Racism
I Only Just Realised That I’m White
Imagine my surprise
It all happened so fast. There I was, innocently enjoying my morning reads, when I came across an article in which the author imagined what it would be like to have white privilege for a day.
It only took me a moment to realise that the description fit me perfectly. For example, I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been for a jog without once being eyed suspiciously. I’ve never been turned down for a job (although I’d foolishly put this down to the fact that I work hard to interview very well).
Nobody at any beach has ever asked me if I know how to swim. Elderly couples have struck up conversations with me on numerous occasions (sometimes when I’d rather they didn’t). I’ve never been refused entry to a nightclub or had an Uber driver cancel my trip when they saw me. It was so clear! I qualified for white privilege by almost every single metric in the article!
What other explanation could there be but that I’m white and simply hadn’t realised?
There have been other signs too. A couple of days ago, I was blocked by a black writer for questioning her assertion that white people are racist if their kids don’t have black friends. Or if their parents were racist (continuing to love your potentially racist…
