The Privileged and The Oppressed

What is Privilege?

The class discussion on Wednesday was very intense.  When the conversation originally started about "white privilege" I looked around the room at the diverse group of students and thought, "Look how far we've come."  Then the reality of the situation fully invaded my  senses and I was almost moved to tears.  I am one of two black people in this Social Justice class and when I really think about it, I am the only black person in most of my classes.  When some of the students heard that they belonged to this privileged group, they immediately started to defend themselves and make assurances that they were not the "real" privileged as if they personally were the ones who for centuries have been the oppressors.  It was slightly amusing until one of my classmates shared that he thought that sometimes he feels oppressed and he's white.  So, what is privilege?  Adams says that privilege exists when one group has something of value that is denied to others simply because of the groups they belong to, rather than because of anything they've done or failed to do (p. 16).  Whites are less likely to be pulled over by the police than blacks, less likely to be followed when shoppingvthan blacks, and they certainly don't constantly have to defend the fact that they're white.  In an article Professor G. posted, blacks are even told the wrong chapter to file when filing bankruptcy. If you didn't get a chance to read the article, I am attaching it here http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/21/business/blacks-face-bias-in-bankruptcy-study-suggests.html?ref=todayspaper.  Even though I know that I am most certainly not a member of this privileged group, I must say that on most days I "feel" privileged.

What is Oppression?

Oppression is the opposite to privilege.  It is the flip side of the coin to term it politely.  Oppression results from the social relationship between the privileged and oppressed.  In order to be considered as having the experience of being oppressed, you have to belong to an oppressed category.  Race, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, and class are some of those categories.  Adams asserts that there defining features of oppression.  These are the pervasive, restrictive, hierarchical, complex,multiple, cross-cutting relationships,internalized, and shared and distinctive characteristics of  "ISMS" of oppression (pgs. 21-23).  Often oppression is couched in terms such as discrimination, bias, prejudice, or bigotry.  If we say that there are oppressed groups, we would have to admit the social inequality that exists and that no one wants to address.  Because I  know what oppression feels like, I want to be one who aides in bringing about change and empowering those oppressed group.

What can we do?

I began this blog with "look how far we've come" and that is definitely true.  However, we can always do more.  Proponents of Social Justice often come under fire but it is the answer to the questions we still face.  While I will not discuss the theories in this blog, the theories of Social Justice is what society needs to practice.  As a social worker, I hope to bring these theories to life to help improve my community and society.  My role as a social worker is to help bridge the gap between the privileged and the oppressed.  Through alleviating the negative effect on people through casework, blaming the system not the individual through policy, and reducing social inequality through  education, I can be assured to never perpetuate oppression.