Dear World, I would like to cash in my American Privilege now.
As a black woman living in the United States, it’s rare that I associate myself with “privilege,” a common buzzword of the modern age, yet in this instance I recognize it and am ready to act on it.
What is American privilege? As I am not an academic, I can’t offer a formal definition but this privilege is best seen in through the responses of those who are exasperated with the state of the American political order. This privilege is written all over Facebook and featured in many o’ meme and commonly takes form in phrases such as, “If (insert presidential elect here) wins the election, I’m moving to (insert assumed paradise here—i.e. Canada, Western Europe). While these statements are usually made with humorous intentions in an attempt to in alleviate the stress, embarrassment and sense of exasperation surrounding the U.S. Presidential election, the underlying privilege is hard to ignore.
While shunning and insulting the thousands upon millions of refugees, specifically those coming from the Middle East and effected areas, who are fleeing war zones catalyzed by political unrest, the U.S. features Americans who joke (hopefully) about fleeing the U.S. due to dissatisfaction with the current political order. Aka Americans joking about becoming political refugees denounce refugees coming from actual war torn areas.
In typical “American” fashion (see: white, male fashion) instead of recognizing the privilege and actively trying to combat it, unsatisfied Americans are ready to cash it in. Why don’t people draw the shallow parallels between those living in war ravaged areas such as Syria and Palestine where survival is an everyday battle to the dissatisfaction and helplessness one might feel when watching, listening or looking at the 2016 presidential election (see: Donald J. Trump)? The answer: it goes against American nature and culture. Only in a country founded by religious refugees fleeing poverty and discrimination who then opened the boarders to other immigrants fleeing other forms of discrimination and oppression would their ancestors reject war refugees while joking about becoming political refugees themselves. The level of hypocrisy here can make someone’s head spin. But really, have you seen anything more “American”?
