On privilege

2002

I'm sitting in the office of the civilian campus recruiter of North Georgia College and State University. We are discussing my future: the army, my degree, the classes I'll have to take to get up to speed since a regular Alabama high school diploma just doesn't cut it. Then came the conversation that only white males get to have with other white males.

"Robert, in looking over your paperwork I am not sure you should simply get a degree in criminal justice. In this world, you have two marks against you when it comes to employment: you are white and you are male. This means that law enforcement agencies looking to hire you will pass you over immediately for a minority or a woman with the same degree. You need to try finance or something that will make you more valuable to an agency...something with analysis."

I now wonder what he told minorities and women he recruited.

Such was the reality of living in the South, and I an uncomfortable participant. White people are quick to say that affirmative action is unfair. Many white people in the South hold the conversation. They have an anecdote of some unqualified minority or woman gaining a promotion over a more qualified person. They believe there is some type of quota system (and there isn't). But when one listens to the conversation, facts emerge and go by without comment. I was essentially told that my privilege was lessening, so I would have to work harder. It is an implicit acknowledgment of a privilege that many are quick to claim does not exist. Also, the very fact we had the discussion shows that there is an unorganized conspiracy of trying to maintain power. White males are not given a card to carry, but many feel safe conversing in the above fashion.


2009

I'm sitting with my priest, discussing the future: possibly ordination, Laura's thoughts and feelings, how the process works. Then came the conversation thathonest white males should have more often.

"In getting ordained, you unfortunately have two things going for you. You are white and you are male. That means that a congregation may consider you to be a safer pick than someone who is out, or a woman, or a minority. You look like what people expect a priest to look like. It is lamentable in the church and we are getting better at this, but the fact is that the bishop will have an easier time placing you somewhere than he would with others."

As lamentable as it is that the Church is slow to fully welcome its members (I mean ordination and vestry, full participation in the life and work of God), the conversation is now getting closer-to-honest. We are acknowledging the problem, and we can now work on distributing the authority instead of conspiring to keep power in a gentrified, white, male hierarchy. It is a faint glimmer of hope that the church can positively act as a counter to a culture infatuated with power.

The Episcopal Church will be holding its General Convention this year. Of those going, there are

• more females (among the clergy an all-time high)
• more deputies of color
• more out lgbts.
  

But it is still a long way to go.