The Role of the Privileged in Reducing Inequality and Advancing Social Justice

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In an era of extreme inequality, more Americans are reckoning with and pushing back on systems that have perpetuated the extreme concentration of wealth and power that is held by this nation's white male elite. Such reckoning has led to mass confusion among the privileged about what their role is in advancing social justice. Is it about speaking up, supporting quietly in the background, or getting out of the way? How much income and wealth is enough, for themselves and their children? How do their responsibilities vary based on how many zeros are in theirs bank accounts? In what ways does big philanthropy reproduce inequality, and what alternatives exist? What additional responsibilities do those who have multiple types of privilege ? such as white men ? have in society? What can we learn from historical approaches to these questions (e.g., noblesse oblige), and from historical figures like Stanley Levinson (who was Dr. King's closest white friend and confidant during the civil rights movement) and Hermann Kallenbach (who donated 4,000 acres of land to create a refuge where he lived with Gandhi and other leaders of the nonviolent resistance movement)? When we discuss these questions, we will not seek absolute answers. Instead, we will bring our lived experience and analysis to uncover insights together. Both those who identify as privileged and those who do not are welcome in this course.