Classified Files

For Yoav. And for Alison, the missing name on the cover of this book. Rat. Giamet lum zzriusc Equis alit iliquat, volore er at luptat, quat. Im verostislupt atinim ing esto ea feumsan vullan ut velestrud te ex eugait pratet pratin vel ut aliquatem zzriureetum niscilit dolenit nulput ercing ex et ad modiamet nulputat lorper sit aliquis senibh etummolessed exeros non ut lutat, volesequat, quis nim dolor aciduisci euis autat. Ut adigna feuisis do ex essit do odolortio dit ip et pratue conum augait augue magna aliquis aut veros eros nulla ad exerat ad minim non exeros diat. Ut ex er sequip ea facin henibh eugiam dolendip euguer ipsumsan ex elisisc iliquat er inibh eu feugiat luptat augiam, vel contents Preface . ix Acknowledgments . xiii The first half of the book is about understanding privilege: Introduction . 1 How to Use This Book . 4 1 This Book Probably Isn’t for Me . 5 2 The Classified Files . 15 3 Wealth = Class Privilege . 35 4 Class Privilege → Wealth . 42 5 The Fancyhood . 54 6 The Not So Level Playing Field . 63 7 Money Stories . 66 8 The Side Effects . 80 9 Playing a Supporting Role . 90 The second half of the book is about taking action: Welcome to the Taking Action Section . 94 10 Using Money For Social Change . 103 11 Giving . 110 12 Creating a Money Action Plan . 128 13 Using Privilege For Social Change . 159 14 Creating a Privilege Action Plan . 171 15 What’s Next? . 180 Resource Section . 182 Sponsors . 202 viii a part of the small percentage of people who benefit from this distribution creates a preface mass of complications and contradictions. It becomes difficult for them to figure out Resource Generation (RG) is a national non-profit organization that supports and both where they stand and how to take a stand on their beliefs. challenges young people with wealth to use their resources for social change. As RG was founded in 1996 to help young people with wealth make sense of these staff, we’ve learned that this sentence, simple as it seems, raises a bunch of ques- complications and contradictions. As RG staff, we’ve seen again and again what a tions right up front. What do you mean by wealth? By social change? What do difference this can make in their lives: how it mobilizes people to align their resources you actually do? Why do you do it? So we figured it was essential to start off with with their social change values and to take action as activists and as donors. answers to some frequently asked questions. how is this work a part of how do you define “young people with wealth”? movements for social justice? “Young people” basically refers to ages 15 to 35, though we’re not checking We believe that when people with wealth have a deep understanding of their own anyone’s ID at the door. privilege, they can play an important role in movements for social justice as both Defining what wealth means is tougher. One way to do it is through statistics. For participants and funders. example, in 2001, the wealthiest 10 percent of U.S. residents had over $119,000 in People with wealth can bring needed resources, access and connections to move- household income or over $736,000 in household assets.* ments. They can talk openly about the ways they’ve witnessed privilege working and While statistics can provide a quick definition for those who have earned or inher- why this grounds their commitment to social change. They can help name some ited money, we also use the word wealth to stand for the experiences of privilege of the destructive power dynamics around wealth and class that often chip away at that come with class status, regardless of current income. This means our definition movements from within. People with wealth can powerfully challenge others with of wealth includes people who have grown up in wealthy families but do not cur- privilege by speaking from a place of shared experience. rently have access to any money themselves. Some may inherit later. Some may never However, when people with wealth act without a deep understanding of their inherit. Some may have access to family philanthropy, giving them decision-making privilege, it can undermine their participation. They cannot open up conversations power over grants or gifts they might otherwise never be able to make on their own. about their connections and resources. They are unable to recognize their own RG has always asked that participants make the final definition for themselves patterns or to challenge others with privilege—leaving those who are the everyday whether or not they identify as a young person with wealth. targets of painful power dynamics alone in the role of pointing them out. RG hopes that by helping people with wealth gain a deeper understanding of how do you define “social change”? their own privilege and by giving them the tools they need to participate in long- We stay pretty broad with our definition of social change, and generally refer to it term change in new ways, we can be a small part of strengthening movements for as a belief in a more just distribution of resources. This isn’t because we’re unimagi- social justice. native, but because we want to defer to the visions of current movements for social, economic and environmental justice. An important part of our work is helping why focus on class when there are so many other people with privilege become more effective participants in social change by listen- types of privilege that need to be addressed? The word privilege obviously signifies much more than wealth. The unjust distribution ing more and defining less. of resources relies on globally interweaving systems of oppression—like racism and what does RG do? sexism—to keep it going. In particular, this book is both grounded in and indebted Many young people with wealth feel strongly that the current distribution of to anti-racist analyses. However, it is in no way our intention to collapse all systems of resources in the U.S. and in the world is unjust. Yet the knowledge that they are oppression into one. In this book we do our best to look at some of the ways these dif- ferent systems work. Yet we also know we are barely skimming the surface. * Based on an analysis of the Federal Reserve’s 2001 Survey of Consumer Finances. ix x We have chosen to focus on privilege through the lens of wealth and class in the One of the main ways we create this kind of space is by speaking directly to United States. These choices are based on our goals and strategies as an organiza- people’s lived experiences with privilege. We believe that the most powerful learn- tion, not because we feel that there is one type of privilege more important to ing grows from people’s own observations and first-hand experiences. So while this address than any other. We believe that helping people understand their class preface is written as “we, the RG staff,” the rest of this book is written as “we, young privilege is just a starting point for a broader understanding of oppression. people with wealth.” The truth of that voice comes from hundreds of interviews, one-on-ones and workshops with young people with wealth, as well as years of staff who creates all this stuff at rg? experience. While RG creates programs and materials specifically for young people with wealth, this stuff is created by a cross-class staff. Our analyses and strategies are how can you act so silly when this is serious work? rooted in the commitment each of us shares to movements for social justice. We Another guiding principal in our work is that we do our best to bring in the funny bring a whole range of experiences with social change issues to this work, from and even a bit of the silly when we can. Talking about class can be a pretty taboo queer youth organizing to sustainable development to reproductive rights. We also subject in the U.S., which leads most people to keep their experiences with wealth bring a whole range of life experiences with privilege and discrimination, power “classified.” We find that laughing is often the best way to break the ice and help and oppression—our work together has always drawn its greatest strength from people find the courage to look at the hard stuff. the dialogues this has inspired. We’ve also learned that understanding privilege has to happen at the level of Of course, RG is so much larger than our tiny staff of five. The understanding emotions or it never really happens at all. So we have a style that is heavier on the of power that is at the core of this book grew out of years of collaboration and experiential, storytelling side and much lighter on the statistic-y, academic side. conversations with our board and with an amazing group of activists, trainers and However, we completely rely on the scholars and activists who put the theory and all-around big-brains. No matter how busy they were, these folks were always willing research out there with academic rigor, and would be at a total loss without their to take the time to hash out the huge questions with us or give us a loving smack work. Many of these authors are listed in the Resource Section, and we also keep an when we were missing the point.

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