Understanding Privilege - When Christmas Parade Becomes Winter Parade, It's a War On Christianity

Privilege is such a loaded word.  No one wants to believe they have 'privilege' that others don't.  At least not undeserved privilege.  People want to believe that they worked for their advantages.  But this case gives an example of how privilege works and also how those with it don't even know it.

From Friday's NYTimes.

So the newish mayor of Charleston, West Virginia wanted to make the holiday event more inclusive.  So the annual Christmas parade was announced this year as the Winter Parade.

The reaction was swift  and negative and within 72 hours, Charleston had its Christmas Parade once more.

Who Supported The Mayor?
The high school band coach, whose music only included secular music like Jingle Bells
The rabbi
The Muslim community

Why Is This Privilege?

I hope I can use this situation to help explain what 'privilege' looks like.  In this case it's most directly Christian privilege.

Here are some of the reactions quoted in the article:

1. “The new mayor needs to be voted out if she does away with the Christmas parade,” read one comment on the initial Facebook post. 
2. “Christmas is all about Christ, not some winter parade.”
3. A local lawyer and newspaper columnist, Mark Sadd, said he didn’t understand why the mayor needed to show the city as more welcoming. It wasn’t like there were a lot of complaints.
4. “A Christmas parade is about as inclusive as we can get,” he said.
5. Some people thought renaming the parade was an attack on Christianity and traditions held dear in a city of 48,000 that feels more like a small town.“

1.  The new mayor needs to be voted out if she does away with the Christmas parade,” read one comment on the initial Facebook post. 

Well, the parade had not been "done away with."  The only change was the name.  I'd note here, that as a government, Charleston should not sponsor and pay for events that celebrate one particular set of  religious beliefs.  A group of private citizens, a church or collection of churches, could sponsor a Christmas parade, but not a government entity.  (There's a lot of First Amendment law on this.)

In some future (I used to think in some reachable future, but not any more) where everyone respects everyone else's background and religion equally with their own, I don't think this would be an issue.  But in the US where Muslims and Jews (particularly) are being targeted for abuse because of their religion, this is definitely not the time for a government to favor the majority religion over others.  

2.   “Christmas is all about Christ, not some winter parade.

Exactly.  And this is why the government shouldn't be sponsoring such a parade.  And a number of Christians don't like the secularization of Christmas caused by turning it over to commercial interests and government interpretation.  

3.  A local lawyer and newspaper columnist, Mark Sadd, said he didn’t understand why the mayor needed to show the city as more welcoming. It wasn’t like there were a lot of complaints.

And this is why I'm labeling this privilege.  Christians, particularly Christians who live and have always lived in a predominantly Christian community, tend not to even understand how a "Christmas Parade" isn't welcoming to say,  Jews or Muslims, or Hindus or any other non-Christians. Christmas is such a warm and fuzzy holiday, how can anyone be offended?  (Look back up to #2)  That kind of ignorance is part of the privilege.  Living in a setting where your own point of view is not only coming from your family, but is echoed at school, and overall in the community IS the very definition of privilege.  

• The privilege of having your world view echoed everywhere you go.  
• The privilege of not having to pay attention to, let alone understand, people who disagree with you.  
• The privilege of having your religious view supported by your government.  (Like swearing on a bible to take office.)
• The privilege of being able to protect that privilege when it is threatened. (As when religious Christmas is replaced with the secular Winter).  
• The privilege of not even knowing that any of this is not 'the natural way it is' but rather a privilege that others don't share.  
• The privilege of  believing that those who don't share your view shouldn't share your privilege.  
• The privilege of being so powerful that no one else even dares complain.  ("It wasn't like there were a lot of complaints.")

4.  “A Christmas parade is about as inclusive as we can get,” he said.

Dear Hindus and Muslims and Jews, welcome to your own city's "Christmas Parade."  You're welcome to join us celebrating Jesus Christ with your taxes, but don't ask for the city to sponsor a similar parade celebrating your religions.  Inclusive?

5.  Some people thought renaming the parade was an attack on Christianity and traditions held dear in a city of 48,000 that feels more like a small town.

And this is the ultimate of privilege here - leveling the playing field so that no religion is favored with tax payer money over any other religion is seen as "an attack on Christianity."  No one here is attacking Christianity, only that taxpayers are supporting it.  

The privilege is believing that one is entitled to a privilege and when that privilege is taken away in the interests of fairness and equity, it is 'an attack on Christianity."  

People with 'privilege' rarely feel privileged.  They may even get insulted when others without their privilege (of skin color, religion, sex) having more benefits than they have.  What is critical here is when someone's privilege, such as skin color, religion, or gender or sexual orientation is backed up by institutional structures - laws, courts, algorithms (red-lining was just an algorithm for how to give housing loans, well before that word was used to describe formulas for computerized decision-making).

And recognizing one's privilege seems about as hard as recognizing any other kind of addiction.  Some people get it quickly and can give up smoking or alcohol without much trouble.  Others have a much harder time of getting past denial.  Giving up privilege, though, isn't an individual decision.  It's about dismantling the structures that give certain skin colors, religions, genders, etc. governmental and societal advantage (or disadvantage.)  

Basically, I think most of the Trump true-believers are addicted to their white, Christian, male privilege.  Because all the other advantages those privileges might have afforded them in the past are slipping away from them.  

The article talks about how change has hurt West Virginia, a state that is still synonymous with coal.  Just think.  These are people who are fighting for the right to work under the horrendous working conditions of coal mines.  Doing what's slowly killing you, for many, is better than facing the uncertainty of change.  This is a monumental failure of our education systems.  But then those who control coal mines don't want their supply of workers to realize they have better and healthier work opportunities in industries that aren't destroying the planet through climate change.