The Thing About Privilege

When you bathe in privilege, lather yourself with the soap suds of the power dynamics that come with that privilege and insulate yourself in echo chambers that affirm you, equality and equity will feel like oppression to you.

You will start to say things like "woke police", "it's just a joke", "stop being sensitive" and "everything isn't about race or gender or identity.”

Gaslighting, being defensive and centering yourself become your default reactions and you probably won't even realize it and if you DO realize it, you feel justified.

You will feel like you have to prove your "goodness" and become "a savior" because you can't possibly be a contributor to the issues at hand.

You will feel like problems are often isolated instead of the norm (the system). You will not think to look beyond the symptoms to understand the diagnosis.

The truth is you don't have the 20-20 vision you think you have. Shoot, none of us do.

Privilege when left unchecked makes you both nearsighted AND farsighted which ultimately affect your worldview.

The best ways to broaden your world views are to expand your lived experiences and increase what you're exposed to. As you do these things, listen more and de-center yourself.

This is how we dismantle white supremacy and systemic oppression.

Acknowledge your privilege instead of hiding behind it. Use it to create more access. Amplify voices and whatever you do, don't stay silent.