Thoughts on White Privilege and #BlackLivesMatter

This was originally posted on my personal Facebook account on June 2, 2020.

Privilege is worrying about property damage instead of mourning the loss of thousands of lives to injustice. Privilege is fretting about riots during this past week instead of fearing for your life every time you raise your voice or encounter law enforcement in your everyday life. Privilege is feeling guilty for being silent or complicit in a system of racism instead of being victims of hundreds of years of systemic oppression and injustice.

Nothing will change unless those with privilege and power start to listen to people of color, LGBTQ, and other marginalized groups. If we believe that #blacklivesmatter, then we must believe that black voices matter or else we are all talk, only caring about returning to the status quo that privileges us whites and not genuinely concerned with ending the injustice that people of color experience in our country every day. It’s important for me as a white, straight, male to do my part to fight against racial injustice and systematic oppression without drowning out marginalized groups' and people of color’s voices or acting as a white savior.

Here’s a great resource shared by one of my fellow students in lecture this week that has helped me find ways to use my own talents, resources, and experiences to fight for racial justice (9, 25, 53, and 56 have been great places for me to start!): https://medium.com/equality-includes-you/what-white-people-can-do-for-racial-justice-f2d18b0e0234?fbclid=IwAR3O8pbO3WTOey8f_4PfEeOhT945S7PCnORAEQq04VwJfwW-h9jTWkl7Rps

I also responded to a question in the comment section asking if worrying about "innocent people caught in the crossfire of some of the protests which have turned violent. Would you also call that privilege?":

I think in the current state of things, whites are more privileged of only having to face this type of fear and insecurity for the past week compared to people of color having to deal with fear and injustice in big and small ways every day for all of their lives. While we should be concerned for the safety of every citizen, I think it is important that we do not let a few outbursts of violence (instigated by protestors and police forces alike) shut down #blacklivesmatter and their message that as a country we need to stop pretending everyone is equal and listen to the perspectives of people of color and enact laws and real change that ends systemic racial oppression. We have spent centuries as a country focusing on protecting and catering to white culture and needs that it is time to listen to and actively include other perspectives.

In the end, I would say that white privilege is knowing that once the protests stop and COVID-19 is eradicated and if nothing were to change, our lives wouldn’t change a bit while black and other marginalized people would continue to be viewed as inferior in the laws and continue to face racial injustice in their everyday lives. Here’s a great article that has helped shape my own opinions on white privilege and what it means to me: https://www.tolerance.org/magazine/fall-2018/what-is-white-privilege-really