Nice list. So many of these are of very recent vintage. Until the 1960s, many libraries wouldn't let women get a library card without permission from either their father or their husband, depending on their marital status. So I'm grateful I can go to the library and check out any book I want without permission from my dear husband. I'm also grateful that most public libraries purge circulation records every day so that the records can't be subpoenaed when the state decides to come for me. :)
I’m grateful for the evidence that our Constitution allows for progress and that we have taken steps toward becoming a more perfect Union (slow thought it may be). The Emancipation Proclamation, votes for women, the Voting Rights act, the repeal of Jim Crow, and marriage equality are all examples.
I am a naturalized American citizen.....It may well be that the great privilege anyone has today who is an American is citizenship. That may surpass skin color.
Agree. My mom is a naturalized citizen. Eventually my grandmother got her green card, but for several years she was here illegally. She was the main caregiver for my brother and I while my parents worked; our lives would be very different and a lot harder if we didn’t have her around.
I'm Jewish, and I was born in Los Angeles to an immigrant father and US born mother just 11 years after the end of WW2. Comparing the challenges I've had to deal with, compared to theirs, makes me appreciate, every single day, how *incredibly* lucky I am to be an American.
Yes, there are lots of problems in the world, but honestly, where would you rather live?
That's a really great point the types of privilege that get brought up a lot are the kind that flatters the priors of the people who drive the discourse. We occasionally hear about class privilege, but what about urban privilege, being able to live in an urban area? Or advanced educational privilege, or the privilege of working in an industry that creates and distributes the ideas and culture of society? I feel like these privileges drive a lot more of the inequities we see in daily life than the ones that are talked about/studied the most.
Coming in two years later: one thing I became aware of after living abroad was the legal infrastructure that keeps corruption at bay. We can execute contracts and expect them to be upheld in court. We can deposit money and invest in stocks and those investments will be rigorously accounted for. The "fine print" of leases, loans, and insurance (for the most part) can be relied upon. It's not perfect, and corporations and other entities are always finding new ways to "legally" do what they "need" to do, but it makes trust possible in our society.
Nice list. So many of these are of very recent vintage. Until the 1960s, many libraries wouldn't let women get a library card without permission from either their father or their husband, depending on their marital status. So I'm grateful I can go to the library and check out any book I want without permission from my dear husband. I'm also grateful that most public libraries purge circulation records every day so that the records can't be subpoenaed when the state decides to come for me. :)
It is *amazing* to me how recently the US changed to treat women as adults.
I’m grateful for the evidence that our Constitution allows for progress and that we have taken steps toward becoming a more perfect Union (slow thought it may be). The Emancipation Proclamation, votes for women, the Voting Rights act, the repeal of Jim Crow, and marriage equality are all examples.
I am a naturalized American citizen.....It may well be that the great privilege anyone has today who is an American is citizenship. That may surpass skin color.
Agree. My mom is a naturalized citizen. Eventually my grandmother got her green card, but for several years she was here illegally. She was the main caregiver for my brother and I while my parents worked; our lives would be very different and a lot harder if we didn’t have her around.
I'm Jewish, and I was born in Los Angeles to an immigrant father and US born mother just 11 years after the end of WW2. Comparing the challenges I've had to deal with, compared to theirs, makes me appreciate, every single day, how *incredibly* lucky I am to be an American.
Yes, there are lots of problems in the world, but honestly, where would you rather live?
That's a really great point the types of privilege that get brought up a lot are the kind that flatters the priors of the people who drive the discourse. We occasionally hear about class privilege, but what about urban privilege, being able to live in an urban area? Or advanced educational privilege, or the privilege of working in an industry that creates and distributes the ideas and culture of society? I feel like these privileges drive a lot more of the inequities we see in daily life than the ones that are talked about/studied the most.
Coming in two years later: one thing I became aware of after living abroad was the legal infrastructure that keeps corruption at bay. We can execute contracts and expect them to be upheld in court. We can deposit money and invest in stocks and those investments will be rigorously accounted for. The "fine print" of leases, loans, and insurance (for the most part) can be relied upon. It's not perfect, and corporations and other entities are always finding new ways to "legally" do what they "need" to do, but it makes trust possible in our society.