White male privilege is a term that gets thrown around a lot these days.
Whenever any bit of injustice show up, we get the opportunity to trot out the tried and true WMP.
While it is fun and convenient to push every slight into this category, we all choose to overlook ways that people who are not white or male benefit from all sorts of opportunities.
White Male Privilege is very real.
What no one will willingly take a look at is all of the other privileges that get created and are intertwined with WMP.
The machine that is patriarchy and white supremacy offer us opportunities to control and lord power over others.
Whatever group you belong to and the fact that you are human provides the impetus for dominating.
While I don’t believe that is natural for folks to dominate one another, there is a tendency to lean in this direction as a result of all the gifts that are offered.
The machine must be fed and we are all invited to partake of the system that offers fake promises and severely limiting rewards.
I am a black gay man and am afforded privilege in each identity depending on who I’m with and the context of all of my relationships.
Regardless of what any one will say there are certain privileges that are assigned to me simply because of the darkness of my skin.
Music, culture, fashion sense and the ability to thrive on scarps and look good while doing it all part of gay, black male privilege.
Gay privilege affords me the luxury of not having to consider reproducing.
Gay privilege affords me the option of not having to think long term about much of anything. It also allows me to indulge in a certain type of social isolation and a big “fuck you” to society if that is what I desire.
There are many gays and lesbians I know who have no interest in mainstream anything and yet are looked to when it is time to shake things up and make things interesting or cutting edge.
While these are exaggerations the point is that no one is exempt form gaining certain rewards when and if they suit them.
Much like the privileges that get bestowed upon blacks and gays, being male is another opportunity to examine what goodies get offered to us and when.
People grow to know and accept you as gay.
Nobody needs adjusting and reschooling in terms of what being male means.
Upon the birth of a male child, everyone immediately begins to decide that all of the world’s resources and treasures are his to indulge and command.
No one ever thinks : I hope my son is kind, gentle and compassionate towards others.
Instead, we immediately begin contemplating and thinking of all the ways he will “rule” the world.
There is no thought given to the problematic stance that because of this person’s gender there might be wishes offered and granted simply because of his maleness.
When we examine all the ways that people have access to resources, it is clear that we are all very unclear as to how privilege works, how it gets assigned and what it does to all of us on a cellular and spiritually stunted level.
I like to take the definition of Tim Wise when examining the seductive and radical thinking reduction that this most dangerous process continues to engender.
According to Tim Wise, Privilege in its most basic form allows us the luxury of not having to think about certain things.
When we are allowed the freedom (or so we think) of not having to think about certain things we are then allowed the freedom(or so we think) to not have to change our behavior or invest in any real hard core action.
We can allow things to happen to “those people”.
We can allow brutalization to occur because folks don’t look like or think like or act like us.
It is very easy to dismiss a group if including them would require a clear and radical self analysis.
When 911 occurred, we as a country were provided a clear picture of what the world thought of us and our relentless commitment to staying asleep and pursuing our interests no matter the consequences.
Being able to selfishly pursue everything we desire without any thought to
whether others are safe, nurtured and have access to resources make us vile and clueless in ways that have devastating effects on the planet and our communities.
We can turn this around by questioning why certain individuals are granted certain access and demand that those in power cast a wider net when the focus is on who gets what and why.