I am white. I am a woman. I know my privilege because of my skin color. I know the oppression I face as a woman.
The most diverse groups of people I have ever met now surround me in my hallway. Republicans are my neighbors. Democrats live behind the doors across from me. I live with people of all different colors, sexual orientations, and people from all different backgrounds.
Have Your Voice Heard: Become an Odyssey Creator
I feel like I never noticed color until I was taught about Martin Luther King Jr. in the third grade. I went to a school with people with all different incomes and different identities. I did not understand why people were forced to use separate drinking fountains than the ones of people of my color. I remember being confused about what it meant to be “white”.
I grew up in a conservative household, and while we ate dinner Fox News always played in the background, I was quizzed on American history from the moment I could talk, and I knew all my states and capitals when I was in fifth grade. My first political rally was a Bush/Cheney rally in 2004 where I played with balloons in the back with Cheney’s grandchildren.
I was raised with all these values and up until I was 16 I believed I was a conservative. It wasn’t until the Black Lives Matter Movement did I really noticed the social injustice in this country. That was the moment I realized I was privileged enough to ignore all the problems in this nation because of the color of my skin.
I was angry with myself for being ignorant. I was angry at the world.
Fast forward to the 2016 election, I spent my free time volunteering for the Bernie Sanders Campaign and multiple climate change organizations because I wanted my voice to make a difference.
I sat on election night waiting with all different people of color and sexuality and as the results of Trump came in we sat in disbelief.
Was America really voting for a racist, sexist, and homophobic candidate over someone who is overqualified for the job?
Believe me, I was never 100% for Hillary Clinton but I had to be, because as a woman who cares for the social equality for all, I could not bring myself to vote for Trump.
That night I came to the conclusion that the only way to combat white privilege is for me to talk about it. I needed to talk about my resentment of being the color I am because I did not want this privilege.
I had conversations that were tough; I wanted my friends to know I was going to be for them. I knew that even though I am a woman and I face sexism, I could be was worse off. I have faced struggles in my life that people will never understand. However, I have never been discriminated by the color of my skin and I would love to be thankful for that privilege but it makes me sick.
I went to class after the election and if felt dirty and sick. I listened to the Trump supporter next to me talk about “What a great day it was to be a straight white male”. However, the worst thing I heard was how our newly election senator was “just a walking tampon”. In that moment I was so enraged. I could not even speak for my feminist side of me because I was terrified of what they would say back to me.
I could never imagine being a woman of color hearing that. I knew these men think less of people because of their gender so I would never want to know what it felt like to be discriminated by the color of my skin.
I was angered and upset because this was not my country. We were supposed to be past this. We are taught that we were past this but here we are in 2016, dealing with the same problems we faced socially in 1916.
On November 9, 2016 I vowed to myself I would never stand by and let people talk about other human beings like that again. I will stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves. I will use my privilege to help heal this country and I will teach my white peers to do the same.
I am upset and I do not want to heal anytime soon. I know I have to though because if I do not change may never happen. I want the great America I was promised and not the “great” America I got.
