Privilege and the American Dream
Someone singing Wal-Mart’s praises on Facebook – and my subsequent criticism of that morally bankrupt point of view – reminded me of Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Nickel and Dimed, which I read back in Economics 101 several years ago. I looked up the book on Wikipedia, wondering what kind of criticism someone could levy against it, arguing in support of Wal-Mart.
That lead me to Scratch Beginnings, a book written by Adam Shepard detailing how he, starting with only $25 and the clothes on his back, managed to “live the American Dream”. He started at a homeless shelter, got a job with a moving company, and by the time the whole experiment was over, had his own apartment and nearly $5,000 in savings.
Wow, right?
I found an interview with Shepard where he explains some of his experience and also his views on what it takes to live the “American Dream”. Before I even found the article, I had some ideas about Shepard – ideas that were only affirmed the moment I saw his picture. To sum it up in two words: white privilege.
Adam Shepard: Poster Child for White Privilege
What proponents of the “American Dream” always forget – or perhaps never even consider – is that the “American Dream” is not equally accessible to all Americans. Shepard’s experience of being able to get that job, to rent that apartment, has much to do with his privilege as an able-bodied white male.
Before I get into that, though, there is a bit that needs to be discussed about Shepard’s background. He entered the experiment with a college education, which although he did not use the credential to help him get the job, certainly played into his ability to navigate his experience with poverty.
That he was even able to secure a college education speaks to certain advantages he had that many do not. That he was even inclined to go to college in the first place says more still, because for the genuinely poor, foregoing four years of income for the mere possibility of a better job is often not even a consideration. The value of higher education is easy to take for granted once you have it.
There is also the small matter of Shepard’s major in college: business management. Might that have given him an advantage that many – if not most – people do not have, with regards to handling his finances? I would say so.
Furthermore, Shepard admitted that he had a credit card in his back pocket for emergencies. While he didn’t use it for the experiment, just knowing that it was there for him to use certainly buffered him against the harsh reality faced by actual homeless people. Knowing that he always had a way out if he needed it would prevent despair from setting in. The psychological cost of homelessness is one that can only be taken for granted by someone who was never truly homeless.
Now, back to his privilege. As an able-bodied male alone, he would be considered more qualified for work at a moving company, than say the man in the wheelchair he discusses during his interview, or even an able-bodied woman. As a woman, current statistics would suggest that she’d be getting paid less for the same job, if she had gotten it at all.
Being a white male further enhanced his opportunities, because of certain things he did not have to face. A person of color in his same situation – especially in South Carolina – would likely have to deal with discrimination, by police who might question his right to be anywhere, by employers who would not give him the time of day, and by rental property managers who would assume that he – for his ethnicity, nevermind his financial situation – may not be able to pay.
In a way, homelessness and poverty are associated with people of color, and indeed people of color are disproportionately poor. White Adam may have been looked upon with sympathy, or with the assumption that he must genuinely be in a tough spot and that he’ll pull himself up if only he’s given the chance. Black or brown or red Adam’s condition would’ve only affirmed what the property managers, employers, and police already expect of such people, that even if given a chance he probably wouldn’t do anything with it.
Perhaps here one would be inclined to criticize me for injecting race into an issue that has nothing to do with race. Except that of course it does, for all the reasons I’ve mentioned, and because Adam Shepard himself indicates that it does – whether he intended to or not. He says in the interview:
I’ve got child care. I’ve got a probation officer. I’ve got all these bills. Now what am I going to do? Am I going to continue to go out to eat and put rims on my Cadillac? Or am I going to make some things happen in my life…?
Who will most people picture when they imagine someone driving a Cadillac with rims on it? Who, according to stereotypes, drives Cadillacs? A black or brown person, undoubtedly. And I am certain that it was a black or brown person that Adam himself envisioned when he made that statement. Urban dictionary is hardly a scholarly or reputable source of information, but it is useful in providing some insight into the ways that racism can be packaged within subjects that ostensibly have nothing to do with race. The first definition of Cadillac reads:
A car which is bought with crack money, that must have D’s thrown on it. Sometimes referred to as a bitch.
“Just bought a Cadillac, Throw some D’s on that bitch!”
“D’s”, in case you’re wondering, is short for “Dubs”, another term for rims. A second definition rams the point home more explicitly:
Once classy brand which my doctor neighbor owned in the 80’s but has now transformed and became popular amongst gangster wannabees…
…Cadillac brand has now become a joke since the only people who like them now are gangstas, poor blacks from the hood…
About rims:
The chief expenditure of African Americans
And:
The subject of every “crunk” rap song, along with “twunny foes”, and prostitution and strippers.
So maybe – maybe – Adam Shepard wouldn’t have been thinking about black or brown people if he had only mentioned Cadillacs, but tack on the rims bit and it’s pretty clear that he was.
Considering all of this, how should I interpret the quote above? That contrary specifically to what poor black and brown people are doing with their money, with only some “hard work” and “common sense”, anyone can achieve the American Dream.
What Shepard fails to consider is the presumption built into the ideal of the American Dream that one should be white, able-bodied, and male – as is Shepard himself. It is a presumption that rings true as we see many people, unequipped with white male privilege but exerting the same amount of – or more – hard work and common sense, unable to shatter the various glass ceilings set above them for reasons of gender, race, class, and physical ability. Interestingly enough, Barbara Ehrenreich highlights some of these disparities as they relate to race in a recent article she co-wrote for the Huffington Post. In it she writes:
The longstanding racial “wealth gap” makes African Americans particularly vulnerable to poverty when job loss strikes. In 1998, the net worth of white households on average was $100,700 higher than that of African Americans. By 2007, this gap had increased to $142,600. The Survey of Consumer Finances, which is supported by the Federal Reserve Board, collects this data every three years — and every time it has been collected, the racial wealth gap has widened. To put it another way: in 2004, for every dollar of wealth held by the typical white family, the African American family had only one 12 cents. In 2007, it had exactly a dime. So when an African American breadwinner loses a job, there are usually no savings to fall back on, no well-heeled parents to hit up, no retirement accounts to raid.
Do these statistics reflect an entire population foolishly choosing to put rims on their Cadillacs? Or do they perhaps reflect a serious socioeconomic disparity based in the institutional racism of American society? The last sentence in the above excerpt corresponds to Shepard’s ability at any time to fall back on his credit card and the wealth of his parents if and when he needed them – something he was able to take for granted because he did not, in fact, use them. That is, until he decided the experiment was over and went back to his normal life – again, a luxury that a genuinely poor person does not have.
Shepard’s Scratch Beginnings is in part a criticism of Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed, which was about her struggle (and failure) to work her way out of poverty as a Wal-Mart employee. His criticism does not consider how Ehrenreich’s experience might have been different for the fact that she was a woman. And while Ehrenreich is white, a disproportionate number of Wal-Mart employees are people of color, a fact that is related to the uneven distribution of wealth along racial lines. Those employees likely have an even more difficult time than she did.
In that Shepard is able to criticize the poor Wal-Mart employee by proxy through Ehrenreich, for her inability to achieve the American Dream as he did, and invoke the image of the poor black or brown person choosing extravagance over fiscal responsibility, he makes his white male privilege very evident. He also shows how from that position of entitlement it is easy to condemn those who do not have it – invariably women and people of color.
Finally it shows how white male privilege underpins the American Dream and how implicit within that ideal is the utterly racist, classist, and sexist assumption that it is for their own shortcomings – laziness, irresponsibility, stupidity – that anyone does not live the dream.
Interesting review. I think if you took the time to actually read my book, you would see that your way off base here. Shame. You took all this time to write a thoughtful review and you didn't even read the book.
In the end, though, you're right. It's clearly a race issue. A non-English-speaking Hispanic could never come to America and make it. Oh, wait…
It's not about whether or not someone can "make it". It's about your implication that the people who are not living the dream – those who are "putting rims on their Cadillacs (your words)" – and what that apparently says about them.
Of course there are plenty of people who make it, even against seemingly impossible odds – but that doesn't allow you to make any sort of statement against those who do not.
And everything else I've said about your privilege is fact. Care to address the psychological burden you DID not have, knowing that you always had an out if you needed it? Care to address the difference your education might've made (the education itself not the credential).
Had your book simply been about your journey, then I wouldn't have had much to say about it. But when it becomes a criticism of people's failures to do what YOU did, especially where there are race implications, then I'm going to have to call you on it, because THEY are not YOU – for all the reasons I've described.
Do I really need to read the book for these things to be true? Do you not benefit from white privilege? Would that not have made a difference, say, for ME, had I been conducting your experiment? I'm sure it would've.
I'd be more than willing to discuss this with you in greater depth if you, perhaps, do not know or understand this concept of privilege. I'm actually surprised you found my obscure blog and bothered to comment – so I'm completely in favor of any sort of dialogue between us.
And you have another option here, too. This post will be republished on a different site with higher readership -http://www.womanist-musings.com – on Monday morning. You might wish to wait until then, because there are a lot of others who I'm sure would like to weigh in. Or you can just keep it between us if that might be too intimidating.
"White privilege" or not, Adam, you have to admit that you started out with a major class privilege when you started this experiment. It's called a college education, with a major in business management. Godheval, you misidentified his privilege. The real comparison that would demonstrate your claim of "white privilege" would be to use four individuals: two black, two white, with one of each "race" being equally well educated, the other two high school graduates, or less. Another hint to Adam: most homeless people don't have a college degree.
Getting set economically has nothing to do with "white privilege". White people have an easier time, we all know that. They have more money, more networks, etc etc. We already know, but that does not stop blacks from taking care of business on their end.
There is nothing "white" about saving your money, continuing your education, not getting pregnant *(or getting anyone pregnant until you can afford it), avoiding substance abuse and working at a series of jobs until you move to a better one in time, or using the income from said jobs to develop your own business. Black folk been doing that for a long time. There is nothing "white" about such elementary basics. There are thousands of black Caribbean people coming to the US doing so every year as well. Go to Miami. Look at the black Haitians- how they hustle. They are not sitting around talkin 'bout "white privilege" they are going out and getting the job done. We desperately need more of that in the black community, and less victim mentality. When are we going to spend out energy on what is more productive?
You seem to have missed the point entirely.
Not once did I say that saving money, continuing education, or not getting pregnant were "white". Privilege has to do with access, not with personal responsibility or motivation.
You quickly gloss over the "white people have an easier time" – which is exactly what I mean by privilege. There are boundaries and obstacles set before people of color that simply DO NOT exist for white people – and I am speaking against Shepard's obvious disregard for those facts.
If it weren't for his tacit condemnation of people of color – seemingly black people in particular – in his interview, then I probably wouldn't even have written this essay.
You are correct that we need more positive and pro-active attitudes in the "black community" (that doesn't really exist, but I'll let you have that for the sake of argument). But my post is not directed at people of color. It is directed at a white establishment, and white individuals – like Adam Shepard – who assume and imply that those positive, pro-active, and productive attitudes DO NOT exist in communities of color.
Your example of the Haitians and other Caribbean people prove that racist assumption wrong. But just because there are people "making it" doesn't give white people the right to characterize those who aren't as lazy or irresponsible.
I read Shephard's interview and I don't really see anything close to tacit or overt condemnation of people of color.
His line:
"Am I going to continue to go out to eat and put rims on my Cadillac?" I see nothing wrong with. It is a fact that some people will engage more in conspicuous consumption than those more practical. Eating out is vastly more expensive than cooking your own food- that is budgeting 101.
"Rims on my Cadilac" does seem a pointless example to me, since in his "poverty gig" Shephard would have no Cadillac, but it hardly qualifies as "racism" or any disrespect towards people of color. I have heard Black rappers use the the "rims on my Cadillac" and "rims on my ride" line along with other things like dey hos, bitches, and "bling." You yourself note as to rims:
"The subject of every “crunk” rap song, along with “twunny foes”, and prostitution and strippers."
Shephard's phrasing is no worse than any of those rappers. If he was black, I don't think you would be criticizing him. And in fact the mentality and image of the rappers is part and parcel of what is holding black people back in the marketplace- thuggery, minestrelry, lack of self-control, lack of discipline, foul mouthedness, you name it. The Ku Klux Klan and the neo Nazis have a very light workload these days. No one is doing a better job of making blacks look incompetent, stupid, and shiftless than black folk themselves- and the rappers are Exhibit 'A". The black community needs exactly the OPPOSITE image and mentality if it is to advance economically.
I am black and I run a non-profit program. Every summer I hire people to help out with a summer camp. I do NOT hire black young men who show up before me like they just outta the crack house or prison with pants hanging down, butt crack showing. Hell no. Last year I got the building broken into and $680 in supplies were cleaned out, including a huge amount of snack food donated by people in the neighborhood. Those snacks were one of the keys that helped the program draw in youth. They did the tutoring, reading, whatever, then they were rewarded, and it worked. The police caught most who did it, and it wasn't white racists that robbed from their own community. Guess who? If I have to shake my head at the behavior and appearance of my own people, what do you think a white employer thinks?
And Shephard says nothing worse than is said by hard nosed black Caribbean immigrants everyday. In any case thrift is a key driver of black economic advancement. See Ivan Light's classic 'Ethnic Enterprise" – where the term "Jewmaican" and other epithets are directed towards the thrift of Caribbean immigrants. Many might have mocked them, but the "Jewmaican" is the man with money in the bank these days and several rental properties underfoot.
Do I hate this situation? Absolutely. It makes me want to throw up. meanwhile here come Asians immigrants, Haitians, Mexicans- everybody hustling like the devil, while Negroes still talking bout dey rims… fvck it!
Sorry brother.. thanks for letting me vent..
I don't know how else to explain it to you. The tacit racism is obvious for all the reasons I've stated. To say that it's "no worse than what rappers say" is again, missing the point. A rapper mentioning the rims on his Cadillac (no rapper says this, btw) is talking about it – rightfully or not – as a status symbol, something of pride.
The way Shepard says it is in a way that belittles those who would even say such a thing.
Then…your rant…about how you won't even hire black men…speaks volumes. It's sad, really, when self-hatred becomes so powerful as to manifest in our behavior towards one another. Your post makes me sad, really. And it speaks enough for itself, I think, that I don't need to say much more.
That would be another aspect of privilege, by the way – being able to count on support from your community, rather than internal belittlement. Incredible.
I encourage you to comment over on Womanist Musings – where this is cross-posted. I think some of the other visitors there would be interested in your point of view. And they probably will have more energy than I do to address the many troublesome things you've said…
http://www.womanist-musings.com/2010/04/privilege...
I will say one more thing. There is some serious irony in your words. You say:
The Ku Klux Klan and the neo Nazis have a very light workload these days. No one is doing a better job of making blacks look incompetent, stupid, and shiftless than black folk themselves
Then go on to write:
I do NOT hire black young men who show up before me like they just outta the crack house or prison with pants hanging down, butt crack showing. Hell no.
"No one is doing a better job of making blacks look incompetent, stupid, and shiftless than black folk themselves."
Indeed, "sister". Indeed. You provide case in point.
Arista,
Good points. Thank you for stepping up against The Man.
Godheval,
I just replied over at womanist-musings, but I can offer you one final point:
When I was staying at the shelter, there was a black dude who offered me this comparison between blacks and Hispanics: "Black people are like crabs in a pot," he said. "We don't like to see each other succeed, and when one does, we do what we can to try to pull him down. Hispanics aren't like that; they join together to help each other, to rise up as one unit."
Think about that while you're playing the race card.
Adam, the crab mentality idea is well-known to me, and far be it for a privileged white man to tell me about it. Since, obviously, you don't understand the meaning. As the guy said "pull each other down". I'm not trying to pull black people down; I'm trying to pull YOU and your ilk down, from your white privilege pedestals.
The "race card" is just some shit white people made up to invalidate any claims of racism. Like the stance against "political correctness" becomes the excuse to say whatever kind of immoral (and often racist) thing you want without fear of repercussion.
I'm wasting my time talking to you, and you are in no position to speak to me about these issues, since you clearly know nothing about them.
all of yall r so bitches u godheval cause u think race have to do with everything and u adam cause u had a damn credit card to fall back on what homeless person u know have a damn credit card u stupid bitch…. i think i proved my point
If your point was that you're a fucking idiot, yeah you proved it for sure.
Why is "Truth Behold" an idiot? He/she may not be as articulate as you or I in his writing style, but his point is no different than the one I made when answering Adam. If the "American Dream" presumes somehow that one must be a a ablebodied white male, then explain how so many not very well educated Asian immigrants move from poverty to middle class, often in less than a generation? A lot of them are doing better than me, and I don't resent them for it, or denigrate myself (I'm "white," if that matters) for not doing better than many of them are. The problem is, you rightly saw through Mr. Shepard's pretense of leveling the playing field, you immediately decided the main problem was "race" and "white privilege." Would a black MBA have done worse in this experiment? I don't know, and no one has tried it, yet. A college education is a class privilege, not a "white privilege."
If you think race privilege and class privilege exist separately in their own cultural vacuums, then there is a lot you don't understand about American social dynamics. Race and class are intertwined, race itself being a political tool to create class distinctions, first on the grounds that one race was human and the other less than. Then, as it pertains to whiteness, certain European immigrants were able to enroll in "whiteness" as a social category, which granted them numerous benefits that black people were not given – at the very least, to no longer be excluded from certain opportunities on the basis of their race. This is white privilege, and it correlates directly to the ability of poor whites historically to amass wealth and emerge into the middle class.
As for Asians, while you may want to make a comparison between their struggle and that of black people for the sake of neither being white or having that privilege, the black dilemma is quite unique, as no Asians are contending with the legacies of slavery and Jim Crow. Each struggle is unique. Also, if any group is next to be able to enroll in "whiteness", it will be East Asians (Chinese, Japanese, mainly), but not the Cambodians, Laotians, Indonesians of South/Southeast Asia.
Point is, you're trying to aggregate a bunch of different things and explain them all away with one stroke, rather than looking at many complex dimensions of it. You also seem to want to elevate the importance of class privilege over race privilege, which is a very white tendency, especially for those who don't want to acknowledge the institution of white supremacy because of the social responsibility and psychic weight it carries.