All My Privelege
What is the worst thing that you can call a white person? A Racist
And why does this evoke such a strong defensive response from white people?? The truth is often the most painful. And the truth is that a white person doesn't even have to open their mouths to benefit from white privelege. This is not to say that all white people are successful or live an easy life, but it does mean that if we don't open our mouths and make an effort to spot institutional racism and combat it, then we are in collusion with it.
In fact, I liken this to the type of geographic privelege that people in America or any 1st-world country experience. By being born in the US, I am far more likely to be born into a life of material comfort and opportunity than a person born in Kenya. And it isn't our fault. We aren't "bad" people just because we were lucky enough to be born into wealth (relative to the rest of the world), but we are lucky, and we should not forget this.
This discussion of privelege is relevant for me because I was born in the US as a white MALE.
Men, like white people, don't have to do anything in order to benefit from their privelege. We MUST actively combat the cultural, deep-seated, gendered bias that pervades our society, or we are adding to it.
Just thought of another privelege I have. Heterosexual.
So based on all my privlege, I'm basically obligated to spend my time pushing social justice...right?
