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White Privilege

In response to the racism still occurring in the United States.

As a white female living in a colonialist world,
I don’t know what it’s like
to step outside
and fear for my life.
Sure there’s being in the wrong place at the wrong time,
but my skin color guarantees
that the wrong place and the wrong time
won’t find me.
My smile promotes friendliness
My blue eyes mesmerize
My light complexion
gets me the job without question.
It would be easy to keep my eyes closed
and mouth shut.
After All,
my forefathers did go through all the trouble of murdering millions
of who they deemed “red skins”
so that us white folk could be free from the oppression
that King George the third had us living in.
And in this capitalist economy,
white people’s demands are supplied.
And in a system that assumes the most deserving person wins,
you’re a winner if you’re white!
And equality is a constitutional right...
I mean, after the movement,
we showed respect for our black citizens and used MLK’s name for street signs.
And we can’t have true equality, right?
We have to accept that life is just unfair...
easy to do for one who can live life without a care.
 
And speaking of easy,
I can continue to distract myself with anything else.
But my heart aches when fellow humans needlessly suffer
at the hands of other humans who have too much power.
I was once a child abused in foster care
and I cannot sit by in comfort
as people of color
continue to get murdered
while their white oppressors
get famous from media attention.
Racism is still with us,
slavery now disguised
as suckers born with poor circumstance.
“It’s not my fault I’m white!”
cry the fatally ignorant
too busy blaming to recognize their privilege;
unable to feel the suffering others live in.
Distractions. Comfort. Entitlement.
Apathy disguised as a balanced mind-set.
Individualism. The pursuit of selfish desire.
Greed. Mixed priorities.
The white person’s basket of "why this issue is of no importance to me.”
 
Recognizing our privilege as white people
is not comfortable.
And our addiction to comfort is contributing to the continuation
of injustice and oppression.
Waking up involves feeling the pain and devastation
that ignorance has been causing for generations.
So take a lesson on how to deal
and build the courage to start to feel.
Cause if anything’s to be learned from our history,
it’s that humans of different skin color are perfect examples of resiliency.
We can’t wipe the slate clean,
because it’s been perceived
that the slate belongs to us and they’re the ones making it dirty.
With peace comes unity,
And to get to peace there must be awareness of conflict
paired with a willingness to nonviolently solve it.
 
"When one chooses not to defend humanity, they begin to die inside."
And I refuse to be another corpse walking around living a lie.

(2014)

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