What In the World Is My Privilege?

So I asked what kind of privilege does a person of color have, or what kind of privileges do we experience that white people don’t, and I couldn’t come up with anything right off the top of my head like can be done when white privilege is mentioned. Privilege is like a special grant or advantage which can be, like we said in class, unearned. Now that I have sort of conjured up that definition, I guess I could back it up with an example; thing is, I can’t think of one that fits every aspect of what I’ve stated. Now that I’m writing down my thoughts, I see that what is considered a privilege in any situation by any person is in fact earned. Griffin asked what is in the middle if there is underprivileged and over privileged (and yes, the computer automatically fixed these words for me as Wise joked about), and I would consider the earned privilege the middle man; you could almost call it regular privilege- the privilege we rightfully obtain through our actions of earning, with the key word being ‘rightfully’, in my opinion. Having said that, by rightfully I mean the bonuses or advantages one gets that is justified because of the work one has done. And who decides what is justifiable? Society. Now, having said that, I think that the classification of underprivileged means that the opportunity or preconceived notion of something just doesn’t exist, regardless of the work effort. I said in class that I have, or would have, privilege because of my college education. That would fit in the middle in ‘regular privilege’ because I have worked my little booty all the way off to get, and stay, in college till you can’t even see it anymore. I have earned whatever privilege I get in that example, be it a better job or better position in the same job as my peers. Then, it got me thinking even more…if there is male privilege, what is female privilege? Is there a thing such as female privilege? Is there a thing such as black privilege? Or colored people privilege? Being included in the categories, what can I enjoy without earning the benefit that others can’t? I found this guy, a gender analyst, that gave a checklist of black male privilege, with some that could be applied to the African American race as a whole. As I read it, I started to think of what black female privileges could be, according to this checklist. Talk about a headache! Ok, maybe I have the privilege of not having the hassle of having to wash my hair every day. That’s all I can really come up with. But I can’t even use that because not all white women wash their hair every day. It’s really hard to think of one because the media doesn’t help portray this concept of colored female privilege. I can turn on the TV now and see examples of white privilege, even black male privilege as described in that checklist, but there are no examples for colored females. Sometimes, I feel like I have to be conscious of everything I am.