White Immunity: Working Through the Pedagogical Pitfalls of "Privilege"

• In Event: 73.027 - Race, Discourse, and Justice: Making Intelligible the Unconscious of Structural White Supremacy in Education

Abstract

Peggy McIntosh (1989) developed a list of unearned privileges that she, as a White woman, received as a result of being White. As an antiracist strategy, she offered the metaphor that White privilege was an invisible knapsack of unearned benefits that many White people are unaware of. The purpose of her piece was (and still is) to help White students understand the numerous ways they are racially privileged as a means of disrupting what Mills (1997) refers to as an epistemology of ignorance (i.e., the forceful denial that racism is a pertinent, contemporary social force).

However, some argue that White privilege, as discourse, distracts from discussions of antiracist action and White supremacy (Lensmire et al., 2013; Leonardo, 2004). For example, Leonardo (2004) argues that the discourse of White privilege individualizes racism instead of conceptualizing of it as a systemic reality. Lensmire et al. (2013) argue that privilege discussions do not lead to antiracist action, and tend to simplify Whites into good/bad Whites. Additionally, the metaphor of the knapsack is problematic because it leads to the mistaken impression that White people can “take off” racial privilege. Rather, White people cannot reject their racial privileges the way people can take off a backpack (Leondardo, 2004). Finally, discussions of privilege frequently develop into a type of racial confession where White people acknowledge racial privilege but make no link to action (Lensmire et al., 2013).

The examples of White privilege McIntosh (1989) lists such as being “sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race” describe the basic standards for human decency. I argue that the term mislabels the nature of this racial dynamic. Instead of elevating White people, systemic racism makes humane treatment an elusive goal for people of color (Bonilla-Silva, 2006). Thus, it is not that Whites are raised by racism (or privileged), but rather, that people of color are precluded from equal treatment. Therefore, I argue that teachers should start using White immunity to more accurately describe what has been known as White privilege. It is not just that Whites are privileged, it is also that they are immune from the traumas of racialized inhumane treatment, which are the very enactments, the tangible experiences of interactions with a system of racial domination.

Despite the limitations of the term “privilege,” it still does hold some pedagogical promise. White privilege is colloquially known, even if it is routinely misinterpreted. Thus, there is potential for engagement because teacher and student generally have at least some awareness of the concept. This can be a starting point, but educators need to be aware of the previously described “pedagogical pitfalls.” This is where White immunity becomes an important component of antiracist education. White privilege has been valuable at beginning racial conversations, but it is limited, in part, because it mislabels the problem. White immunity is my attempt to partially correct this issue in the hopes of offering educators an additional tool that focuses on the daily treatment of people of color.

Author

• Nolan L. Cabrera, The University of Arizona