Has Class Trumped Race? Part 2 – Interpreting Privilege

by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson

So, exactly what is privilege? It really depends on your perspective and definition. Let’s revisit my answers to the privilege checklist:

When you were in college:

If your father went to college, take a step forward.

If your father finished college

If your mother went to college

If your mother finished college

If you have any relative who is an attorney, physician, or professor.

If you were the same or higher class than your high school teachers

If you had a computer at home

If you had your own computer at home

If you had more than 50 books at home

If you had more than 500 books at home

If were read children’s books by a parent

If you ever had lessons of any kind

If you had more than two kinds of lessons

If the people in the media who dress and talk like me are portrayed positively

If you had a credit card with your name on it

If you have less than $5000 in student loans

If you have no student loans

If you went to a private high school

If you went to summer camp

If you had a private tutor

If you have been to Europe

If your family vacations involved staying at hotels

If all of your clothing has been new and bought at the mall

If your parents bought you a car that was not a hand-me-down from them

If there was original art in your house

If you had a phone in your room

If you lived in a single family house

If your parent own their own house or apartment

If you had your own room

If you participated in an SAT/ACT prep course

If you had your own cell phone in High School

If you had your own TV in your room in High School

If you opened a mutual fund or IRA in High School or College

If you have ever flown anywhere on a commercial airline

If you ever went on a cruise with your family

If your parents took you to museums and art galleries

If you were unaware of how much heating bills were for your family.

Many of these items have a class based assumption backing them. However, as other critics of the study have shown, it is fairly easy to have one of these things and not have it be a hallmark of privilege.

If you had your own computer at home.

My mother made sure that we acquired a computer. While we had no software on it (typing papers on Wordpad before there was spell check), my mother had gotten the impression that computers were the future. Also, a computer was a justifiable expense as it could be used for work, school work, and entertainment. We did without other luxuries, like cable TV.

If you had more than fifty books at home.

As others have pointed out, the assumption behind this one is that purchasing books (or having books in the home) is a mark of privilege, presumably because books are expensive items or because people in the lower class have poor reading skills. I am not sure which of those two scenarios the creators of the exercise used. However, books are also a very cheap form of entertainment. My sister and I were avid users of our local library, which also sold used books for a dime a piece when we were growing up. Within a few years, my sister and I had amassed a sizeable collection of children’s books for a very small amount of money – less than the cost of a brand new hardback.

If you were read children’s books by a parent.

Here’s a fun one. As a child, my mother would sit with me for hours and hours, reading my favorite books and taking the time to help me sound out words.

My mother had a lot of free time in those days. As a teen parent, she was still under my grandmother’s roof when I started to read. I would go to daycare, mom would go to high school (and later cosmetology school) and then she stayed with me most evenings and weekends. When my mother got older, we eventually moved to our own place and there was less time to read together. When my younger sister was born, my mom and my dad were both working. No one had the time to teach her to read. The task then fell to me.

If you had a credit card with your name on it.

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