White Privilege: The Other Side of Racism (9-15-13)

What about your  racial-ethnic background makes you most proud? What words do you not want to hear said again about your race? These were the conversation-starters on Sept. 15 in the second adult ed session in a four-part series on racism. Dumbarton's Neal Christie and Doris Warrell were on hand to talk about--and help Dumbartonians talk about--the sensitive topic of white privilege. 
 
White privileges are unearned assets which we can use every day.
Asked how white privilege affects them, one Dumbartonian replied, “I think we have to be jarred.” Another responded, “I’ve exploited my whiteness.´ Warrell acknowledged, “When I go into certain stores in my neighborhood, I don’t get followed.”
 
For Dumbartonians who might want to explore white privilege further, Christie recommended an online inventory of white-privilege experiences we take for granted. He also referred adult ed participants to 35 Dumb Things Well-Intentioned People Say,* citing such familiar-but-inappropriate comments as these:

"I'm color blind."
“I don’t think of you as…”
“Where are you really from?”
“You speak your language so very well”
 
According to Christie and Warrell, guilt or moral outrage about our white privilege will not move us forward. “As people of faith, what are we going to do with what we have in our bank account?“ asked Warrell. 

--By Ginny Finch