean the blood off of his bumper. In the same way, talking about racial privilege isn’t a way of telling white people they are bad people or racists or that they didn’t really earn what they have. It’s a way of trying to make visible the fact that system is not neutral, it is not a level-playing field, it’s not the same experience for everyone. There are biases and imbalances and injustices built into the warp and woof of our culture."
This is a good article and an interesting but limited analogy. The limit is this: the bike rider can find a way off the bike someday: even if she can never own a car and there is no transit, maybe she can move closer to town or change jobs. There is still a way off the bike. There is no way out of our skin. I do appreciate the article, especially the attempt to explain privilege. I cycle in a very dense urban area and this line stood out: But the fact that “the system” allows him [drivers] to do those things instead of being mindful of me is a privilege he has that I don’t. (I have to be hyper-aware of him).
In terms of privilege, I imagine non-white people in urban areas are hyper-aware of the police in a way that white people are not.