I was at a dinner party the other night and one of the people there and her friends asked me if I acknowledged my privilege. I was awkwardly silent because I knew I was about to get verbally jumped. I replied, "everybody has privilege in some way." This was not well received, but I ended up fighting them off by reminding them that I work on homeless issues.
I said, "The reason I work on homelessness is that poverty is a great equalizer. If you show me a gay black man with cancer, I'll show you a homeless gay black man with cancer. If you show me a disabled Native American veteran, I'll show you a homeless disabled Native American veteran." My point was that having a stable place to live and a support system is a privilege in and of itself.
I don't deny that there are a lot of people who don't understand adversity. My mother said she never went without and she was always protected by her family. Personally, both of my parents were stable and I grew up in the same house from the age of two to the age of twenty-four - plus my parents paid for my undergraduate education. That was a great advantage. However, I will also then say that my mother did always work hard to maintain her life and I have carried on that tradition. Adding to that, I have also struggled. I had to re-learn how to walk after a motorcycle accident, I lost my house in 2012, and it is rough building a new business.
But, who cares? I don't want to focus on that. In fact, I don't know why anyone focuses on their troubles (except to entertain and to inspire). The homeless people I met who were able to pull themselves out of homelessness singularly focused on their success strategy out. Hanging on to their hardship has only kept the homeless that I've met in that hardship.
Acknowledging your privilege (I guess) makes you kinder to others. It's like repenting. But, repenting does no good if you don't focus on a clearly defined event (I hit my brother, I drank the sacramental wine, etc.). If people who don't know you accuse you of being evil, it only builds animosity (see The Spanish Inquisition, The Salem Witch Trials, or any territorial dispute).
Because I focus on the judgment housed people lay on the homeless and the ways to navigate through that judgment in order to get people off of the streets, I simply see 'privilege' as just another distraction people concern themselves with so they don't actually have to DO something to help people. To me, it's an academic exercise.
Do my black friends go through extra hardships? I'll let them tell me. Do other minorities go through troubles in public that I don't? I'll let them tell me. But, if you have a stable place to live, please don't tell the homeless white guy in the wheelchair to confess his privilege. It's just mean.
