The relative invisibility of systemic prejudice

I have included a link to part 1 of a 6 part talk given by Tim Wise on the Pathology of White Privilege. I think it is highly worthwhile to view all six parts, and they may be found on youtube. However, I have included only this first part as a good introduction to the idea of systemic racism and white privilege.

The clip discusses the many ways that privilege manifests in society, in politics and law enforcement, for example. The difficulty with privilege is that, by its inherent nature, it is invisible. Privilege is the status quo. It takes a level of cultural awareness and an appreciation for diversity to combat the power of privilege. This class has focused on building cultural awareness and awareness of our own biases and perspectives, our own ways of experiencing privilege in society. Just think, for a minute, about privilege in education, and how often we take a course that never, ever mentions issues of race and culture. Think of your latest history, science, or economics course, for example. Perhaps, if the teacher was especially culturally sensitive, there was a week where contributions from non-white races and non-western cultures were honored. Most likely, race and culture were never mentioned and whole segments of society and huge issues remained invisible. Assumptions of white privilege prevailed in textbooks, in classroom discussions, in research, and in philosophies. This is just one small example of how privilege colors our views of society, of everything. And this is true even if we are not members of the privileged class. A member of a non-privileged group experiences the same biased education, for example, as a member of the privileged group. Tim Wise talks about law enforcement and the biased beliefs of police officers despite data that contradicts those beliefs. Often, an officer of color holds the very same belief, even though it is biased against people of his/her race. The task of combatting this pervasive perspective of privilege seems overwhelming. How do we do it? What steps, no matter how small, can each individual take to combat the effects of such privilege? What is one's role as a member of the privileged culture? As a member of a non-privileged culture? These are the questions we need to ask ourselves.