from Barry Switzer to Barbie: the Perils of Privilege

"Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple"

Barry Switzer

Barry Switzer was one of two head coaches in history to win both a superbowl & a college football national championship. (& as coach cal from KU basketball has shown us, coaching in the professional league & at the collegiate level are two different things entirely). he holds the highest winning percentage in football history. (which allows me to reconcile with his cowboys beating my steelers in the superbowl...but that's neither here nor there). 

the point in that exciting background was to add validity & context to his quote. he knows how to win, what it takes to win & more importantly, this quote demonstrates his ability to recognize that privilege factors into work ethic & achievement (AKA wins). 

comparatively, there are plenty of affluent cheer squads considerably "better" than my mesa verde squad. but what defines "better?" those granite bay & granite bay-like girls have been groomed in this sport. many of them were likely gymnasts & were born doing round off backhandsprings (if not, i'm sure mommy & daddy financed hours of private lessons to keep them at par with their peers). my squad was built from the ground up. I had to design jump drills, stretching regiments for my fliers & instill fundamentals in a collective that included a vast assortment of skill levels. they had to trust my vision & trust one another. if you ask me, they are more successful than any squad that's been bought & paid for. nothing will ever replace time, effort, dedication, passion & love. when you live for something, breathe for it & willingly make sacrifices to ensure that it takes priority, you've already accomplished more than those who just go through the motions.

this post is bigger than cheerleading, or even bigger than sports for that matter, it's about life. too many people envision success as six figures, a company jet, various vacation homes around the country, a spouse, 2.5 children & a luxury car or two filling that three car garage because that's what we're set up to equate success with. sadly, this won't be the reality tethered to the success of 99% of this country. if you weren't born into the top 1% with wealth already dancing around your last name, success for you will probably pan out differently. we're so consumed with the "you can be anything you want to be" & the "American dream," but never examine either of the two in the context of privilege.

your social & socioeconomic status is directly rooted in the situation you were born into. if you're born a cis-gender white male your life will be exponentially easier than that of your minority counterparts (both gender and racial). the founding fathers sculpted this country to your advantage with everything in favor of your interests. my sociology professor Jennifer Kattman explained it best using a monopoly analogy. white men have been playing the game much longer than women & racial minorities; therefore, they control all resources in this country & have since the beginning of its time. even if you aren't a rich white man, you still are at an advantage because society is designed for your advancement & readily accommodates you. privilege is not evil nor is it anything we should fault anyone for, it's just the circumstances we are born into. privilege isn't anything specifically said or done, but it may allow people to say or do things that other people wouldn't ever get the opportunity to say or do. as a woman i've never had to really worry about sexual encounters being considered consensual & having to ever face rape charges. when you're a woman & you're attractive it is much easier to stop a taxi, get directions, & convince someone to put the air in your tires for you. it pains me to watch performances where the white dancers have "flesh" colored tights that match the pigment of their skin tone while the darker hued girls wear the same tights looking tacky & pitiful. if the black woman who crashed her car in Detroit & approached a house seeking help had been white, would the homeowner have drawn the same conclusion that she was breaking & entering when at to his doorstep & shot her? if trayvon was trevor in a hollister hoodie, would he still be considered "suspicious?" would BET exist if other networks portrayed non-white casts? my mom was a young mom; had i not had my grandparents would i still be this educated? probably not.

*sourced from finally feminism "[privilege] It is a status that is conferred by society to certain groups, not seized by individuals, which is why it can be difficult sometimes to see one’s own privilege.  Since social status is conferred in many different ways — everything from race to geography to class — all people are both privileged and non-privileged in certain aspects of their life. Since dynamics of social status are highly dependent on situation, a person can benefit from privilege in one situation while not benefiting from it in another. It is also possible to have a situation in which a person simultaneously is the beneficiary of privilege while also being the recipient of discrimination in an area which they do not benefit from privilege." more on privilege

the problem with privilege is that we are born with it, so we do not recognize its existence if we aren't consciously trying to analyze & reflect on the crucial role it assumes in our daily lives. we need to reflect on how privilege factors into achievement & have honest dialogue about checking our privileges. it's okay to be a white male, it's okay to be a good cheerleader & it's okay to be privileged....your circumstances don't make you a bad person. you become a bad person when you think you've earned everything on your own & penalize & judge others on an uneven playing field. your success is based solely on the resources that were or were not available to you.