On Thursday night before Spring Break, Sullivan 1 and 3 Northside shared pizza and a discussion on the concept of privilege.
We set the language so that everyone could foster a safe, non-judgmental, and open environment during the discussion. It successfully was so. We mostly talked about interacting with others with different privileges. Most people shared personal experiences, and we came to the following conclusions:
– Never let assumptions of another person’s privileges shape your view of who that person is.
– Open dialogue is key to taking the first step in teaching others about why their behavior/words were offensive, even if that person won’t change.
– It’s ok to follow up later instead of having such open dialogue immediately after the offense. This way, both parties will be in the right mood to talk.
– Everyone is privileged in different ways.
– Privilege is relative to the environment and period in time.
– Privilege is subject to change.
We also reflected on jealousy and reactions to jealousy. Additionally, we talked about how to take responsibility for our own emotions, words, and actions in that situation.
Finally, our participants expressed great interest in having more of these kinds of conversations in the future.
