The Race, Ethnicity and Cultural (REC) Hall and the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) hosted their first Privilege Walks to help students understand and visualize the privileges or disadvantages they live with.
The interactive activities took place on Sept. 27 in the University Centre atrium. Students could participate in the hourly walks to consider race, gender, sexuality and ethnicity through the lens of privilege.
Privilege walks are designed to help participants understand the privileges and oppressions they have in life in relation to others and to understand their impact on people’s’ lives and social statuses. Participants were asked questions about their social status, race and sexuality and depending on their answer, would take a step forward or backward to symbolize if they were at an advantage or disadvantage in that privilege category.
Before each walk commenced, Selali Ayitey-Wallace, the REC Hall programming co-ordinator, encouraged participants to speak openly about their hardships and opinions of privilege.
According to her, the goal of the event was to establish a “concrete and tangible means that show how our interactions affect our social positions. As in, where we are in life and how we can move forward.”
Leto Koker, a first-year criminology student who participated in one of the walks, said he was curious to discover which privileges he possesses.
“It was a weird experience, separating yourself from yourself and looking at where you actually are and in perspective in regards to where other people are as well. It also helped me realize how far I am on that privilege scale, whether higher or lower than others,” he said.
Zainab Bolarinwa, a third-year statistics student, said the event was an opportunity to get involved on campus and reflect on her racial identity.
“Black women often think about privilege a lot, but I don’t. So I thought this might be a good way to help me think about the concept of privilege itself,” Bolarinwa said.
Both Bolarinwa and Koker said they liked the activity and found it useful.
“It made me think and provided me with a fresh perspective. You think you know everything, but I never questioned if what I’d do if I couldn’t walk into an accessible building,” Bolarinwa said. “Also knowing that you’re not the only one struggling and knowing that you can laugh about the things that sometimes bother you with others who understand it, is comforting.”
“It really made me connect and relate to other people. You realize you’re just not alone,” Koker said.
Hassan Al-Khairalla, the administrative co-ordinator at the REC Hall, said planning the event with Ayitey-Wallace was a spontaneous decision.
“We planned this event after doing the activity ourselves at Distress Centre Training. We didn’t know what to expect from it. We just knew it was very powerful,” Al-Khairalla said.
According to Al-Khairalla, students can benefit from understanding their privilege.
“They’re in a better place to understand the person they’re communicating with. We are everyday interacting with people, whether they’re deep or small interactions, and a lot of it comes from understanding that other person. We often make claims or judgements about that person, so being able to understand privilege, we eliminate prejudice in that sense,” he said.
Ayitey-Wallace said that participants reacted to the questions in different ways.
“They feel strong emotions from a seemingly simple exercise . . . they weren’t prepared to feel so strongly about it, because it was just so open and how much shame you tend to feel about your position. You still feel ashamed being left behind, but it was still something interesting to experience,” she said.
“Some felt really guilty when they were too far up front (in the walk). I would be closer to the front, and I was surprised with my position. But it’s always important to remember that with privilege you should encourage to lend a hand to those behind,” Al-Khairalla added.
Both Al-Khairalla and Ayitey-Wallace said they agreed that the event had a good turn out.
“We had no expectations. We were just happy we were able to get through to some people, have them come out and engage. The ultimate goal was to have the discussions and conversations carry outside the space for them and the atmosphere to talk about what they usually won’t,” Ayitey-Wallace said.
Photo by Jaya Budhia
