never doubt that people can grow
on the phone with my formerly Libertarian brother yesterday, he told me a story about going to small claims court with one of his wife's post-docs, a Pakistani woman, to make sure she was treated fairly there
and described it as "using my white male privilege for good"
something he would neither have done nor articulated 20 years ago
That highlights to me how it's very useful to give people actions that they can take.
Lots of people seem to bring an attitude of "you have white male privilege, you should feel bad about that". But "you have a higher level of privilege due your race and gender. Ideally everyone would have that level, but in the meantime you can use yours to help others".
Offer people an opportunity to help others, or an opportunity to feel bad. Guess which one they'll prefer?
Sara
jz.tusk