UHCL’s Social Justice Organization discusses broad range of privileges
Privilege is defined as an advantage given to one particular person or group. Because many do not realize the privileges they have, University of Houston-Clear Lake’s Social Justice Organization (SJO) wanted to shine a light on the numerous types of privileges, how individuals can recognize them and even use them to help those without.
SJO held the event “Let’s Talk About Privilege” April 11, to have an open discussion about privilege, marginality and social justice. During the event, students shared their thoughts and opinions on privilege and how it impacts themselves and others.
“Opening up the dialog is something that makes students think ‘hey this is affecting me, how can I help teach somebody else about this?’” said Lisa Jatta, cellular/molecular/biotechnology major and SJO treasurer.
At the beginning of the event, speaker Paula Randolph, education major and SJO social media coordinator, handed out pieces of paper with gender pronouns on them. By doing this she was labeling students with gender pronouns such as “they, them, theirs” or “he, him, his.” This activity was created to emphasize the feeling of losing one’s privilege to choose their identity. Students discussed how it made them feel to be told who they are and the importance of respecting others’ individuality.
As the discussion continued, Randolph discussed topics including white, male, economic, cisgender, straight, thin, Christian, able-bodied, age, and education privileges. She highlighted the fact that privilege goes further than what individuals typically associate with privilege, which is white and male privilege. White and male privilege is defined as given opportunities over others simply because of race or sex.
“People want to label white privilege with racism and white power, and it’s not the same thing,” Randolph said. “People can use their privilege to help by stepping aside and saying, ‘why don’t you hear from my sister of color?’”
Randolph went on to say, privilege extends much further than this. It is a privilege to grow up in a safe neighborhood. It is a privilege to have food to eat every day. It is a privilege to get an education. It is a privilege to get married to whom you choose. These were a few points made during the discussion to help the audience realize what they may have in respect to others.
When discussing economic and education privileges, the SJO speakers made a point of tying it to the experiences of UHCL students. For example, because UHCL is a commuter school, students not only have to worry about the costs of attending but also the costs of getting to school.
“Economic privilege plays a role here, and if students can’t afford local housing or a car, they may not be able to make it to class due to lack of public transportation,” Randolph said.
Other topics included race, gender, sex and challenging social norms.
“UHCL’s a little conservative about topics, so we’re trying to bring everything out into the open,” Jatta said.
Jatta said the goal of SJO is to create awareness of real issues that affect individuals and that the organization is here to represent all students on campus. She pointed out that sometimes topics can be uncomfortable because they are serious and affect people’s lives, but they must be discussed to be understood.
“When choosing topics, we like to ‘push outside the box,’” Randolph said. “We have to be unapologetic about the bluntness of what we discuss.”