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On privilege: Why discomfort is a sign of progress

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Atila Roque, (/people/atila-roque/) Director, Brazil First name

26 JULY 2017

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Recently in Rio de Janeiro I had the chance to visit a membership-only club, located on the shores of the beautiful
Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. It was my rst time at the club; I was accompanying a friends daughter who plays sports
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there. I felt a combination of dazzle and discomforteven as I was treated courteously by the sta, it was as if, at any
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8/3/2017 On privilege: Why discomfort is a sign of progress / Ford Foundation

moment, I might be unmasked as someone who didnt belong. But the day was beautiful, the view inviting. The warmth
of the morning sun caressed my face. And so I relaxed, sat on the edge of the lagoon, took some photos, and paged
through a book, hoping to enjoy a few hours of reading in front of that breathtaking landscape.

Yet I could not stop thinking about my initial discomfort. It nagged at me. What had caused this feeling of displacement?
This was not my rst time in an elite space. And I'm actually accustomed to feeling like I dont t in with those kinds of
environments. Life has given me opportunities to be in places of power and privilege, where people of my originblack
and suburbanare rarely seen. The position I hold today, as director of the Ford Foundations work in Brazil, not only
opens up my access to these spaces of power but also requires a constant state of alertness about my own place of
privilege.

Still, all this experience did not help me escape the uncomfortable feeling that I was invading a space where I was not
welcome. What was this feeling about?

The club was a space reserved for those who share a deep bond based on their class and race: a place of exclusivity, for
white people of the upper middle class and a wealthy few. I thought perhaps my discomfort was due to the fact that I did
not feel "entitled"I lacked this sense of having an almost natural right to be there. I imagine it does not cross the minds
of the clubs members that they might not deserve their place there and what it has to oer: the privilege of being among
relative equals, in the midst of one of the most unequal societies in the world.

Over the nearly two hours I was there, I did not see a single black man or a black woman who was not working in a service
capacity (as a nanny or waiter, for example)except for myself. It struck me that the peacefulness of the clubthe tennis
courts and soccer elds, the swimming pools, the sailboats docked in the hangar, the tranquility and the carefree
atmosphere, the calm with which members walkedwas a product of a comfort and intimacy made possible by the
indelible bonds of privilege.

It is very good to be rich and white in Rio de Janeiro, even in moments of social and political distress. From the vantage
point of exclusive resorts, clubs, condominiums, and upscale restaurants, privilege oers a unique view of a complicated
landscape, a view without disturbance, danger, or too much noise. This is true even if just few miles away, in one of the
many favelas in the heart of the city, extreme violence is disrupting (and in some cases ending) other lives. In this city, the
epidemic of homicide requires an epidemic of indierence. The state of Rio de Janeiro sees an average of 16 homicides a
day, a vast majority of them in the favelas and other poor neighborhoods. Most of the lives lost are those of young, black
men.

Privilege is very comfortable. But ghting the kind of inequality that leads to great suering for so many will require
disrupting that privilege, and breaking down some of the barriers that enable and preserve it. About a decade ago, when
Brazils quota policy was rst implemented, it helped make higher education possible for a population of young people
who, until then, had not imagined it could be a part of their lives. The reaction was brutal: erce words of resentment and
accusations of "reverse racism," arguments that quotas contradict merit and would lead to a decline in academic quality,
and so on. We still hear those arguments today, despite the fact that student performance has proved those critics wrong.
The quota policy, and others like it, make people uncomfortableespecially people who live with privilege, and take their
advantages for granted. But these policies also make a dierence, opening up possibilities for people who, through no
fault of their own, have less privilege, and therefore less opportunity.

It is necessary to challenge the status quo and to build a new, more diverse, and inclusive kind of normal. We must open
spaces for the leadership, creativity, and beauty of the young people who live on the periphery, in the favelas and other
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neighborhoods. We must listen to the voices and demands of the young women who are reinventing political action and
the struggle for rights, and achieving successes that were unimaginable not so long ago. Movements for justice must be
movements for all. We need space for black artists, writers, directors, actors, curators, and creators, so that their voices
expand and enliven the stories we see in lm, online, and on TV. We must create the conditions for popular
entrepreneurship to ourish, so it can help reinvent the local economy and produce circles of cooperation, which have
enormous potential to generate wealth. (Anyone who has ever approached the economic life of a large favela knows what
I'm talking about.)

This will require the eort of everyone in Brazil, including the most privileged. For opportunity and rights to be more
widely shared, we need people with privilege to recognize that they are not the only ones entitled to those things, and that
their privilege can be used for the good of others. The discomfort I felt sitting at that private club was useful. Perhaps

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8/3/2017 On privilege: Why discomfort is a sign of progress / Ford Foundation

others might do well to take on some discomfort of their own, as a way to begin to recognize and confront the inequality
that ultimately does so much harm to all of humanity.

Just as important, realizing change will require that people who have been excluded and discriminated against
outsiders of all kindsare empowered to have a voice in the decisions that aect them, and in the life of their
broader society. It is only when these less privileged people are visible and active that those who have always been
protected by the invisible walls of social exclusion will recognize that they are not the only ones entitled to rights. This
will probably be uncomfortablebut discomfort is a sign of progress. Indeed, it is a precondition for it.

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Topics
Human Rights, (/ideas/equals-change-blog/by-topic/human-rights/) Racial Justice, (/ideas/equals-change-blog/by-topic/racial-
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6 Comments Ford Foundation

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Cleber Gonalves Pacheco 8 days ago

O Brasil precisa de um choque. Essas classes abastadas precisam abrir mo de alguns privilgios para que possamos ter uma vida
melhor, mais segura.
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Filipe Oliveira 5 days ago

Maravilhoso! Esse texto define bem como vrios espaos no Brasil so como bolhas, a fica difcil desenvolver empatia e conexo.
Entendemos bem aquilo que vivenciamos de olhos atentos. Muito bom trazer essa reflexo.
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Daniel-Ceert 6 days ago

Realmente, no pas o racismo estrutural e as desigualdades sociais naturalizaram os privilgios de poucos. necessrio falar mais
sobre branquitude. O que significa ser branco em um pas racista? Quais os privilgios que isso implica? Parabns pelo artigo.
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Filipe Oliveira > Daniel-Ceert 5 days ago

Ns temos que falar de racismo, no creio que precisamos falar de branquitude. Eu no entendo o significado de branquitude,
na verdade. Eu entendo o significado de privilgio histrico, que beneficia mais brancos, e outros, do que a populao negra e
com parentescos mais diretamente conectados com antepassados recentes vindos de pases Africanos. No sou negro no
senso stricto, mas compreendo, parcialmente, o racismo por conviver e trabalhar com pessoas que o reportam. muito mais
que uma diferena entre brancos e negros, uma diferena entre condies, oportunidades, e polticas pblicas. Uma
condio de mente encubada em uma redoma de vidro, como esse clube. Eu me sinto desconfortvel nesses espaos, no
necessariamente como autor do texto, mas de acordo com a minha prpria vivncia como pessoa oriunda de famlia pobre,
mesmo sendo "branco".
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Samuel Mabaso 6 days ago

About Safety & Health Promotion into our lives and communities. To show love and respect to others people as to fight against Crime,
Violence and Injury. Our children and women are being abused daily but we need a solution. To lead like Jesus Christ will be a solution
to us. Let us us talk about.
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Sonya 7 days ago

Thank you for sharing.This is true across so many different domains.
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