Thoughts on White Privilege - Part 1

I've been reading Peggy McIntosh's list of "White Privilege" embedded in society, and there's some truth in that, some important omissions - because it is American based, and and some items which reflect the class and economic position of the writer in American society.

So here's the first part of the list and my comments:

I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

To some extent this is always true. The United Club in Jersey is a male only club, so people who wish to be in the company, not of their own race, but of their own gender (itself a troubled concept) can do so and I am sure the same is true if one so wished. But that would be an exception in Jersey, I can't think of any venue which is naturally white only over here which is not the case in America which has a history of segregated communities, especially in the Southern States. 

Race is itself a confusing category as it does not strictly speaking exist in biology. There is no "race gene". White skinned peoples might be a more accurate designation of what Peggy is trying to say. But where do you draw boundaries? Do you include those whose skin colour is not black but more of an olive complexion (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Greek?)?

What is also needed is a comparison of numbers anyway, and in a population where white skinned peoples are in a majority it is more likely that there are locations which are predominately populated by white skinned peoples - provided that is the case for that country. If you went to China, however, the same would not be the case. Or central Africa, likewise. 

If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

So speaks an affluent American! Well, that's more to do with economy and perhaps class than anything else. In Jersey, this is completely false. The single consideration is money, and most of the population are struggling to find any housing to rent, let alone purchase. Race has nothing to do with it. Money has everything. Jersey people whose family have been here for generations are being forced to leave the island.

I can be pretty sure that my neighbours in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

Troy Court, Nicholson Park - both were notable for being "trouble spots" in the past. My neighbours across the road are pleasant to me, but the one who used to live just on the other side of the corner tended to be irascible. I didn't choose any of them!

Again if you have enough money in Jersey, you can probably buy a secluded house with a long drive which is remote. Most of us don't have that option. Race has nothing to do with it, just money.

I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

That's true of anyone in Jersey no matter what skin colour.

I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

Now there is certainly some truth in that. Television is becoming better at providing mixed skin coloured peoples but it still has some way to go. I know how a number of celebrity black people have noted when they first saw someone of their own skin colour on television, and at last seen "someone like us", and changes are improving in British television - where women too were often relegated to subsidiary roles. 

Of course some areas are difficult - historical drama should be true to the time period in which it is set, so a black Ann Boleyn is really pushing the limits of acceptability, but then so too is a white skinned blue eyed Jesus. Only "The Chosen" is really making great strides in authenticity in eschewing white skinned actors for Jesus and the disciples. But drama, documentaries, and news all show signs of change and improvement - yet I'm not so sure on Reality TV and Game Shows. Apart from Mastermind (Clive Myrie), I can't think of many others presented by black presenters. 

When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilisation,” I am shown that people of my colour made it what it is.

I'm not sure that is true for modern history programmes. In fact, the history of a single house programme often shows how poverty and slavery and oppression of the working classes also forms part of our history. A series like "Victoria" definitely shows how the Victorians fashioned a lot of what we now have today, but it doesn't focus on their colour. In fact, one episode which focused on slave owning (in part of the story) made it seem very repulsive. A series on a king like Henry VIII (such as Wolf Hall) shows, as do history documentaries, that while Henry VIII made a significant change in forging the English monarchy in his own way, part of which survives, it is not necessarily something held up in a great light as something commendable. In fact even "Henry VIII and his Six Wives" from the 1970s hardly did that. 

I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

I'm pretty sure that doesn't really feature in the National curriculum. The notion of "race" didn't feature much in the education I had, although the dark legacy of the eugenics movement did feature, and of course the legacy of the Nazi propaganda on racial purity. That was presented (quite rightly) in a very critical way. Of course America used IQ tests to segregate races in the 1930s, and that dark legacy is also told in Stephen Jay Gould's excellent book "The Mismeasure of Man". Rather like race -which has no biological reality but which can be suborned to political and social discrimination, IQ is also a statistical fiction which has been used to create various structural abuses in societies, not just in the USA but also in the UK - the 11 plus was the brainchild of Cyril Burt, a fraud who created fake data to prove IQ tests showed a fixed genetic status.

If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

So speaks someone immensely privileged! Trying to find a publisher is difficult whatever the subject and most of us can't do it. The world of publishing is a hard one to break into, let alone make a career out of, and unless you move in the right circles, a good deal depends on luck. Peggy is obviously privileged, but most of us don't have that whatever our skin colour. This is one of the most bizarre claims she makes.

I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods that fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

The mind boggles. What is "the music of my race"? Does she mean music composed or sung by black skinned peoples? Believe it or not, when I listen to music, I go for music I like the sound of, and I'm not convinced that peoples of different race or skin colour necessarily sound different. Different musical traditions do, and some singer's voices do give some details on background, but as a hard and fast rule, I doubt it. And are fish fingers racist?