Privilege: It's Not Just for White Folks

By: Stacia L. Brown | Posted: June 21, 2012 at 12:27 AM

Courtesy of Clutch magazine

In a piece for Clutch magazine, Stacia L. Brown contemplates the ways in which black women can find themselves at a distinct advantage.

And yet there are several circumstances that can potentially place us at higher stations in life than those around us. Certainly, some of those circumstances are familial and relational. Wives are often in positions of privilege, as it relates to their husband's other children. Children who have "full custody" of their fathers are privileged over their siblings who don't. Maternal grandmothers may spend far more time with their grandchildren than paternal grandmothers. The possibilities along those lines are immense.

But there are plenty of other instances where black women may experience privilege. Some of those are cultural. Consider the hiring bias against applicants with "ethnic-sounding" names. In a hiring pool, Sharon Jones may have the unwitting upper hand over Shaquanita Jackson. Similarly, there are situations in which American-born black women find themselves at a distinct advantage over other women of the diaspora.

There's economic, educational, and professional privilege. And then there's the kind of inadvertent "leverage"” black men will occasionally suggest we have.

Read Stacia L. Brown's entire piece at Clutch magazine.

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