BLOG POST 1
Privilege, Power and Difference
Allan G Johnson
Reflection
I found this reading to be very interesting, and it really made me think, especially the section titled “What Privilege Looks Like in Everyday Life.” It didn’t take me long to think of an event in my life where I experienced white privilege. At the time, I believed my reaction was driven solely by fear, but looking back, I can see that race also played a significant role.
The part of the reading that resonated most with my experience was when Johnson states, “Whites can generally assume that when they go out in public, they won’t be challenged and asked to explain what they’re doing, nor will they be attacked by hate groups simply because of their race” (p. 28).
It was 2001, just six days after September 11, and I was about to leave for my honeymoon in Aruba. We were at Logan Airport, and there were delay after delay. Flights were just becoming operational, and this was one of the first days that some international flights were allowed to resume. The fear was unreal. We had just experienced something that had never happened on U.S. soil, and the belief that “this could never happen here” was completely shattered. Until then, I had never really questioned my personal safety in that way.
When we arrived at the airport, there was a palpable sense of fear that could be felt by everyone. The world had changed overnight. Most of the people flying that day were honeymooners like us. Eventually, we boarded our flight, only to have the SWAT team come on in full gear and tell us to get off the plane. I was so scared and hysterical. We were evacuated to the parking lot and left to decide what to do; risk flying or rent a car and drive to Florida. The other honeymooners and we decided to go for it, even joking morbidly that if we died, at least we would all be together.
Everyone around us was American, and that made us feel safer. However, when our flight was rescheduled, I remember watching everyone closely. If someone appeared to be a foreigner, we would strike up a conversation to hear what language they spoke. At the time, we were scared, but regretfully, we were also racially profiling those around us. If someone appeared to be from a Muslim culture, we would reevaluate our decision to fly. This reaction was driven by fear, but in reality, it wasn’t about a race or religion, it was bad people doing a bad thing; it could have been anyone.
We ended up missing our layover in Puerto Rico, and this is where the irrationality of our decision-making really became clear. Someone suddenly yelled that there was a flight heading to Aruba and told us to run. We boarded a tiny plane with no air conditioning. There were only three couples onboard. We never showed ID or boarding passes. The plane even had chickens on it. We had no idea if it was actually going to Aruba, what airline it was, or who was flying it, yet we boarded without hesitation.
Looking back, it is clear how freely we moved through that situation without being questioned or challenged. Johnson explains that privilege often remains invisible to those who have it, precisely because it feels normal and unremarkable. At the time, I did not recognize how whiteness shaped my experience or allowed me to be trusted and protected within a system that could have treated others very differently. Education and personal growth have helped me critically examine these assumptions, and this reflection highlights how awareness is a necessary step toward challenging systems of privilege and power in everyday life.
Tanya, I think this is such a perfect example, as stressful as it sounded to be. It is unfortunate how we relate things to another but sometimes subconsciously...we do. I think the biggest takeaway is the realization that it wasn't intended, but looking back and realizing how everything went down perhaps by what everyone looked like in that particular situation.
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