What is White Privilege?

04.26.17, 04.27.17

I have white skin

and so I have a pass

I didn’t ask for the pass

But I enjoy it.

I enjoy it even when I don’t know I enjoy it.

This is white privilege.

I think about being human.

I get to think about being human.

I get to think. To contemplate. To reflect. To Enjoy.

This is white privilege.

The system is mine.

This is white privilege.

I didn’t build it.

This is white privilege.

To walk free in a system that oppresses

is not freedom.

To enjoy fruit that is not available

to those that helped produce it,

This is white privilege.

To think apologies are enough,

To think hard work is enough,

To think politics, policy and programming

are enough,

To fool yourself that you understand.

This is white privilege.

I don’t really know what I am

because of my privilege.

I am jealous of the adversity that I don’t have to face

And unaware of the adversity that exists in everything.

I am jealous of the man I have not become

And unforgiving to the child that is me.

I have the privilege of being placed at the top

in a system designed for people, by people

with white skin.

There are other systems, for other colors,

but those systems are designed by the victors.

This is white privilege.