Privilege, Power, & Difference (Johnson, 2001)




Image result for privilege


Talking Points
  • Privilege exists even if you don't feel like it does.  People can get defensive when their privileged status is made known to them, but it is of no fault to them the categories that they fall within.
  • The "categories" we place people in are socially constructed. "Unless you live in a culture that recognizes those differences as significant and meaningful, they are socially irrelevant and therefore do not exist” (Johnson, p. 21). The problem is that we think the way our (American) culture categorizes people and gives privilege to people based on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. is just how it is.
  • It isn’t that we are afraid of what is different from us, what we are actually afraid of is losing the power we hold by having a certain privileged status. 


Argument Statement

Related image
Johnson (2001) argues that privilege exists and in order to work towards dismantling it, we need to first recognize it exists and recognize the power that certain groups have in (American) society, starting with looking at our own privilege status.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Other People's Children (Delpit, 2006)

Image
Talking Points People of color feel silenced when it comes to their opinions and  experiences  about educating children.  White people nod and listen, but don’t actually hear. People of color do end up just stopping talking because they don’t feel like what they are saying is being valued. If you are not already a participant in the culture of power, being told explicitly the rules of that culture makes acquired power easier   Explicit telling of “rules” of the culture is much easier for someone not in the culture of power, to learn the rules. Immersion is a difficult way to learn. Students need a mixture of direct (structured) instruction (academic and behavioral expectations) as well as  time  where they are allowed to show their own expert knowledge Argument Statement “Students must be  taught  the codes needed to participate fully in the mainstream of American life, not by being force to attend to hollow, inane, and ...
Read more

Project Proposal

Color Insight vs. Color Blindness I plan to teach a small group of my colleagues about power privilege and difference in American culture, including in schools.  I also plan to teach them how color insight is the better version of color blindness.   I think because we teach such a diverse group of students it is very important for our teachers to understand that seeing our students’ color needs to be a priority in order to validate their life experiences. We as teachers also need to be aware of how privilege exists and teach our students about it in order to work towards dismantling it. I plan to create a power point presentation that uses the readings of Johnson (2001) and Armstrong and Wildman (2013) to teach these concepts.
Read more

Color Insight not Colorblindness & Black Lives Matter (too)

Image
In Armstrong and Wildman’s 2013 article  Colorblindness is the New Racism, the authors argue that colorblindness is an ineffective way to view the issues of race in the United States.  The term colorblindness works for Whites because their race is the assumptive norm.  I understand how the term colorblindness on the surface might seem to some Whites like a positive thing; that they are colorblind meaning they don’t see race and they see everyone as humans and believe that everyone should be treated equally. However, saying you are ‘colorblind’ just enforces the privilege that Whites have, not having to think about race. “The failure to acknowledge racial reality in the United States reinforces and solidifies existing racial inequality and white privilege. So seeing race for Whites must mean more than merely noticing whiteness; Whites need to learn about its accompanying privilege” (Armstrong & Wildman, 2013, p. 67). Armstrong and Wildman (2013)...
Read more