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Good evening. This is
Radio Free Beszel.

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I am Alphonse. Tonight:
privilege. There is

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a lot of emphasis today
about thinking about

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white privilege and other
forms of privilege.

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I want to go back and talk
about where white

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privilege began, where
it was invented,

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because white privilege is
actually something that

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was invented in the Americas
for the Americas,

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in Barbados in the 17th
century. Barbados

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was settled early in the
century by a number

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of free settlers and
10 white indentured

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servants. According to
some stories these

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indentured servants
had been abducted,

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which means effectively
they were slaves.

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Barbados was used to grow
sugarcane, making a lot

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of money for the people who
owned the land there,

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and gradually it was bought
up by a few large

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landowners, most of whom
were absentee living in

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England and having their estates
managed remotely.

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And they bought labor from
traders who came to

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the island. These traders
sold black African

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slaves and they sold white
indentured servants.

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And the landowners had
a fear. Their fear was

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that the white servants
and the black slaves

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would cooperate together
against the elites of

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the island and so they needed
a solution for this.

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One solution was the invention
of the slave

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code. Barbados had the
first slave code in

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the English-speaking
territories. In 1661 it

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encoded the differences
between the rights

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of white people and black
slaves. And the rights

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of black slaves were nil.
It explicitly says

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that someone can kill or
mutilate a black slave

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and it is no crime. There
is not even a fine.

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This code in 1696
was the basis for

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the slave code in
South Carolina.

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It is the basis for the
codes of chattel

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slavery across the
American South.

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This new distinction
based on race

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wasn't just embedded
in the slave code.

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The masters found another
way to make

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sure that the slaves
and the servants

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wouldn't work together.
And they

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called this "tush,
they can shift."

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What they did is they underfed
the black slaves

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on purpose, knowing that
not having enough food

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the black slaves would be
forced to steal what

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they did not have from
the poor whites. And

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then the two groups would
hate each other. Even

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sometimes the whites might
kill the black slaves

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so they would hate and
fear each other and

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they would never rise up
against the masters.

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This divide and conquer
strategy lasted for

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centuries. It lasted into
the Jim Crow era.

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The black historian W.E.B
du Bois explains

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that the black labor
and the white labor

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in the South during the
Jim Crow era never

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got together to rise up,
although one might

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expected that they would
have since both were

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put at the bottom of the
social totem pole.

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But he says part of the reason
this doesn't happen

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is that although both groups
were economically

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poorly off, the whites
were compensated

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with what he calls a
psychological wage.

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In other words, instead
of paying them

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more, the white land owners
would substitute

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other psychological benefits
- things like public

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deference for whites that
was not offered to

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blacks, the admission to
whites only spaces,

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better schools, jobs among
the police and more

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lenient treatment in court.
In fact white people

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could do just about anything
to black people

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and expect no legal
reprisals. Court

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system was only to
protect whites.

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The news, he says, also
would flatter the

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poor whites in comparison
to the blacks.

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And so these two groups
grew to hate and

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fear each other, each
realizing that the

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landowners could substitute
one labor for

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the other and so they hated
each other more.

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In other words, throughout
American history the

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idea of privilege for white
people was invented

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and perpetuated and propagated
and emphasized in

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order to keep poor blacks
and poor whites from

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working together in their
common interests.

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Now i want to talk about
the word privilege.

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The word privilege traditionally
refers not to the

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color of one's skin. That's
a recent development,

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traditionally for centuries
the word has primarily

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referred to wealth someone
who is privileged is

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someone who was born with
money with status social

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connections and education.
What has happened

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with talk of things like
white privilege is that

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the word privilege has pivoted
from talking about

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the elites to talking about
non-elites. You'll

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notice the people who talk
most about privilege

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are educated. They're better
off, they're members

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of the professional class.
And the people who are

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most tarred with accusations
of white privilege

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tend to be members of
the working class.

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There is another implication
of privilege which is

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that it's something extra,
something that someone

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is given that sets them apart
from others - that

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it is unequal, often unfair,
often unearned or

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undeserved, and if you look
at what is described

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often as white privilege
it is things like fair

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and equal treatment in courts
and education and

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institutions, the expectation
that one will be

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taken seriously and be
treated with respect.

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These are things that everybody
should have.

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Everyone should be respected,
everyone should

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be treated fairly by by our
institutions: but by

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calling these things privilege,
we are implying

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that in fact these are things
a few people have

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and in fact something
that can and perhaps

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should be taken away.
Rather than raising

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everybody up the implication
of the term privilege

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is that instead we should
lower everybody down.

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So the question I have is
if privilege - if white

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privilege - for so long (and
this applies to male

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privilege and any other
privilege you take you

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choose to talk about) if
privilege for so long

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has been used to divide
and rule by the elites

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who actually have privilege,
then why is it

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that all of a sudden now
talking about privilege,

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emphasizing privilege, seeking
it out in others or

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in oneself is expected to
do the opposite. This is

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Alphonse for Radio Free Beszel,
www.www.beszel.ca.

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Good night.