ON RIGHTS & PRIVILEGE & DEI

In the founding documents of the republic, all Americans are promised a number of protective and empowering rights and liberties. Among them are rights to free speech, peaceful assembly, religion, press, bearing arms, petitioning the government, due process of law, freedom from search and seizure. Also on that list is equal protection under law; rights and liberties are to be enjoyed equally by all. These rights are inalienable as they express general principles that the community is pledged to protect against undue interference on everyone’s behalf. Even if abrogated, these rights and liberties still stand and redress can be sought as contested actions can be measured against the legally binding principle. Beyond those explicit rights, of course, there is the promise that America offers a unique opportunity for individuals to achieve a better life with the benefit of those rights and liberties.

Privilege is a different kind of resource. Feminist author Peggy McIntosh defined individual privilege as “an imaginary knapsack of unearned benefits.” Privileged characteristics need not be announced or invoked; they simply are present. One form through which privilege is expressed is individual “identity markers.” In most circumstances through our history when one entered a public setting it has been more advantageous and less risky to be white (as opposed to black or brown), male (as opposed to other gender identities), heterosexual (as opposed to alternative sexual orientations), and Christian (as opposed other faith traditions or agnostic/atheist). The more boxes you check, the better off you are. One indication of the importance of such identity markers is that individuals often have sought to conceal their less advantaged categories and attempt to “pass” as a holder of one of the more advantageous markers.

In the nation at this time there is a profound tension between rights and privilege. There has been an erosion of the demographic base of traditional privilege as America has become less white and less Christian, for example. In addition, there has also been organized contestation of privilege through, for example, the Black Lives Matter Movement and the Me Too Movement. That is why Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI) is in the crosshairs of the current political onslaught. Quite simply, it threatens privilege. But DEI actually is a question: Can we create strength through acceptance and celebration of more diverse identity markers, erase the bracket around “inalienable,” broaden the circle of those who actually are full and equal partners in the American experiment? At this moment we are in the process of answering that most foundational question as a nation. It is foundational because to the extent that privilege trumps rights we do not actually have a democracy.