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Isabella Hyde

Dr. Olivas

English 1050

November 27, 2020

Privilege, Positionality, and Implicit Bias

I am a privileged white, upper-middle-class girl. I recognize this. I have grown up as a

third culture kid in Hong Kong and have friends from all over the world. I attended an

international school made up of mostly Chinese students as well as Indian, English, Korean, etc.

I was the only white student in most of my classes. I grew up a minority in Hong Kong, but a

minority that is through cultural and historical reasons on the power end of the spectrum. Despite

being a minority, I still received a lot of privileges because of my skin color and ethnicity.

Sometimes I noticed this privilege and other times it went unnoticed. One example that comes to

my mind is how I was treated by my teachers in high school. My, mostly white, teachers would

often favor me over my, mostly Asian, classmates, and would remember my name. I had

originally not noticed this as a privilege but to my peers, they believed that it was, as their names

were mispronounced or forgotten because “they all looked the same”. In all of my class photos, I

was positioned in the front and center and my friends would joke that I was the “golden white

girl” with my blonde hair and white skin. This may have been a coincidence but the recurrence

of this every year has led me to believe that I was put in this spot on purpose. My school

celebrated its diversity, yet it still gave privilege to some groups of students over others. It is

somewhat embarrassing to realize your privilege because you understand that you don’t deserve

this treatment.
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I have had the luxury of being able to travel to different countries and as part of this, I

have seen how I have been treated differently across different cultures. As a child, I would go to

mainland China to tour around. I was a young white girl with very blonde hair and I felt like

somewhat of a celebrity. The locals would want to take pictures with me and touch my hair.

Even going to restaurants my family would get special treatment as we would be escorted to the

front of the line, not because we were important in any way but because we were white. One

time when this happened I asked my parents “is this what white privilege is?” I was only about

10 years old and they said “yes”. At this point, I started to notice little things that I would

experience that were a result of my privilege and it made me embarrassed because even if I

didn’t want to be treated any differently from anyone else, I didn’t want to stand out because of

my race. Maybe this is a naive thing to think and I am still trying to understand my privilege and

how I can use it for good.

As an American in Hong Kong, I frequently get asked about politics (especially in the

last few months). A couple of years ago, I would shrug these questions away claiming that “I

don’t really care about politics.” However, a while ago, I heard someone say that disinterest in

politics is a privilege because you are not interested in changing a system that benefits you. This

caused me to truly reflect on my privilege that has shaped my positionality in politics. Now, I try

to make an active effort to research and learn about politics and social issues so that I can support

causes and take a stand in politics. People in Hong Kong position me, an American, as someone

privileged with freedom, freedom to vote, freedom of speech, etc. The past few years in Hong

Kong have been quite politically tense as the people are fighting for their freedom. A frequent

symbol of the Hong Kong protests were American flags because of the freedom that it

represents. This makes me proud of the freedom my country represents

In our society and culture now, people are very critical of every word or action that

someone says. On social media, people are unforgiving and it has created this “cancel culture” in

which a mistake that someone makes is magnified and they are shunned from society. This is one

of my fears, that I will say or do something offensive unknowingly and I will not be forgiven. A

quote that I especially like from Kimberly Foster, “If we are going to invest in letting people

know when they have stepped out of the bounds of what society finds tasteful or appropriate,

then we also need to be sure we have ways of letting people know how they can repair the harm

they have done (Thomas).” I hope that any mistakes I have made or will make can be forgiven as

I learn and grow.

We all have biases whether we like it or not. We are socialized to favor different groups

over others. Because I grew up in Hong Kong, which is such a diverse city, and have been

exposed to many different groups, I believe that my biases are much different than typical

Americans. I recognize this in and of itself may be a bias. Nonetheless, it is part of the

socialization that I have received. Media has also affected my biases and perspective. From the

cartoons I watched as a child to the Hollywood movies I watch today, there has always been a

commentary on different groups. ​Peter Pan​ is an example of a seemingly innocent film about a

forever-young boy who teaches others to fly, but it has wildly racist undertones when it depicts

the Native American characters as “savages” who communicate with monosyllables. Cartoons

and films play on and emphasize stereotypes for humor and other purposes. By reinforcing these

stereotypes it indoctrinates children watching these shows to believe the representation. I have

been impacted by these stereotypes and I do think that I have implicit biases. However, Leah

Smith says it well when she says “Just because something is different, does not mean it is bad

(Smith).”
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As I reflect both on my experiences growing up in Hong Kong I feel that bias or

preference is not something that I need to be ashamed of. Everyone has biases. To think that we

are colorblind is part of the problem. We all need to recognize that we have different

backgrounds and experiences which makes us see the world differently. Socially, we need to

make judgments about things and people and situations. It is how we cope. It is impossible to

understand all the issues, backgrounds, and experiences of people we interact with daily so we

use these social constructs to make sense and be able to cope in the world. I need to understand

what biases and preferences I have. To recognize that I am not colorblind, but I see color and it is

part of the makeup of who people are. Race, ethnicity, disability, gender, sexuality, etc are all

part of a person’s identity and how they experience the world. This has to be acknowledged and

appreciated to understand others and have more empathy for everyone. If I can recognize my

biases, I think I will be able to change them.

To combat this social inequality, there are no “win-win” situations as Giridharadas

explains (Giridharadas, 15:46-18:40). For example, “Feminism is not a win-win problem; men

are going to have to lose a lot of power and privilege (Giridharadas, 17:55-18:00).” There is no

way to create social equality without someone losing their power. Power and privileges have to

be given up for there to be equality. This is probably the most difficult part because those in

power, grasp onto their power and will do everything they can to keep hold of it. We have to be

able to sacrifice power for the greater good of equality. However, many people believe that

win-win solutions are the only acceptable way to move forward.

Scholars, Omi and Winant discuss the idea of race in their book “Racial Formation in the

United States”. In the text, Omi and Winant argue that “race” has no fixed meaning because it is

just a social construct that we have created and has evolved through history (Omi et al. 105-109).
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I agree with this statement. As humans, we want to make sense of our society and create groups

to identify ourselves with and separate from others. When we create these groups we are creating

divisions. Omi and Winant argue that these divisions are created to serve as a reason for certain

groups to stay in power and others to stay down. Racism and sexism is an example of this.

Expectations are placed on different groups and we are obliged to live by these expectations to

be accepted in society.

I have many experiences that are very different from those of my American friends.

These experiences have shaped and continue to shape my position in society. I am only 17 years

old and so I am still trying to find my position in society. I hope to learn more so I can show

more empathy. I believe as people show empathy, we can learn to not be colorblind, but we can

learn to ackn​owledge differences and understand other people's experiences which will inform

our own. I hope that as I learn I can succeed at doing anti-racism work and be a part of the effort

at making a world of equality and love.

I have learned to try and use my position as a privileged white girl to stand up and speak

out for and support other people in whatever ways I can. I hope that other people like me and

people who hold some sort of power will educate themselves and have the courage to speak up

for those that do not have the platform or are often not given a voice. I want to learn and I hope

others will be willing to teach me because I know that this is a long journey for me and the rest

of society to become better citizens of the world that are accepting of all. To become a society

that promotes social equality we cannot just be non-racist/sexist/homophobic etc, but we have to

be anti-racist/sexist, etc because this is the only way to actively combat these issues and create

social equality. I don’t know if this is attainable but we all must try. In the struggle we will learn

and grow and things will improve.

Works Cited

Giridharadas, Anand. “What It Really Takes to Change the World | Anand Giridharadas |

RSA Replay.”​YouTube,​ uploaded by RSA, 16 Jan. 2019,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpfqwAS8MhA&feature=youtu.be​.

Smith, Leah. “#Ableism.” ​Center for Disability Rights,​

http://cdrnys.org/blog/uncategorized/ableism/​.

“The Theory of Racial Formation.” ​Racial Formation in the United States,​ by Michael Omi

and Howard Winant, Routledge, 2015, pp. 105–109.

Thomas, Zoe. “What Is the Cost of 'Cancel Culture'?” ​BBC News,​ BBC, 8 Oct. 2020,

www.bbc.com/news/business-54374824​.
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Annotated Bibliography

DiAngelo, Robin J.. ​White Fragility: Why It's so Hard for White People to Talk about

Racism.​ Allen Lane, 2019.

This is a highly recommended book by many. I understand that it was written by a

respected educator and I think this book would benefit me on my journey to becoming a

better citizen of the world.

Gonchar, Michael. “26 Mini-Films for Exploring Race, Bias and Identity With Students.”

The New York Times​, The New York Times, 15 Mar. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/03/15/learning/lesson-plans/25-mini-films-for-exploring-race-bias

-and-identity-with-students.html​.

These mini-films by The New York Times seem very educational and beneficial to me in

understanding different groups and combating my biases.

Saad, Layla F. ​Me and White Supremacy: How to Recognise Your Privilege, Combat

Racism and Change the World.​ Quercus Editions Ltd., 2020.

This book is intended to make white people reflect on their biases and racist thoughts/

behaviors. I think it would help me to recognize where I need to improve and how I can

help others.
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Zayid, Maysoon. “I Got 99 Problems ... Palsy Is Just One.” ​TED,​ Dec. 2013,

www.ted.com/talks/maysoon_zayid_i_got_99_problems_palsy_is_just_one/transcript​.

This TED talk is by an Arabic woman with cerebral palsy. She discusses disability

discrimination and lack of representation. I think this is an important video to watch to

understand the disabled experience.

13th. Directed by Ava DuVernay, Netflix Studios, 2016. Netflix,

www.netflix.com/watch/80091741?trackId=13752289&tctx=04%2C1%2C​.

I have heard that it is very thought-provoking and makes a startling statement about the US

prison system. The people involved in this documentary are very esteemed as well.