Using Your Privilege for Good

by Sydni Jackson

During our Ambassador Monthly Meeting in March we learned about using our privilege for good with Dr. Laura Holt from UMSL Counseling Services. We did an exercise to demonstrate privilege. In this exercise, some students were given masks to wear while the entire group was presented a problem to solve. Students with masks could only speak to the group to help solve the problem if they were told they could speak by someone else without a mask. After the exercise the people with the masks shared how it felt to have to be given

permission to speak. This exercise demonstrates that many times in our society some voices are valued over others. It is the responsibility of those (who by no fault of their own) may have more privilege than others to look out for others and make sure they are given spaces for their voices to be heard.

Having privilege does not make anyone a bad person and if someone is privileged it does not mean that their life will come without hardships. There are many different things in life that can make someone more privileged than others, and those things go beyond race, sexuality, and gender.

UMSL Counseling Services has a Social Justice Library on their website. It has articles and videos that deal with different aspects of privilege. You can further explore the topic of privilege and social justice on their website at www.umsl.edu/services/counser/SocialJustice.html