Interviews with Artists and Activists on White Privilege: Petra Zeh Paredez

I recently conducted a series of interviews with several people who are white/read as white about what white privilege means to them in their work to end racism and oppression. Following the killing of Mike Brown, I realized to my great disappointment that a number of white folks on social media became extremely agitated and angry at the very invocation of this phrase. Conceptually, though, I think it is critical to understand and engage if we are indeed to move towards a most just and fair world. I am humbled and grateful to the people who participated in this conversation for their honesty in talking about what white privilege means to them, and I hope this collection of voices serves to spark dialogue and ignite change.

It must and can never be only people of color who are charged with the work of dismantling white supremacy and racial injustice. I feel these conversations are critical for white people to have with each other if we are to move forward as a society. Thanks for taking time to read.

(This is the fifth interview in the series. Check out the previous ones with Chris Crass, Melissa A. Fabello, Kelly Johnson, and Sean Mahan.)

Petra Zeh Paredez

1. Tell us a little about yourself.

I was inspired to become a teacher after reading Jonathan Kozol’s Shame of the Nation, which is about de facto segregation in public schools. I worked in NYC public schools until recently, when I resigned partly for ideological reasons and partly to start my own business.  Part of me knows that my soul is not satisfied when I’m not in service of others, so I am finding ways to blend service and activism into my new life as a business owner. 

2. Where and when did you first hear the term white privilege? What were some of your initial thoughts about it?

I was aware of the concept of white privilege before I was aware of the term, thanks especially to my experiences with the Woodbridge Workers Committee (an organization in Virginia that supports undocumented workers). I probably first heard the term when I went to the first U.S. Social Forum in 2007, but it didn’t become part of my vocabulary until I started my teacher training program in 2010. (White privilege is a really important term to use and understand when working as a teacher in NYC, especially because New York has the most segregated schools in the country.) I found it very gratifying to learn the name for a concept that I understood and had visceral feelings about.

3. How and when do you use the phrase in your own life and activism?

As a teacher I worked with elementary students with special needs.  (In my four years of teaching none of my students were white.  Children of color, especially African American boys, are overrepresented in special education classrooms.) While we didn’t use the term “white privilege” in the classroom, we did talk a lot about fairness/unfairness, white imperialism, and racism in the context of social studies.  We would learn about historical events- the European takeover of Manahatta, for example- then simply discuss if it was fair. My kids got really fired up! I tried to de-center whiteness and disrupt gender stereotypes in our classroom as much as possible. This entailed a lot of time-consuming little tasks such as renaming the kids in math word problems and finding stock images of children of color to illustrate our slideshows.  Incidentally, the dearth of books centered around children of color is truly disconcerting.  A child should be able to see herself and her culture reflected positively in school, but I believe many white teachers are oblivious to this.

As to how I actually use the phrase white privilege in my life- I use it most frequently in conversations about current events and ongoing social issues, especially in conversations on social media where I’m most likely to encounter people with very different perspectives (often white males). I believe it’s incumbent upon white people to fight racism and educate other white people to the extent they can. So when I see that someone’s understanding of an issue is thwarted by their denial of white privilege, I try to name it and address it.

4. Have you experienced pushback on the phrase from other white people? How do you respond? What are some common ways the phrase is called into question, and how do you address those?

I’ve definitely experienced pushback from other white people when talking about white privilege, usually in the form of scoffing, condescension, and insistence that I’m feeling “white guilt.” Oddly, on two occasions people have essentially accused me of calling them- I kid you not- a “white devil” in those conversations, when I’d done no such thing.  People seem unable to address the white privilege directly because they don’t actually comprehend it. The disdain, or downright aggression, with which some people react to the term indicates their discomfort with being asked to question themselves and their position in society.

I prefer to address that kind of resistance by exposing facts, figures, and experiments that illustrate the concept clearly and objectively (I’ve listed some links below). While some people will remain resistant in an effort to avoid discomfort, I’ve found that raw information is still the best way to disentangle the idea of white privilege from “white guilt”- it’s a reality, not a feeling.

5. Why do you feel it’s a vital phrase to use?

White privilege is a vital phrase because its usage- and the increasing awareness that its usage promotes- is the first step in addressing the massive problems caused by white privilege itself.

Barry Switzer said “Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple,” and I think this is a great analogy for white privilege.  The maintenance of white privilege is tied to white people being comfortable with the illusion of justice, equality, and personal merit in an unjust and unequal society. For many white people, their comfort (and avoidance of discomfort) precludes their comprehension. There’s an inherent discomfort that results from the schema disruption that occurs as someone moves from obliviousness to profound understanding.

Using the phrase- calling white privilege when you see it- incrementally promotes awareness in those ready to take on that discomfort.

6. Are there any resources or links you would recommend to a white person newly acquainting themselves with the idea of white privilege? Any other links on the subject for the world at large?

Start following non-white people on Twitter for perspective building.
Check out the checklist: http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html
Some basic info for white privilege denial busting:
http://www.naacp.org/pages/criminal-justice-fact-sheet
http://www.vox.com/2014/7/1/5850830/war-on-drugs-racist-minoritieshttp://www.vox.com/2014/8/28/6051971/police-implicit-bias-michael-brown-ferguson-missouri
http://www.chicagobooth.edu/pdf/bertrand.pdf
Act 1 is about housing discrimination: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/512/house-rules
Act 2 is about illegal stop-and-frisk quotas in mostly Black Bed Stuy:http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/414/right-to-remain-silent
Check out numbers 5, 7, and 13: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/13/nypd-stop-and-frisks-15-shocking-facts_n_1513362.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/14/media-black-victims_n_5673291.html