I created another crowdsourced list with white (hearing and deaf) interpreters' immense assistance to craft the role of white privilege in the interpreting profession list. Because often their white privilege has gone unchecked that brings issues for everyone involved.

1. David A. Player
Crowdsourced
Dear White (Deaf, CODA, & Hearing) Interpreters,
Do you always want to know how your white privilege in interpreting profession works?
Here’s the list below.
1. As a white interpreter, I get judged on my skills not on my skin color. My skills
aren’t in doubt until I show that I don’t have them.
2. As a white interpreter, I don’t have to worry about a person treating me differently
because of my race. I am accepted most places I go.
3. As a white interpreter, I am offered more opportunities and assignments.
4. As a white person, I don’t experience racism everyday.
5. While interpreting, I don’t worry that the person in front of me will miro-aggress
me based on their biases about race.
6. When giving feedback to a colleague, I don’t have to worry about them not listening to
it or getting defensive. I am not the angry white interpreter.
7. In my daily life and at work, I don’t experience microaggression because of my
race.
8. As a white interpreter, people don’t think I got hired because I need to fill some
diversity quota.
9. As a white interpreter, I have an easier time moving up the career ladder and I
have more opportunities for mentorships. I don’t have to work twice as hard as
my colleagues to prove I am good enough.
10.As a white interpreter I get judged as an individual and not as a representation
for my whole racial group. I don’t have to worry that my mistakes will negatively
impact other white interpreters.
11.As a white interpreter, I have never been asked to speak for my racial group.
12.If a client isn’t behaving appropriately, I am not the “angry white woman” for
saying something to them or reporting then. I also get believed and not
gaslighted into believing I was mistaken at what happened.
13.As a white interpreter, I never had to sit through an assignment where someone
was talking negatively about my race.
14.As a white interpreter, I never have to worry about my safety because the
person(s) in the assignment were bigots.
15.As a white interpreter, I don’t get pick to only do high visible assignments base
on my race (i.e. MLK events) and not asked to do other high visible assignments
(i.e. comedian).

2. 16.As a white interpreter, I don’t have to code switch spoken English or to sound
more white to “sound intelligent” when going from ASL to English. How I speak is
by default how “intelligent” people sound.
17.As a white interpreter, no one has ever been surprised by how well-spoken I am.
I have never had anyone tell me I am well-spoken for being white.
18.As a white interpreter, I have never had someone jump in to take over because
they think I didn’t get it when I am waiting for the whole message before
producing my interpretation. There is always the assumption that I am getting it
until I ask for help.
19.As a white interpreter, I never had anyone constantly correct me while
interpreting because they didn’t think my word or sign choices weren’t the right
one.
20.As a white interpreter, I have had people comment on my hair style not being
appropriate. I have never had anyone comment on my clothes not being
professional.
21.As a white interpreter, my teachers in my interpreting program all looked like me
and so did most of my classmates.
22.As a white interpreter, I don’t have to think about my race on a daily basis and
how it will impact me professionally. There aren’t barriers because of my race.
23.As a white interpreter, I have never been asked to leave an assignment because
of my race.
24.White interpreters are often more inclined to offer formal or informal mentoring
services to white interpreting students. They feel a sense of familiarity and
camaraderie (bias), prompting them to share their phone number and ongoing
support. When working with black ITP students they may tend to keep a more
professional boundary and distance, assuming the intern is working with black
mentors or that if they need help, they’ll ask.
25.White interpreters may go above and beyond praising a black interpreting
student or colleague to communicate allyship, to the point of coming across as
ingenuine and condescending.
26.White interpreters will bring up race issues or let the black interpreter know that
they’re “not racist” while on the job in order to make themselves look and feel
good, while creating a feeling of discomfort for the black interpreter who is
focused on the job.
27.There has long been a standard of “black attire only” no matter the interpreters’
skin color or what the preferences are of the consumers. The default is to a white
interpreter standard and expectation.
28.Formal training in ITPs focus on white interpreters and the white Deaf
community. There is little to no education and discussion on cultural differences
within the Black and white deaf communities (and other communities of Color

3. within the deaf community). [I was most fortunate to have Black professor in my
ITP but the syllabus and curriculum was white-centric and we could only learn
from the professor’s experiential anecdotes.]
29.When an agency reaches out to a white interpreter for recommendations, they
often only suggest white colleagues, only thinking of recommending black
colleagues for jobs that specifically call for a black interpreter.
30.White interpreters accept gigs that should be filled by black interpreters and claim
that the agency couldn’t find anyone, although the white interpreter and the
agency only made minimal effort to find an appropriate interpreter.
31.Black interpreters and Black deaf folx are not brought in as experts on anything
except racial-related issues and sometimes not even for that! White interpreters
are the experts on everything.
32.Similar to other points made above, the white interpreter is always the default.
Regardless of the event content, the first points of contact are white interpreters.
Without cause or reasonable justification for that decision.
33.White interpreters often question whether racism exists, which shows their
privilege of not having to live with racism every single day. And yet, Black
interpreters often have to work with them as a team during assignments. Talk
about oppression within oppression.
34.Gaslighting is a widespread tactic in the interpreting profession. “Nah, that is not
racist. No, we are not racists. Stop talking about racism all the time. Just support
each other and move on.”
35.Black interpreters often have to put on a front as teaching professionals when
white interpreters ask them racist questions such as: “Are long nails allowed?”
a. This shows that Black interpreters have become accustomed to tolerating
racism in their profession for the sake of maintaining their
“professionalism”. As advancing professionals, they do not feel like they
have the space to call out white interpreters for their racist comments.
Oftentimes, they feel like they have to choose between tolerating racism
and advancing further in their career. “Befriending white interpreters” to
get more job opportunities.
According to the Vygotskian theory of language acquisition and cultural mediation,
“language is not a tool that can be simply defined in the same way for all people and
cultures. [For instance,] the same word can hold a completely different meaning,
depending on the language in which it is used” (Rublik, 2017). Click on it if you want to
read Natalie Rublik’s paper.

4. 36.During interpreting workshops, there is virtually no space for discussion on how
culture influences language and vice versa. Interpreting programs are white-
centric. Interpreters are taught how to communicate in the predominant culture -
the White culture without any consideration of how to communicate in
marginalized communities, which are the populations that experience the most
severe forms of language deprivation.
a. Here is a real-life example: At a nationwide workshop for interpreters by a
large interpreting company, a Black Deaf interpreter brought up their
concerns during a discussion on how to translate hearing idioms. They
shared with the audience that the discussion was rather focused on how
to interpret the said idiom for white Deaf audience, which in this case, the
interpretation would not come across as effective for the Black Deaf
audience since there was a cultural gap in the translation. The white Deaf
facilitators completely disregarded their concerns and moved on, as if their
perspective did not warrant further discussion. The Black Deaf interpreter
was the only Black interpreter in the workshop. How is this acceptable?
For interpreters to ignore the role cultures play in languages? As the very
professionals who are supposed to be responsible to mediate between
source languages and target languages, thus bridging the communication
between both parties? In this sense, white sign language interpreters do
not value languages the people of their race do not speak. Their white
privilege tells them that languages have nothing to do with cultures; and
that cultures do not shape languages.