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This post is the second of a three-part series that is not strictly about community engagement. However, to engage with communities with which one is not familiar it is essential to understand the dynamics of privilege. This is especially true when the \u201cengager\u201d is as directly viewed as a representative of wealth and power as is the nonprofit arts establishment. (When the series is completed, I will post the entire essay on my website.)<\/p>\n
Last week’s post (Privilege\/Encumbrance: Part I<\/a>) dealt with the issue of privilege and encumbrance\u2013or more simply, burdens\u2013and presented an introductory discussion of “Isms.”<\/p>\n Socio-Economic Privilege\/Encumbrance At the risk of stating the obvious, the more access to money one has the easier the basics of life are. As examples:<\/p>\n Social privilege, another relatively visible privilege, has to do with access, via family or career connections, to \u201chow things are done,\u201d to decision-makers, and to gatekeepers who can help resolve problems.<\/p>\n In each case above\u2013economic and social, most people are highly aware of those in better circumstances and frequently oblivious to the experience of those with fewer advantages than they<\/strong>. However, among the various forms of privilege, when pointed out, those with these privileges\u2013at least at the extreme end\u2013can often see their relative good fortune.<\/p>\n Identity Privilege\/Encumbrance No one can truly know the experience of anyone else. However, this is especially true when someone else\u2019s experiences are profoundly<\/em> different from one\u2019s own. \u00a0It is this that makes understanding the privilege\/encumbrance generated by isms especially difficult to appreciate.<\/p>\n In addition, highly visible differences (gender and race as examples) yield either\/or encumbrance. One is burdened by being a woman or being of a different race. You are not if you are male or of the dominant race. (Certainly in the case of the racism faced by African-Americans some variation is associated with depths of skin tone but that is a subject for another day.) In these differences there is little of the graduated privilege associated with levels of socio-economic status. (The 1% are better off than the 10% than are the 50% than are the bottom quarter.)<\/p>\n The best way to begin understanding this dynamic is to consider the burden that isms place upon those in the encumbered group. Blatant bigotry, of course, takes a tremendous toll; but the accumulation of less obvious impacts can often be even more debilitating. In the case of African-Americans, pervasive awareness of \u201cotherness\u201d when in social situations dominated by white culture is a weight in itself. The luxury of being unaware of race is a privilege available only to whites in most public settings. Whites who visit African-American churches often comment on being, in that setting, constantly aware of their difference, their \u201cotherness,\u201d and of the toll it takes\u2013they may enjoy the religious service but many are exhausted by it. That is the non-white experience during most waking hours of almost every day.<\/p>\n Another, though related, emotional weight borne by \u201cothers\u201d in our society lies in assumptions about how we will be treated. This is a particularly difficult issue for whites to understand. By and large, if race is the only consideration, whites, when they walk out the door in the morning, assume that they will be met with civility by most people they encounter. There is no need to prepare themselves or \u201cput on a game face.\u201d Many African-Americans, on the other hand, believe, with considerable justification, that at least some of the people they encounter will harbor negative impressions of or even ill will toward them. The need to consciously prepare for such interactions, even if they do not occur, requires a good deal of emotional energy. Imagine knowing that you had to participate in a meeting attended by someone who despised you. Mental preparation is essential, and draining. \u00a0Again, this is a daily experience for both African-Americans and many Hispanics\/Latinos.<\/p>\n Beyond this baseline toll, there are the extra burdens that accompany isms. As but one category of example, African-Americans have numerous encumbrances that are foreign to whites. A few among them are:<\/p>\n The list could go on at great length. The point here is not to document the various burdens inflicted by isms but to remind that they exist. Taken together, living with these burdens requires the expenditure of a great deal of will and emotional energy before one can simply arrive at the playing field. The privilege of avoiding this drain on one\u2019s psyche is almost totally invisible to those who enjoy it and distressingly obvious to those who don\u2019t.<\/strong><\/p>\n The targets of less visible or of invisible isms have some luxury of choice about whether to publicly identify with their target status. However, even if they do not do so, they bear the burden of \u201ctheir secret,\u201d the awareness of what \u201ccoming out\u201d might mean, and the knowledge of the price paid by their peers who have.<\/p>\n Next time: Structural Privilege\/Encumbrance Engage!<\/p>\n Doug<\/p>\n The privilege of avoiding burdens borne by others is almost totally invisible to those who not so encumbered and painfully obvious to those who don\u2019t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Privilege\/Encumbrance: Part II\u2013Not bearing a burden, even if its invisible to you, is a privilege.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,13,42,47],"class_list":{"0":"post-4820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-principles","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-community-engagement","10":"tag-diversity","11":"tag-equity","12":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Burden.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-1fK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4822,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/02\/privilegeencumbrance-part-iii\/","url_meta":{"origin":4820,"position":0},"title":"Privilege\/Encumbrance: Part III","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 1, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Structural inequities are mostly invisible to those who benefit from them. Yet, the burdens exist and are a stumbling block for many.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Burden.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4813,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/01\/privilegeencumbrance-part-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":4820,"position":1},"title":"Privilege\/Encumbrance: Part I","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 18, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Privilege\/Encumbrance: This must be understood to engage with communities effectively. When it comes to opportunity, the playing field is profoundly uneven.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Burden.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5345,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/07\/announcing\/","url_meta":{"origin":4820,"position":2},"title":"Announcing","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"July 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"It's official. As predicted in Changes, ArtsEngaged has a new and, to my eyes, snazzy website. The snazziness is entirely due to the efforts of our Marketing and Sales specialist, Achia Floyd. Many, many thanks Achia! While new is always (well, often) fun, what is most important to me about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"arts\"","block_context":{"text":"arts","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/tag\/arts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/HeraldTrumpets-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5378,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/09\/announcing-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":4820,"position":3},"title":"ICYMI: Announcing","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The new and improved ArtsEngaged website has many resources for community engagement which you may find of value.","rel":"","context":"In \"arts\"","block_context":{"text":"arts","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/tag\/arts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/HeraldTrumpets-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4345,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/12\/driving-while\/","url_meta":{"origin":4820,"position":4},"title":"Driving While . . . .","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"December 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"To many, the arts are closely associated with power and privilege. The arts organization encountering hostility needs to understand that and find ways to demonstrate not only passive good will but the capacity for positive action.","rel":"","context":"In "Overview"","block_context":{"text":"Overview","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/overview\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"TrafficStop","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/TrafficStop.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3967,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2015\/01\/the-p-word\/","url_meta":{"origin":4820,"position":5},"title":"The P Word","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"January 28, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"We don't have to feel privileged to be privileged. To effectively engage, trust is essential. We in the arts have much work to do to earn trust, even where we were not the ones to lose it.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Privilege","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Privilege.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4820"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4825,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4820\/revisions\/4825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n<\/u>At extreme upper end, economic privilege is more apparent than other types of privilege simply because people understand that many aspects of life are easier if you have money than if you do not. However, even the very well off have to be reminded of this unless they come from families where noblesse oblige<\/em> has been deeply ingrained. (At this point noblesse oblige<\/em> may need to be explained. Over the last generation, the idea that with wealth and power come responsibility to use them for good, a notion once quite widely accepted by patrician families, has become far less prevalent than was the case before the 1980\u2019s.)<\/p>\n\n
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\n<\/u>Identity privilege\/encumbrance is brought about by the isms mentioned earlier. Some are the result of highly visible characteristics\u2013racism, sexism, ableism (often visible), ageism; others are far less so or are invisible\u2013heterosexism, nativism, sectarianism, classism. The former are inescapable. The latter bear with them some choice as to whether an individual publicly \u201cclaims\u201d their difference.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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<\/a><\/span> Some rights reserved<\/a> by St.A.<\/a><\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"