What Can We Do About White Privilege?
Photo courtesy of Father Bryan Massingale
Writing in the National Catholic Reporter*, Father Bryan N. Massingale, professor of Theology at Fordham University, offers a daunting list of suggestions:
Understand the difference between being uncomfortable and being threatened. There is no way to tell the truth about race in this country without white people becoming uncomfortable. Because the plain truth is that if it were up to people of color, racism would have been resolved, over and done, a long time ago.
Sit in the discomfort this hard truth brings. Let it become agonizing. Let it move you to tears, to anger, to guilt, to shame, to embarrassment. Over what? Over your ignorance. Over the times you went along with something you knew was wrong.
Admit your ignorance and do something about it. Understand that there is a lot about our history and about life that we’re going to have to unlearn. And learn over. Malcolm X said that the two factors responsible for American racism are greed and skillful miseducation. We have all been taught a sanitized version of America that masks our terrible racial history. (Massingale suggests that his book Racial Justice and the Catholic Church is a good place to start.) Ask your bishop how anti-racism is part of your church leaders’ formation for ministry.
Have the courage to confront your family and friends. I understand the desire to have peaceful or at least conflict-free relationships with family and friends. But as the Rev. Martin Luther King said so well, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” Silence means consent. Or at least, complicity.
Be “unconditionally pro-life.” St. Pope John Paul II spoke these words on his final pastoral visit to the US. He summoned Catholics to “eradicate every form of racism” as part of their wholehearted and essential commitment to life. This has a very serious consequence: You cannot vote for or support a president who is blatantly racist, mocks people of color, separates Latino families and consigns brown children into concentration camps, and still call yourself “pro-life.”
Finally, Massingale says, “This soul sickness can only be healed by deep prayer. Yes, we need social reforms. We need equal educational opportunities, changed police practices, equitable access to health care, an end to employment and housing discrimination. But only an invasion of divine love will shatter the small images of God that enable us to live undisturbed by the racism that benefits some and terrorizes so many.”
For greater understanding of what white privilege means and more detail about these steps to neutralize it, read Massingale’s full article at https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/assumptions-white-privilege-and-what-we-can-do-about-it.
*This article originally appeared in National Catholic Reporter. Reprinted with permission.