Privilege is one of the most relevant but difficult concepts to talk about here at Dartmouth. The term provokes eye rolls, groans, defensive rants about “reverse racism” and the like. Yet indifference and hostility to discussions of sexism, racism, and classism on our campus and in society at large is precisely what defines privilege. Those who enjoy the luxury of ignoring and dismissing such social maladies fail to truly look beyond their immediate experiences of the world — a world whose ideology has largely served them — and cannot be bothered to consider their role in the oppressive structures that they perpetuate and even unwittingly suffer from. At Dartmouth, many of us seem to walk around with blinders that prevent us from empathizing with each other and challenging our beliefs and values. But it is time for many of us to not only recognize our privilege but also prevent it from numbing us to pressing issues our society still faces.
I myself am a beneficiary of privilege. But one of the most powerful lessons I have learned here at Dartmouth was the realization, ironically, of my own ignorance. Oppression had always seemed to me an abstract concept, one that my prior education — or miseducation — had confined to the simplified and selective master narrative that is history. I believed in our nation’s exceptionality, meritocracy and commitment to equality and justice, all of which proved that our current economic system, government and cultural values were adequate. But I had failed to look beyond my immediate experience of the world and consider the ways in which I neglected others and even was oppressed myself.
But let me refrain from speaking about oppression and privilege in vague terms; instead, I will tell you about the systems I have seen at work on campus. For me, confronting the idea of racism at Dartmouth was challenging. I grew up believing that racism was largely a relic of the past and met suggestions of “the new Jim Crow” with the post-racial rhetoric espoused by mainstream American society. I learned about slavery, Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Movement — well, the short version — as leading up to what was now Martin Luther King Jr.’s fully realized “dream”— at least, its dumbed-down counterpart. Contemporary racism, as I understood it, extended no further than the insensitive use, for example, of the n-word. I could not, or did not want to, see the racial inequality that is so embedded in our society and the oppression, by way of my indifference and inaction, that I myself perpetuated.
Racism is inextricably linked to classism, a term that also offended when it was wielded against me. I would argue that my parents had, after all, worked hard to be able to provide me with the lifestyle I enjoy. Surely others could do the same if they tried. My libertarian upbringing inspired faith in our current economic system and the idea that the “Protestant work ethic” would see us through, and so the distribution of wealth in our society — which I had largely underestimated — never bothered me. I could not see or, again, did not want to see that equality of economic opportunity was simply a myth.
Sexism and homophobia were also forces of oppression that I underestimated. At Dartmouth, I became incredibly disillusioned not only with its sheer number of sexual assaults but also with the extremely frustrating skepticism of my peers when a survivor is brave enough to come forward, and so I found strength in the words of feminism to understand these phenomena. And I appreciated that sexism is not simply confined to sexual assault; it is prevalent in the workplace, the classroom, politics surrounding the female body and everyday social interactions. And it hurts. But the privileged on this campus repeatedly invalidate the experiences of those who try to address it.
I cannot do justice here to the issues I mention, but our campus has got to stop obsessing over who got the Goldman internship, who rushed where and how “annoying” Real Talk is. We cannot continue to sit comfortably in our seats of privilege — because, yes, many of us are privileged — and repeatedly demonize those who challenge us to rethink our assumptions and actually give significant consideration to opposing perspectives (or, God forbid, take a class about them). Indeed, we must look outside of ourselves if we are to have any worthy conviction.
