On Privilege

A black man and  a white man walk into a bar. They take a seat and each ask the bartender for a drink. The bartender asks each man for his story.

The black man thoughtfully responds, "My grandparents were slaves, but I'm thankful of the opportunities I have now."

The bartender looks at the white man who replies, "My family came from Europe, and we were poor farmers until recently. I was the first to go to college and became a successful programmer."

The black man clinks his beer with the white man's and says, "I design aircraft for a living. My folks always told me to work hard and not be entitled to anything."

The bartender asks, "But what about white privilege?" The black man grins, "Sounds like this fellow here," he gestures to the white man, "wasn't too privileged until recently. If I based my actions on the color of his skin, I'd be assuming he was better than me. It's not that I've never had problems because I'm black, that happens, but if I blamed a general population for it, I'd poison my own well."

The white man adds, "It's true. I watched black athletes pass me in high school and college. If I had let myself be angry at them, at any 'privilege' I saw, I'd be making a snap judgment. I'd stymie my own personal growth by basing my success on someone else's actions, especially based on the color of someone's skin."

At this point, the bartender is so confounded that he leans heavily on the bar, "But identity politics is so real, man!"

The black man frowns slightly, "It isn't that differences across race and class don't exist. It's what we do with them and how we respond to adversity in life. We can't just up and get angry at a whole group who has something we don't. It doesn't change anything."

By now, the two men have finished their beers. The white man gets up to leave and adds, "If I let identity politics control me, I'd be blaming Asians for being more successful than me at programming, because my classes were full of them. Sure, they had more money than me, most of them did. But I couldn't base my actions on their Asian-ness or their success. The real question was, 'How do I succeed despite having less money? How do I raise myself up to close the gap, rather than target someone for their identity?' And that's saved me a lot of loathing."

The two men leave. The bartender then realizes not everyone of a certain ethnicity or color has what is stereotypically associated with them. He begins to reflect on the problems of upward mobility in terms of economics, not just problems due to color. Perhaps, he reflects, it is better to know someone's full status before making a judgment. If everyone did that, there would be less snap judgments based on color or ethnicity.