Black privilege
This is to balance out (a little anyway) all the arguments about white privilege (valid as they may or may not be). It’s generalized; not everything written here will apply to everybody or every sub-culture or society, and some will apply to other groups as well. It’s an opinion, not backed by research (my field is medical microbiology, if you want that level of professional articles from me). Black privilege, in this instance, refers to individuals of apparent partly or wholly African descent, based on their supposed ancestral race. So it applies to Meghan Markle black and Lupita Nyong’o (and darker) black equally. No, this is not meant to address why these privileges exist (I know there are good reasons for some); only to point out that they do. It’s also trying to avoid mostly natural privileges, such as the athletic genetic diversity of Africans that cause them to dominate track and field events.
It’s my proper piece of writing here, so make me happy by smashing it to bits with better arguments. Okay, here we go:
Black privilege is…
1. Being taken seriously for reparations for the slavery your ancestors (not you) faced, when just about every single ethnic group faced slavery in some manner at some point, and most were not compensated for such.
2. Being able to call each other “nigga” in a favourable, acceptable manner, but dare someone outside of the black diaspora call a black person that, it’s considered racism, hate speech, and very offensive.
3. Being able to joke about every other ethnic group, even to their faces, but the moment those ethnic groups make stereotypical jokes about black people, it’s racist.
4. Being the people to claim a skin colour that most of us are not (few people are actually dark enough to be considered black; most are brown-skinned or closer to olive), even though most other ethnicities have individuals who may be darker than most blacks. On this point, Caucasians were originally also black.
5. Being specifically singled out to be added to groups for “ethnic diversity”, even in countries where blacks are the predominant race, often to the detriment of other minority ethnic groups. Because, for example, you know, if a country is 70% whites, nobody wants to be considered racist to the 12% blacks. Don’t worry, the other 18% will understand.
I believe some refer to this as “affirmative action”. Yes, it was a privilege afforded to a certain other ethnic group; nobody denies now that it is afforded to blacks.
6. Being stereotyped as having large penises. *looks in pants* I really have no idea where that came from. It’s a very hurtful stereotype.
7. Claiming hairstyles, dances, music genres…the works, as originating from and belonging to Africans. Okay, let’s go with Disco music, and say that blacks invented that. So does that mean that KC and the Sunshine Band, Gloria Estefan, Madonna, Barbra Streisand, ABBA were wrong to dabble in Disco? Appropriating black people music for their own profit, right? Of course, we can appropriate others’ cultures for profit, with it not being deemed such…hence, the privilege status.
8. Having your own month (or holiday). No, seriously, is there a Chinese Month? A Hispanics Month? A White People Month? I honestly don’t know, but I do know that there is such a thing as Black History Month, and Emancipation Day.
9. Having clubs, groups, movements (Black Power Movement and Black Lives Matter, anyone?) that cater specifically to your ethnic group, without the slightest hint of racism…but let the white people do it, even in a country that’s predominantly white people, and watch the fireworks go off.
10. Being Barack Obama. Seriously, a bunch of people who are not black, thought it was time to have a black president, and made it so. If they didn’t want it to be so, it would not have been so. Mr. Obama just happened to be in the right place at the right time and, unlike Donald Trump with this pandemic, did not do the totally wrong things.
11. Being able to enter a predominantly black country and not automatically being charged extra for services rendered before you even open your mouth. I guess this is more of an anti-privilege against whites, but trust me on this, if you’re a foreigner and white in a predominantly black country (like here in the West Indies), you’re automatically assumed to have money to burn, and attempts will be made to make you burn that money.
12. Being Meghan Markle…like. This is hugely controversial, and although I’d love to quote statistical sources to support this opinion, it won’t apply to all cultures. In general, attractive people are viewed as more trustworthy, more honest, more intelligent, and are hired faster than people of even better academic standing. Now, blame it on Hollywood and Bollywood standards, but the fairer the skin, the more attractive persons (particularly women) are deemed to be. So persons who are very dark but African will face some discrimination, even from their own fairer compatriots; but being black and fair? Not only are you favoured more by blacks, but if you’re fair enough, you may just pass as white and gain their privileges as well, while retaining your black privileges, because, you know, one-drop rule, you’re black. So Meghan Markle got to socialize with the whites as if she were white, but got to claim her black heritage when it suited her most. That’s privilege.
13. Denial that black privilege even exists. There is no bigger advantage, than the one that nobody even recognizes exists.