Dr Zuleyka Zevallos

#WhitePrivilege is NOT White people saying they understand racism exists; it is NOT act of contrition of saying "sorry about my privilege"

#WhitePrivilege is White people recognising that Whiteness is set up as "morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal..."

#WhitePrivilege is "when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow 'them' to be more like 'us.'" Let's unpack this.

Even in their pursuit of equity, White people think #POC should be more like what White people consider to be equitable and just....

....Rather than considering POC's needs, interests, goals, history, knowledges & values of what is equitable & just from #POC point of view

Back to NDT for a minute: #NDTMeetScienceTwitter is exactly that: White people making demands of a Black man for White people's interests.

#WhitePrivilege is identifying & rectifying tacit & overt forms of power that White people have, regardless of their social standing.

That means White women, like McIntosh, need to recognise that despite their career hurdles, they have greater social power than a Black man.

White men and women demand NDT yield to their expectations because they don't "see" what he does for Black scientists in his field & beyond.

That's a manifestation of #WhitePrivilege: White people aren't hampered by race so they don't understand pressures on few #POC leaders.

#WhitePrivilege is not just about being in a "favoured state, whether earned or conferred by birth or luck." It is about power & dominance.

#WhitePrivilege is a special form of cultural power – it is the “permission to escape or to dominate.”

I.e. White people can opt out of race discussions; they can choose to see racism or not; they can work to understand Whiteness or deny it.

White people can use their #WhitePrivilege to consciously discriminate or unconsiously increase racism. #NDTMeetScienceTwitter chose latter.

To chastise one of few public Black scientists with international platform based on misinformation of his use of fame= #WhitePrivilege.

#WhitePrivilege is about reframing equity discussion AS WELL AS a call to action. "Describing #WhitePrivilege makes one newly accounable..."

1/2 "As we in Women’s Studies work to reveal male privilege and ask men to give up some of their power..."

2/2 "so one who writes about #WhitePrivilege must ask, “Having described it, what will I do to lessen or end it?” <<White people need to act

All those White women & men using #NDTMeetScienceTwitter ignore their #WhitePrivilege & used this as opportunity to let race go unexamined.

It's not that NDT is beyond reproach, no one is, it's that anti-Black dynamics matter as well as what's expected of Black people in science.

Moreover, #NDTMeetScienceTwitter is yet another example where White "allies" deploy their Whiteness, just like SciMarch. #marginsci

1/2 Includes the same White women & men who say they are "intersectional feminists"* but are relishing opportunity to promote themselves

2/2 and gleefully skewering a Black scientist under cloak of #scicomm. White people jump on any opportunity to capitalise on racism. STOP.

*Also White people can't annoint themselves "intersectional feminists" -intersectionality is not an excuse for White women to ignore race.

#NDTMeetScienceTwitter is functioning very differently than #BillMeetScienceTwitter & has different race dynamics. This is troubling.

Asking a White male personality for attention & recognition is very different than demanding professional Black male scientist for the same

Black scientists have to overcome systemic barriers in education & in life to get a PhD. More service is asked of them on equity & diversity

1/2 Black scientists have at least twice the emotional labour: mentoring Black junior scholars above their usual supervision workload...

2/2 ...And the emotional "#POC of colour tax" of having to educate White people on racism at the same time as dealing with racism in life.

1/2 Black men *should* give back; & they have relatively* less to deal with than Black women & femmes & other Black gender minorities.