Privilege....
It is a hard concept to grasp if you have it, not so much if you don’t.
Friends, colleagues, and others in my circle have denied their privilege. Hard work, stick-to-iti-ivism, and sheer gumption are the key to success.
But that doesn’t seem to be quite enough.
Hurricane Irma blew through here recently, and this is when my privilege reared its pretty blond head. I have enough money. Not a ton, but enough that when I sold my house, I chose to move into a newish apartment downtown. When the storm was brewing, our staff had a plan, had resources, called a meeting, and told us exactly what to expect. We had impact windows and doors, a five year old building, a team to prep the space, and generators for our generators. Residents formed an online chat room, communicated what was happening from the various views and even sent video so we could see the rise of the river. When someone had a leak, neighbors came with buckets, towels and duct tape. When a woman cut her hand, a doctor in the building responded with first aid. When we got bored, there was a bottle of scotch in the stairwell.
On the other hand, there are the people of Puerto Rico where over a million residents had no power and 500,000 had no water after Irma crossed their path. And just when it seemed the island was at it’s lowest, along came Maria, leaving the entire island powerless-literally and figuratively. People are dying in a San Juan intensive care unit because there is no diesel to power the generators.
Without privilege, there is no power.
I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Maria had followed Irma to Houston instead of San Juan taking the one-two punch. Would FEMA have done something different to prepare for the second strike? Would Congress have stood on the Capital steps and demanded that Houston be protected, shored up, a wall built to guard it from the coming tide? Would the citizens have called the media, the government, the world to take them in and create evacuation to safe havens created specifically for them? Would FB have exploded with “Pray for Houston” or banners, or outrage over the government’s denial of climate change or adequate storm resources? Would Houston somehow been prepared in a way that Puerto Rico wasn’t?
But it wasn’t Houston. It was Puerto Rico.
There was no Congressional ranting, no media outrage, no FB protest. Why? No one, note even the residents of Puerto Rico expect much from mainland US. Heaven knows, they have learned there is seldom a hand reaching across the Caribbean. After all, the government of Puerto Rico saw Congress had already deserted them in the myriad of financial crises. FB didn’t expect much because, well, it’s Puerto Rico. They’re not America’s responsibility, right?
No privilege, no power.
Privilege is a social construct that gives power and opportunity to some, but it also creates expectation. Over a lifetime of being a white American in the middle class, I have come to expect results. Concern. Caring. Results. And when I need something, I have no hesitation in expressing those demands, making those demands, demanding those demands. And the majority of America, white, middle class jumps on my bandwagon amplifying my voice until it is a deafening roar society must listen to, respond to, take care of. That is not my “fault” but neither is it the fault of those who have NOT been listened to, NOT responded to, NOT cared for to NOT bother. Their energy is conserved and used to take care of themselves because there is a social construct that society will not respond.
No privilege, no power.
Look at this difference. According to CBS News, “An eight-member team from the Energy Department’s Western Area Power Authority that was deployed to Puerto Rico ahead of the storm and assisted with initial damage assessments has been redeployed to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.”
Did you read that right? EIGHT member team.
Now REDEPLOYED to St Thomas (as of 9/25, five days post Maria)
No privilege, no power.
Compare that to Houston, where, “Within days, the number of FEMA employees, other federal agencies, and the National Guard deployed topped 31,000, all focused on helping Texans respond to Harvey.”
No privilege, no power.
Gail Choate
September 25, 2017
NOTE: There is no ending for this piece, because, quite frankly, there is no end in sight. But I am sick and tired of the majority in this country, (yes, you, white, middle class) denying privilege exists and denying that we live in class based society. How dare we say that America is equal opportunity? How dare we say just pull yourself up by your bootstraps? How dare we, when the unprivileged have the audacity to point out our privilege, how dare we say, “Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he's fired. He's fired!"
No privilege, no power.
No ending, no end.
https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2017/09/22/historic-disaster-response-hurricane-harvey-texas http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2017/09/25/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-power-grid-damage/
