Austrian Privilege Checklist

A few nights ago, I went out to dinner with some of the other Fulbright combined grantees (after our waltzing lessons -- yes, I'm going to a real Wiener ball at the end of the month!). We got to talking about lesson plans, and one of the other TAs mentioned that she's led some pretty successful lessons using Peggy McIntosh's white privilege checklist. Her kids, though, mostly well-to-do Austrians without migration backgrounds*, weren't really getting how this all relates to Austria. "But there aren't that many black people in Austria," they said. "It's not the same."

No, it's not the same. Which is why, taking my cue from McIntosh's original article, a list of religious privileges I found on the Internet, and the experiences of myself and my students, I've generated this checklist of Austrian privileges:

1. Legal and school holidays here in Austria correspond to my family's cultural and religious holidays. I never have to miss school or work because of a religious celebration.
2. The language I speak at home is also taught in my school, and my skills in that language are recognized as an important qualification here in Austria.
3. When I give out my name to a public official or company representative, I never have to repeat it multiple times or spell it out.
4. I can be sure that other people are knowledgeable about the holidays of my religion and will greet me with an appropriate holiday greeting.
5. My religious holidays are publicly acknowledged in my school, workplace, and in the public sphere in general. It is easy for me to get into the holiday spirit, because it feels like the entire country is celebrating with me.
6. No one assumes that I am not an Austrian citizen on the basis of my background, name or appearance.
7. No one assumes that I do not speak German well on the basis of my background, name or appearance.
8. I can speak my family's language in public without encountering hostility or feeling afraid.** 
9. I can wear clothes that correspond to my cultural and religious beliefs, and no one will assume that I am backwards or oppressed.
10. I can wear clothes that correspond to my cultural and religious beliefs without feeling discriminated against or being forbidden to do certain things.***
11. When I tell people that I am from Vienna or from Austria, I never get the question, "But where are you really from?"
12. When learning about Austrian history, people of my cultural background are portrayed as the "us," not the "them."
13. No major political party seeks to gain votes by insinuating that people like me have no place in Austria.
14. Advertisements and TV shows made in Austria feature many people with my background.
15. My religion has houses of worship all over Austria. If I am traveling in another part of the country, I can be reasonably sure of finding a place to practice my religion.
16. If people of my religion want to build a new house of worship in a certain place, we can be reasonably sure we will not encounter hostility.
17. When out in public, I have never been stopped by the police and asked for documents proving I am a lawful resident of Austria.****
18. No one assumes that I am more likely to break the law because of my background.
19. I can talk openly about my religious beliefs without worrying about how it will be perceived by others.
20. When I express an opinion about a social issue, my beliefs are viewed as my own and not as a result of my religious or cultural background.

* I hate this phrasing. So much.

** I went to a weekend seminar with a girl from the Uni Wien's Frauenreferat who grew up in Serbia but often visited her father who worked and lived in Vienna. She told us about how she always hated riding the U-Bahn growing up, because she always had the feeling that people were staring at her and commenting about the fact that she was speaking Serbian.

*** Probably the most awful account of discrimination in Austria -- and anywhere, really -- I've heard came from one of my students. I was talking with a group of three 16-year-olds about sports, and one of the girls said that she really enjoyed doing karate. "But I can't do it anymore," she said. "When I turned 13, they wouldn't let me go anymore." "Why not?" I asked. "Because I wear the hijab," she said. "And you're not allowed to do karate in a hijab." Right.

**** My (German) roommate told me about how she was on the U-Bahn the other day when the police came onto the train, pulled out five black men, and asked them for their papers. "Hello!" she wanted to say, "I'm not Austrian, either! Do you want to see my papers?!"