A. Noyd, I was NOT born with a silver spoon in my mouth. I had scarlet fever as a child because my mother NEVER would spring for an MD visit & now I have heart damage. So please don't make assumptions about me.
I say that not as a complaint- just to point out that you make such judgements and have such little data. And so you know, I have actually worked with these populations as a licensed professional.
Privilege in the social justice sense isn’t about being born wealthy or never suffering any ills. It’s how you, as a member of group X, have certain, unearned advantages people of group Y lack. Advantages that you either aren’t aware of or believe you earned.
The thing is, unless deliberately countered, your privileges taint your perspective—so much so that you can work closely with group Y without ever understanding the complexities of their problems or what really holds them back from overcoming them.
You’re exhibiting the sort of ignorance of poverty that comes of class privilege. Your idea of what would benefit poor people doesn’t match anything activists actually living in poverty advocate for. Listen to them.
Listen to the “complainers” who experience what it’s like to live with arbitrary strings attached to every basic necessity of life. Listen to what you’re missing by being lucky enough you haven’t had to learn the hard way. Trust those of group Y to know better than you what they need and amplify their voices. Because having privilege doesn’t mean you need to speak from it.
@MIDDLEoftheroad2018
Privilege is not an all-or-nothing deal. It exists on different axes. Almost everyone has some form. You can have white privilege (relative to people of color) but lack able-bodied privilege (relative to people without disabilities). Or, in this case, you can have class privilege relative to poor people. Privileges can intersect to multiply benefit or privation, too.