When I was young, my father, a man who appears "black" to most, would say to me regularly that I was lucky to be born the way I was. That my "white" skin was a blessing. Back then, I did not fully comprehend the sentiment. Sure, I knew that black people were the subjects of racism throughout history, but I had grown up thinking this was much less prevalent in our society. Now that I am older, I can see that racism is still very much alive. Now, I can understand why my father would say that.

There certainly are perks of growing up white instead of black. I was never the subject of ridicule simply because of my skin color. My dad was. I was never afraid to walk outside while wearing clothes that could be considered "suspicious" such as a hooded sweatshirt. My dad was. I was never in fear for my life when I encountered police officers. My dad was. I was never the subject of a surprise because I could articulate myself well. My dad was. I was never worried about my chances of getting a job being impacted by my skin color. My dad was.

The wonders of white privilege never cease to amaze me. As a person with a mixed heritage of African-American, Native American, English, Swiss, and Scottish, and probably a few others thrown in, I had a pretty small chance of taking on my dad's skin color. He was mixed too. His mother is Swiss. But his skin color colored people's perceptions of him. I was much luckier.

That is what disgusts me. A person should never have to be thankful for the color of their skin. We should be proud and content with our skin, and not have to be grateful that we were born a certain color. I recognize that I am grateful, and that saddens me.

I hope that when I have kids one day, I won't need to explain to them that they are lucky to be pale-skinned. Every parent will tell you that they want a life for their kids that's better than the ones they had, no matter their upbringing. From my birth, I was destined to have a better chance for a better life than my dad simply because I was uninhibited in so many more ways than he.

White privilege is not a myth, or something created by "people who hate white people." It is the real result of a people of color being the subject of oppression for hundreds of years, and that oppression continuing in different ways today. Plain and simple, people who are pale-skinned don't have some of the worries that people of color do. That doesn't mean that someone who is white has less problems, it just means that they don't experience the many problems as a result of their skin color like people of color do. It is time to educate ourselves and to help others understand the roots of this term. Just maybe, things will start to change for the better when more people understand that many could worry less because they are darker-skinned.

I will be forever thankful for my mixed heritage because of the perspective it has granted me from an early age. That is my mixed privilege. My hope is that others who are not people of color can recognize just how different their life is because of the color of their skin, and can fight to let people of color one day have the same ability to be carefree.