Transcript Understanding Privilege: How Issues of Privilege Color the

Recognizing Privilege:
How Our Background Can Change
the Way We Work on Policy
PLAN Fall Institute 2011
Thao Nguyen, Senior Outreach Manager
National Women’s Law Center
Privilege Exercise
How did it feel to do that exercise?
How do you feel about where you were
standing?
What do you think this means about
the way you examine, advocate for,
and communicate about policy issues
that you work on?
Why Are We Talking About This?
What We’ll Be Doing
 Privilege Exercise
 Looking at a historical case study
 Talk about using a racial equity impact
analysis
 Go through a more recent case study in
groups
 Discuss how to bring this to our organizations
Case Study: The GI Bill

Created in 1944 by President Roosevelt for World War
II veterans.

The GI Bill’s most famous provisions included:
 Low interest, zero down payment home loans for servicemen
 Provided tuition for education and technical training (veterans
accounted for 49 percent of college admissions at the
program’s peak).

Because of the GI Bill, 7.8 million World War II veterans had
participated in an education or training program and 2.4 million
veterans had home loans backed by the Veterans' Administration
(VA).
Philip’s Story
Child Born
Right After
WWII
Father’s
Status
GI Bill: FHA
& VA loans
Consequences
for Child’s
Education
Consequences
for Child’s
Well-being in
Adulthood
Low-income,
White
White
veteran, high
school
diploma, from
Philadelphia
Able to use
low-interest
mortgage
provisions to
move family
from public
housing to
segregated
suburban
home ownership
Family borrowed
from home equity
to support child’s
college education
(first in family to
go to college)
Philip gets
professional
job, buys own
house,
inherits
appreciated
house
when
father
dies
Thomas’s Story
Child Born
Right After
WWII
Father’s
Status
GI Bill: FHA
& VA loans
Consequences
for Child’s
Education
Consequences
for Child’s
Well-being in
Adulthood
Low-income,
Black
Black
veteran, high
school
diploma, from
Philadelphia
Could not access
home loan b/c of
racially-restrictive
underwriting
criteria; family
remained in rental
housing in the city
Family could not
afford to send
child to college;
high school
diploma is from
under-resourced
segregated school
Thomas works
in minimum
wage jobs,
continues to
live in family
home,
considers
joining the
Army, has to
borrow $
when father
dies to give
him decent
funeral
Juan’s Story
Child Born
Right After
WWII
Father’s
Status
GI Bill: FHA
& VA loans
Consequences
for Child’s
Education
Consequences
for Child’s
Well-being in
Adulthood
Low-income,
Latino
Latino
veteran, high
school
diploma, from
Texas
Could not access
home loan b/c of
racially-restrictive
underwriting
criteria; family
remained in rural
rental housing
Family could not
afford to send
child to college;
high school
diploma is from
under-resourced
language
segregated and
racially
segregated
school
Juan works
in minimum
wage jobs,
continues to
live in family
home,
marries
newcomer
Latina, sends
part of
family’s limited
income to her
extended family
in Mexico
Fast Forward to Today…
Philip’s Children:
Thomas’ and Juan’s Children:
Philip gives children his father’s
appreciated house
They have no houses to
inherit
They live in thriving communities
They live in disinvested communities
Their college education’s paid
by home equity
At work, they complete college on work study and
student loans, with subsequent starting debts to
pay back
Philip establishes trust fund
for grandchildren
Thomas and Juan have few personal assets to leave
grandchildren
How to tackle the problem, rather
than becoming the problem…
•
Makes the case differently
•
Shapes the message differently
•
Does the actual work differently
What’s different about work that
uses an embedded
racial inequities lens?
Where We Might Be…
• Divisive, rhetorical, and individually focused
messages
• Across the board aggregated data or quick
assumptions on the basis of simple
disaggregation
• Typical focus on the individual
• Generic, across-the-board outcomes
• Color-blind approach
• Good people with good intentions
Where We Want to Be
Leading with values that unite instead of divide; bundling
solutions with problem descriptions; leading with structural and
embedded issues
Data are always disaggregated by race and deeply analyzed
Focus on structural explanations for racial disparities (i.e., polices
and practices)
Equitable outcomes
Race-informed approach
Assessing our capacity to do work that uses an embedded
racial inequities lens
Do we have the right competencies? Are we making the right investments? Does our
organization operate in ways that eliminate embedded racial inequities?
Racial Equity Impact Analysis
 Who are the racial / ethnic groups affected by the policy /
practice / decision, and are they at the table?
 How will the policy / practice / decision affect each group?
 How will the policy / practice / decision be perceived by
each group?
 Does the policy / practice / decision ignore or worsen
existing disparities, or produce other unintended
consequences?
 Based on the above responses, what revisions are
needed in the policy / practice / decision under
discussion?
Putting it to practice
Let’s Talk About the Mandatory HPV
Vaccine Law in Washington, DC
 The DC City Council passed a law requiring all girls in
DC public schools to get the HPV Vaccine before
entering 6th grade.
 Prominent Washington Post writer issued scathing
editorial opposing the plan; wrote that mandate implies
that girls of color are promiscuous and parents of color
are irresponsible.
 Only DC and Virginia have HPV requirements for school
attendance and Virginia tried to rescind theirs; fast
tracked as compared other mandatory vaccines.
A Plan for a D.C. Do-Over
 Presuming the HPV Vaccine furthers the
important public health goal of reducing cervical
cancer disparities, what could the DC Council
have done to get community buy-in?
Please put aside the serious controversy on the safety
of the Vaccine for now.
 What would be some key factors making sure
that parents accepted and girls received the
Vaccine?
Your Plan Should Include…
What are your potential audiences? Who
do you need to influence?
How do you reach them, keeping in mind
limited resources?
What are some of your key messages?
Who are the best messengers?
Now, about bringing it home…
The Difficult Question
How can we start talking about
racial, economic, and other
inequity issues at our
organizations when we are
working on policy issues?
RESOURCES
Race Matters Toolkit, by Annie E. Casey
http://www.aecf.org/knowledgecenter/publi
cationsseries/racematters.aspx
Racial Equity Impact Toolkit, by Applied
Research Center
http://www.arc.org/content/view/744/189/
More resources!
http://www.racialequity.org/resources.html