Privilege. Before you get offended, hear me out. Privilege comes in all shapes, sizes and colors. While white privilege is the most critical in the media right now (think the malicious injustices such as police brutality, Mizzou, Yale, and unfortunately many others), many people still angrily claim that white privilege does not exist.
This stems from a radical misunderstanding of what is meant by having privilege. You are not at fault for being born with any privilege. You should not be ashamed and it does not diminish what you have accomplished, but if you acknowledge your privilege you should feel uncomfortable. I beg you to feel uncomfortable and to explore the sources of your sentiment to understand the sorrows of so many and actively fight the injustices that have fueled them.
Privileges are rights, immunities or everyday benefits that some receive at a greater advantage than others. Privilege in our country may be, but is not limited to the following characteristics, in no particular order: being white or white-passing, being a male, being an American citizen in the U.S., having suitable or large income, being heterosexual, being born cisgender, being some type of "agreeable" Christian, receiving a good education, having a stable home-life and living in a neighborhood where you feel safe.
The biggest problem I see is that people have a hard time acknowledging a privilege exists if they are the ones benefiting from it. I desperately urge us all to do some inward thinking, and before we make any criticisms or comments let's make sure our opinions are not coming from a biased point of privilege. I am NOT saying you have nothing to contribute to a conversation about gender inequality if you are male, or about racial discrimination if you are white.
What I am saying is that you have no right to believe your interpretations of such instances are perfectly sound, because they way you experience any situation is radically influenced by who you are and thus by your privileges, whether you are aware of them or not. 
I am a low-income woman of color. That does not mean I cannot be privileged in other ways. I am privileged to have been biologically equipped as the gender I identify with. I am on the heterosexual side of the spectrum and so when I speak of the ills of our heteronormative society, I have to be aware that I am not directly experiencing any of the prejudices.
There might be others who are, who are more qualified to speak about them, and I should probably listen, actually listen to them. I am privileged to be a United States citizen while so many of my beloved family and friends are not. I am close to the issue so I might sometimes feel like I can speak on their behalf, but I cannot. I can try, and in most cases I will serve them well, but I will never know what it feels like to be an undocumented student in Georgia not permitted to even apply to the state college I dreamed of and worked so hard to attend.
If I can acknowledge the vastly nuanced but important privileges I have been awarded from birth, white people need to be conscious of the institutionally ingrained and underlying privileges they receive in everyday life.
This is especially important for us Harvard students, which is a huge privilege in itself. We have countless outlets of support and endless opportunities that we have to use to become leaders that will acknowledge the privilege and hard work that got them to power and will work towards equality so that one day I can truly say that anyone willing to work for something has an opportunity of obtaining it.
We have to use our privileges to help support those who don't have them in their quest to one day obtain them and then they will no longer be called privileges but the natural-born rights of every human being.
