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In this second video this week, I want to talk about privilege.

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The definition of privilege is social advantages or benefits that certain people hold based on their locations in a social hierarchy, so in levels of social privilege.

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For example, I have certain benefits or privileges based on my identities.

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so I am white I come from a family with enough money to be comfortable growing up I have

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graduated from university and I'm also from the United States I have a United States passport

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and that makes it very easy for me to travel places I also speak English fluently and that

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is something that really has helped me get ahead in the world as well the thing about privilege

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is it's something that we're usually unaware of until it's pointed out to us. And it can

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sometimes be uncomfortable to talk about the privileges that we hold. I know when I first

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heard about privilege and had friends and professors talk with me about privilege in

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university, I felt this sense of guilt and I felt immediately like I wanted to justify myself. I

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wanted to say, you know, maybe I have privilege, but I've earned what I have. I have worked hard

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for the things I have. And I think it's important to point out that privilege, saying that I have

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privilege doesn't mean that I haven't worked for what I have. And it also doesn't mean that I

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haven't struggled or faced any difficulty in my life, because I definitely have faced difficulty.

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I've had some really hard times in my life. But what privilege does mean, and the concept of

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privilege points out is the reality of the system in which we live. The system in which we are

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living, the societal structure, doesn't give everyone the same opportunities that I've had.

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I do have benefits that I've done nothing to earn just by virtue of the fact, again, that I am white,

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that I grew up in a middle-class family, that I am from the United States. I did nothing to be

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born in the United States and yet because I was born in the United States I had so many benefits

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that were given to me almost automatically. Something that it's important to talk about

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when it comes to privilege in my opinion is intersectionality. So intersectionality is a

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theory that was originally come up with by a woman named Kimberly Crenshaw and what intersectionality

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says is that we must look at combined experiences of privilege and oppression. So intersectionality

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says that everyone's experience of privilege and oppression is unique. It's unique from person to

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person. For example, a gay Latino man's experience of oppression is going to be different and unique

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to a straight black woman's experience of oppression. And that's not to say that one is

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more difficult or easier than the other, intersectionality says that it is not a

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simple addition and subtraction. It's not a math equation. It just means that we have to take into

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account all of someone's identity and experiences before we can say how they've been affected by

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privilege and oppression. You may be asking, why is this important? This is important because

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it's important to understand the realities of the world that we live in, of the system that we are

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living under, right? We live and work in a society and in order to break down these injustices

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and really fight to create a more fair future and society, it's important that we are completely

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aware of the ways in which our society is affecting both ourselves and others who are

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similar to or different from us.