Essay On Check Your Privilege

Check Your Privilege: Journal Number One

Privilege. The one word to depict how social inequality is portrayed in the world. Walking into a simple store can be overwhelming for many individuals due to the lack of resources that appeal to their minority group. A store may not be equipped with the proper equipment for a disabled person to shop at the store. An individual of a colour may be racially profiled at the store by another customer. An individual filling in an application form at the store may struggle to check off what gender they are. With the illustrated examples above, privilege plays an astounding role in our society. Though many of us are unaware of due the privilege we ourselves have.

So let’s ask ourselves who has privilege in today’s society? The answer will always differ between individuals, based on their social class, country, occupation, gender,

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who thought discrimination in the Aboriginal community was over. She went on to say that Aboriginal people in Canada were luckier than the rest of Canadian society, because they were “exempted from tuition.” Which is inaccurate. The Federal Government of Canada provides tuition, traveling costs and living expenses only to some Aboriginal students in Canada (Goar, 2012). Usually First Nations and Inuit Students are eligible. While Non-Status First Nations and Metis students were excluded of having their tuition and other services covered by the Federal Government (Goar, 2012). Discrimination is still an underlying issue in the Aboriginal community. 40% of women in Aboriginal communities over the age of twenty-five have not completed highschool (Cheshire, 2015) and half of the children living in Aboriginal communities live in poverty (Hildebrandt, 2013). Just because we do not hear or see of racism, discrimination and privilege at times, does not mean it is not