I am privileged. Not that you couldn't deduce that on your own, because of everything about me. I am white, upper-middle-class woman with a college education. I am twenty-two years old living in a CRAZY expensive apartment in Brooklyn/Queens and am working at an unpaid internship. My ironic phone case, paired with my Longchamp tote bag radiate my privilege three subway cars down, where someone is begging for a quarter to buy some food. If New York City has shown me anything it is the disparity in our country's wealth, despite a growing middle class, and the amplification of my biggest societal flaw (besides talking very loudly on the subway), privilege.
When I was sixteen I went to the Dominican Republic on a service trip, because I believed it was the right thing to do. I went and volunteered the most beautiful places I have ever been, and I took pictures with children with cute Facebook posts in mind. The night after we came back from the Haitian Batee (essentially a refugee camp because Haitians can't be Dominican citizens), our group of twelve privileged girls sat in a circle and had our first earnest conversation about privilege. It wasn't labeled as such, though. It wasn't you have privilege, therefore, you are taking the privilege away from others, the conversation stemmed from where this conversation should be stemming from, acts of service. Our teachers told us that we did not choose to have the privilege we were born with, but we do have the choice to make other people's lives easier with our privilege.
Privilege, as a thought, has become so convoluted and paradoxical, it is hard to tell what exactly it is. Privilege has become a series of "if... then" statements. My privilege should not be an LSAT prep question, but if I am white then I have privilege. If I am a woman, then I need shouldn't go out at night alone. The concept of privilege needs to return to its core of, how are we at service to others. I am by no means trying to dismiss the fact that there are severe injustices in our communities on the basis of inequitable privilege, but I demand that we no longer make privilege a dirty word. Privilege does not have to be a bad thing, but so many people make it one. People like George Zimmerman, Brock Turner, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and last, but not least, Donald Trump, turn privilege into a horrible and horrific thing in our country. Then there are people like Barack Obama, Dorothy Day, Al Franken, Cory Booker, Rupi Kaur, and so many more who are using, whatever privilege they may have, to make people's lives better. The good that these people look different. Rupi Kaur, to me, is the poetic voice of our generation, using her voice to quell the anxieties of developing women is how she is creating acts of service. Would I want to read a book of poetry by Obama, probably not, but he is leading our country and embodying a role model more kids than ever before can look up to.
I am privileged, and that's fine because I fully intend to use it in the best way possible. Acknowledgement of what you have is huge, but what is most important is that you do not continue to gain while others lose. Use your privilege in the way that feels best for you, and, most importantly, use it to empower others.
