Written by Chaline Lobti
Colorado College professors Rashna Singh and Peter Wright co-authored an article titled “Imperial Privilege: On War and Violence Near and Far,” in Common Dreams, a progressive news source. This article focuses on a specific privilege that American European citizens and the North Atlantic civilization in general enjoy. This privilege is the affordability to turn off or ignore news that focuses on the tragedies befalling foreign peoples abroad.
The inspiration for writing this article for the two professors stemmed from two different influences. Professor Singh’s interest came from the fact that she identifies as an immigrant, despite having been in the U.S. for more than 35 years. Her concern for U.S. foreign policy and the devastating effects their implementation have on people outside of the U.S. was also a driving force behind her inspiration to write on this topic. Singh feels it is important that American citizens be aware of the war and violence that is sometimes funded and sanctioned by the U.S. government, and use their voting power.
For Professor Wright, his initial interest was spurred when he read Martin Luther King’s famous speech at Riverside Church in New York City where he tied racism and poverty together with the Vietnam War.
Professor Wright coined the term “imperial privilege” to highlight the U.S. as an empire and the influence of that status. It is also meant to be provocative and start conversations among American citizens to address the issue.
Both professors see this issue as a result of the racialization by the American public and government of the countries where these atrocities are committed. Singh brought up the point that Hillary Clinton has rightfully questioned Donald Trump’s rhetoric concerning Muslims, such as referring to all Muslims as terrorists, but that concern is only for the Muslims within the borders of the U.S. Singh “sees this as a type of sanctified threshold, that once you cross the borders of that threshold, you become a full-fledged person and you become important and you become someone we need to pay attention to.”
There is an issue with this mentality because it prevents Americans from seeing that they should be equally concerned for the livelihood of those in other countries as they care about the people within the borders of the U.S.
Singh believes such desensitization by the American public to the issues going on abroad is due to two reasons. The first reason is that Americans are at the imperial center where the privilege lies. This allows Americans to be unconcerned because they know there is no danger in them going out and about.
The other reason is fear. The government further established public apathy by presenting foreigners as the enemy. Wright believes another reason for the desensitization is people not knowing how to educate themselves on the issues happening around the world. “Information overload has led to people not knowing what to pay attention to and you have to work yourself to find what information is good,” Wright said.
Singh made the analogy that supporters for Hillary Clinton would not vote for her if she said black lives do not matter, but she has effectively said, in other words, that Palestinian lives do not matter. Yet, the very same voters chose to overlook this, saying that she will do better on domestic issues. There is a quick dismissal of this fallacy, which is problematic.
There is a connection between the violence that goes on in the U.S., like the police brutality, and the violence going on abroad. “We have to connect the excess militarization abroad with the growing militarization here,” Wright said. “All the movements stand in solidarity with each other and that should be the conversation.”
Both professors agree that there needs to be dialogue on this topic. There have already been good conversations on campus, and are just one of the many ways the silence on privilege can be broken.