In our home, even after Darius’ graduation, three students remain—-Layla, Nia and myself. Every morning, after our daughters are dropped off at school, I’m pushing though my own set of online classes. One of them is “Multicultural Perspectives.” As I opened the file for Chap. Two this week, the assignment:”Watch the included video links about white privilege, describe your reaction and respond to two responses by your classmates.”

Because of different nationalities and age groups, some students will, undoubtedly, have never heard the term. But given our race-conscious society, its important to learn that the appearance of whiteness has translated into nearly-universal favored status in every aspect of life, if the true goal is creating tangible fairness and equality.

White privilege was first conceptualized in 1988 by Peggy McIntosh. Her essay, “Male Privilege and White Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences Through Work in Women’s Studies.” lists 50 conditions that overlook “acts of meanness” and instead, focuses on the “invisible systems conferring dominance on my group.” White privilege, as characterized in McIntosh’s essay, isn’t about being born into wealth or overtly oppressing non-whites, but about the ease and comfort with which those who happen to be white move through a society that automatically caters to their existence. For those who read through the list, learning hard truths such as,”I am never asked to speak for all the people in my racial group” and “I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to ‘the person in charge,’ I will be facing a person of my race” can be disturbing. However, being uncomfortable doesn’t negate the inequity others live through.

In my 40-odd years as a Black woman, I recognize that racism and its consequences are hard to stomach. In addition to moments in daily life, I experience its affects when white readers write me emails challenging the details of my personal history and tell me how difficult life their lives were/are, as if hundreds of years of legalized subjugation due to skin color never happened or doesn’t count. Some disparage me by saying that, because the year of my birth places me after slavery legally ended and the Civil Rights Act was signed, I don’t actually know what true racism is (!). The fact that these readers, both older and younger, were so convinced of their narrow presumptions of my reality, exemplifies the very white privilege they’re so desperate to avoid.

I haven’t watched the assigned links yet, but one of the most recent and obvious examples of white privilege are the negative reactions to one football player, San Francisco 49ers’ Colin Kaepernick, for no longer standing in salute as the National Anthem is performed before his games. “I am not going to stand up and show pride in a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kaepernick, a biracial man adopted by white parents, told reporters.

Many football fans, instead of empathizing with his paternal lineage, burned jerseys, wrote him off as “unpatriotic” or worse. Even his white birth mother, Heidi Russo, publicly chastised Kaepernick as “ignorant” and creating “shame to the very country…. who afforded you so many blessings.” Russo’s failure to recognize the hypocrisy of demanding loyalty—from a biracial man she elected not to raise, no less—-to an anthem that expressed disapproval for former slaves who fought for the British Army, earned a clapback so severe that she suspended her Twitter account.

When I submit my class assignment this weekend, Russo’s patronizing tone is a good example to use to show what white privilege looks like: the “dominance” allowing her to exercise her own 1st amendment rights, but shaming people of color who dare to do the same.

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