I think you have to ask yourself why you are acknowledging your privilege "out loud" so to speak. What's the purpose? Is it to situate yourself in the conversation/world? Is it to ward off people who may not "get" that you "get" your privilege and might call you on it? Is "I acknowledge my privilege" kind of like "I have a black cousin" for progressives?
I think it if's necessary to say for a reason other than just to cover your ass (which can be a muddy point)--if it's contributing in some real way, it may be good to say it. I think if you feel like saying "I acknowledge my privilege of X." You should think first about how exactly you are addressing that AFTER you state it. To realize that being aware of your privilege is the first step, that there are subsequent steps. Finally, we all make mistakes and I think sometimes we get too cautious about that...again, because we don't like to be in the wrong. But 1) you don't learn if you don't make mistakes (and real learning can take a long time) and 2) we are human--which is not an excuse to not work on your privilege issues and no one should hide behind that, but we are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world. We learn and move on and learn some more/again and integrate that into our lives as best we can.
Haha, who's getting preachy now? Shit. I really don't know anything about all this, it's just what was coming out of my head. Okay, maybe now I'm trying to skirt responsibility for my words...now I have gone into a RT reflexive meta-analysis of my thoughts. So done.
Yeah, I don't want to stop people (myself or others) from saying it, from acknowledging their (our) privilege out loud. What's bothering me is that that seems so often to be the end of it. But it's not, it's really just the beginning.
And it seems entirely weird and counter productive to call people out for acknowledging their privilege, but yes, SUBSEQUENT STEPS.
And yeah, this is totally me working through that process, and making mistakes, and learning and growing. Because there was a time when I didn't really realise what privilege was, or especially that I might benefit from it. So for a while, recognising it and acknowledging it was a huge step, and for a while it was enough. And it was enough from other people to.
But...I don't really know what's next. Listening, I think. And action.
I think it if's necessary to say for a reason other than just to cover your ass (which can be a muddy point)--if it's contributing in some real way, it may be good to say it. I think if you feel like saying "I acknowledge my privilege of X." You should think first about how exactly you are addressing that AFTER you state it. To realize that being aware of your privilege is the first step, that there are subsequent steps. Finally, we all make mistakes and I think sometimes we get too cautious about that...again, because we don't like to be in the wrong. But 1) you don't learn if you don't make mistakes (and real learning can take a long time) and 2) we are human--which is not an excuse to not work on your privilege issues and no one should hide behind that, but we are imperfect beings living in an imperfect world. We learn and move on and learn some more/again and integrate that into our lives as best we can.
Haha, who's getting preachy now? Shit. I really don't know anything about all this, it's just what was coming out of my head. Okay, maybe now I'm trying to skirt responsibility for my words...now I have gone into a RT reflexive meta-analysis of my thoughts. So done.
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And it seems entirely weird and counter productive to call people out for acknowledging their privilege, but yes, SUBSEQUENT STEPS.
And yeah, this is totally me working through that process, and making mistakes, and learning and growing. Because there was a time when I didn't really realise what privilege was, or especially that I might benefit from it. So for a while, recognising it and acknowledging it was a huge step, and for a while it was enough. And it was enough from other people to.
But...I don't really know what's next. Listening, I think. And action.
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