He: Remember that one time you beat me with the stick of inappropriate perspectives of privilege and power? That was fun :) [self-deprecation]
Me: I'm drafting a blog post about it. I'm thinking White people need to frequently check our privileges and become even more outspoken because silence to those who haven't been educated/exposed appears like we endorse these horrific White supremacist daily onslaughts. Good morning :)
He: Can you keep the who's/what's confidential?
Me: lol yes. Not naming names/outing people who aren't ready. But there is power in coming out about privilege and may we all experience that sort of liberty.
He: Indeed.
Me: I think the uncomfortable direction we White people need to move in is to acknowledge that we are mediocre. That there *are* more qualified women/transgender/people with disabilities/PoC that *should* be in well-paid positions of power and authority. Which we currently hold because of unearned privilege. If the alt-righties and young people who haven't heard any different heard smart, powerful White people say this they may have to question the stream of garbage that spews from some media sources about immigrants and lgbt and feminists making their lives hard.
He: I mostly agree with you.
Me: Help me see the error in my ways.
He: It's a matter of semantics. And words matter. There are more qualified PoC, women, people w/ disabilities that should be in well paid positions of authority. And can we get there without making less (mediocre) of well meaning White male cis folks? The assumption I'm challenging is that all PoC, people w/disabilities, queer folx, are more competent than all CIA [cis?] normative White men. I also hold that cisnormative White men were told that we are more special, more competent, more deserving of power and that we need to actively combat that perspective, which is what I think you are reflecting with the mediocre statement.
Me: I did not say *all* non White/cis/male/able are more competent. I'm saying "on the average", read, not personal to you, there are a large quantity of mediocre White people, myself included, who have benefited from these biases. To answer your (perhaps rhetorical) question, no. I think we can't just say that every thing will get better without pointing out that there are dare i say too many White/cis/male/Christian people gumming up the system, especially those who are ignorant, willfully ignorant, of their privilege and how they continue to reproduce privilege.
He: yep.
Me: and also we really are mediocre. We are not special, uniquely qualified, etc. To presume otherwise is literally supremacist. Mediocre meaning average, ie assuming we're always above average, Lake Woebegone effect.
He: I'm struggling with that part.
Me: I know. You've been told you're special all your life. Prizing male children over female children, etc. I'm probably not the first to tell you, but maybe it's first sinking in for you.
He: I know I'm not innately special. I know I am average on average. I also know that each of us has individual areas of excellence and can train to become better qualified.
Me: Lol but you're not quite ready to embrace "mediocre" even though "average" is a synonym... because Whiteness is always presumed to be better than. And that's uncomfortable.
He: Average on average is different than mediocre in my understanding and that has nothing to do with my Whiteness.
Me: Uh huh.
