Workshop informs about privilege
Students met in the Eccles Conference Center on Tuesday night to learn about racial privilege from Sheree Haggan, the multicultural program coordinator at Access and Diversity.
Haggan used a quote by singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco throughout the training that illustrates what racial privilege is: “Privilege is the headache you don’t know you don’t have.”
One example Haggan gave of such privilege is the ability to go out in public in a hoodie without a fear of being shot.
Haggan’s sister, Lacey Haggan, a graduate student studying marriage and family therapy, said another privilege is male privilege to walk outside at night without worrying.
“When I walk to my car, I have my keys in my hand, I have the button to unlock as soon as I get there, close the door, lock it,” Lacey said.
Sheree said privilege comes about as a result of oppression.
“One thing that I really want you guys to understand is that whenever there is oppression, the other side of that coin is privilege,” Sheree said. “When one person is at a loss, the other person is at a benefit.”
Sheree illustrated this point in terms of splitting a dollar between her and Lacey. If Lacey has 20 cents, the rest of the money does not vanish, Sheree is the one who has it.
“When you think of equality, that’s the level playing field,” Sheree said. “When one person is lower, that other person is higher inevitably.”
During the workshop, Sheree talked about a piece of historical context behind privilege in terms of how Native American children were forced to attend boarding schools. While there, they could not speak their native language or wear their native clothes. They were also forced to cut their hair, which was against their cultural values.
On a white board, Sheree outlined that when the Native Americans lost pieces of their cultural identity, white people gained privilege over them being the ones to set the standards for things like dress, language and education.
Sheree said knowing about privilege diminishes its negative power.
“As long as privilege is invisible, it has power and a bad power,” Sheree said. “If we can expose that and help people understand how they can use their privilege to help others, that’s going to help us level the playing field.”
Sheree said she used the term “racial privilege” rather than “white privilege” throughout the workshop because she wanted to invite people from all different racial backgrounds to participate.
“We all have a role in privilege,” Sheree said. “We are all born into it whether we were born into the oppression side or born into the privilege side and if we’re going to fix it, it requires all races.”
Sheree said privileged people who want to help fix this problem have to first reflect on what kind of privilege they have, and when they understand it, they can help other people.
Sheree gave an example of what can be done through a YouTube video entitled “Cracking the Codes: Joy DeGruy ‘A Trip to the Grocery Store.'” It tells the story of a black woman who was treated unfairly at a grocery store and how her half-white sister-in-law, who had more privilege than her, stepped in to make the situation better.
Sheree said special scholarships and Affirmative Action do not make minorities more privileged than white people. The intention is to promote equality.
“People within our multicultural systems have started out at such a strong disadvantage that when we have things like Affirmative Action or scholarships or even the department I work for, Access and Diversity Center, when we have these systems in place, it’s not to put these multicultural groups, or minority groups at an advantage, it’s to level the playing field,” Sheree said.
Saige Millsap, a senior art education major said the workshop was enlightening.
“I had learned a little bit about privilege before but I didn’t think about things like going outside at night in a hoodie, being worried about what people would think about me wearing the hoodie,” Millsap said. “Made me realize how many privileges I have.”
Millsap said she attended the training to help her with her students when she becomes a teacher.
“Being a student who’s going to go into education, I wanted to know how to be aware of it and how to help my students in my classroom who maybe don’t have the same privileges I do and to use my privileges to help them,” Millsap said.