I made a similar comment last night on a post that had been removed.

As a white woman, I recognize my privilege every single day that I am not scared that I will be pulled over for no reason, I was never scared that I wouldn’t have the opportunity to go to college on scholarship, I was never scared that if I went missing, nobody would look for me. 

I am not worried that my job application will be tossed because of the sound or spelling of my name.

I have never had my education or intelligence questioned because of my skin.

I have never been harassed for living in the “nice” part of town.

I have privilege.

I recognize that I had easy access to a good education in good schools with good extracurricular and academic programs which then allowed me to do well and earn a scholarship to attend a private university because of my privilege.

I recognize that everywhere I lived and went to school was predominantly white. In a class of 30 students, there were 5 students of color, 4 of them were Asian, 1 was African American.

I recognize that the high school 10 minutes away from mine was predominantly POC and they did NOT have the same access to education or extracurricular activities as I did.

I have white privilege.

I’ve been angry for a long time. I was angry when children and their families started getting locked at the border. I was angry when I saw white supremacy groups waving their flags. I was angry when my own friends and family were NOT as disgusted as I was.

I will not be silent. I will use my privilege to benefit others. I see you. I hear you. I stand with you. I can NEVER understand because I cannot live in your skin anymore than you can live in mine. But I CAN learn and listen, I can change my words and my actions. My future children will grow up acknowledging their privilege and using it in order to make this world a better place for all.

#BlackLivesMatter

Edit to add: the controversy here is when you respond with “all lives matter” or you refuse to acknowledge the existence of white privilege because you don’t want to admit that your skin color had anything to do with where you ended up. Open your eyes. Be an ally. Stop saying “all lives matter.” In fact, stop talking at all and start listening with an open mind and an open heart.