I would like to preface this article by saying that I'm by no means a believer that white privilege does not exist. As part of a "model minority" as an Asian-American, I am afforded benefits in expectations and institutional treatment that my black and Latino friends mostly don't receive. As an Asian, many stereotype "my people" and expect me to be very intelligent, which is not as true for myself as much as I'd like to brag. When I lived in an apartment complex in middle school, my best friends were two Haitian brothers, and it would be obvious that they would receive more skeptical looks at the movie theater and supermarket from employees and fellow shoppers. I, of course, didn't receive those looks.

I have also been a long-time supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement since its inception. This has been much to the debate and ire of my friends who adopt many of their positions from Reddit echo chambers that abhor BLM, feminists, and SJWs. The fringe and radical examples of these movements are exploited and extrapolated to the Black Lives Matter and feminist movements, but the same can be said about harsh liberal intolerance of conservatives and Trump supporters. Still, I have long feared publishing this article some will label me as a racist, but it's important to establish the dialogue.

So here we go.

White privilege implies that most white people are more privileged than underprivileged minorities. There is merit to it in the obviously unjust killings of unarmed black men like Eric Gardner, Philando Castile, and Alton Sterling. A University of Louisville and University of South Carolina study found that police fatally shoot unarmed black men at disproportionate rates than white men. The November 2015 Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) report found that Asian and white men and women earn significantly higher weekly median incomes than Hispanic and white men and women.

However, it is the tendency of the left to look at these isolated incidents and statistics and imply that correlation equals causation, that race is the sole factor leading to higher rates of police shootings, incarcerations, and lower wages. For white liberals, "checking your privilege" is a superficial sign of how progressive you are. For those who deny their privilege, they're ignorant "crackers" who just don't understand, and don't deserve to be listened to.

The problem with the liberal use of white privilege is that it puts the majority of the population on the defensive. Although not as loaded, it is a lesser form of shaming someone for being a racist, which is proven to not make them any less racist. There is little dialogue and conversation about white privilege, because the absolutism of the concept makes it so you're privileged if you're white, and disadvantaged if you aren't. This is a gross generalization, which I will go into later.

In reality, privilege is not that simple. Liberals will acknowledge that there are other social factors at play in privilege, like gender. But what is often forgotten on the left is how important class is in privilege. White privilege implies that the poor white child is more privileged than the rich black or Latino who went to private school, which is extremely dubious. A 2011 Stanford study found that the lowest 10th percentile had a four year achievement gap in education compared to their peers in the 90th percentile of wealth. According to Stanford sociologist, Sean Rearden, "Income has become a much stronger predictor [than race] of how well kids do in school."

Class is a factor liberals frankly don't talk about enough. We're okay with corporate greed, rising Obamacare premiums, and the outsourcing of blue-collared American jobs as long as the social and cultural issues are taken care of. What about the white working class, the former crux of the Democratic party that overwhelmingly voted Trump? We can denounce much of them as bigots and racists all we want, but what about the fact that in 2010, a BLS report found that blue-collared white men lost 36% of jobs in the Great Recession despite only constituting 11% of the work force? In addition, white males lost 46% of jobs in the recession. For many liberals, the white cis male is the most privileged person on the planet, but do you seriously think these blue-collared men are privileged? Can you really judge people for voting for what's most important to them: their economic interest?

If we really want to live in a post-racial society, we need to talk less about white privilege because it is divisive. A concept of privilege based on race was exactly what was used in colonial Virginia, where it was realized that a coalition of poor blacks and poor whites could destroy the ruling elite class. The slave and the poor white could not be united, they decided, even if they have more in common than not, because they'd be too dangerous. Today, it may be blasphemous to say this, but the redneck from Appalachia and the inner-city black have much more in common in their experiences than not.

Lastly, privilege manifests itself in ways other than race. I'm very privileged in the fact that I go to college, but growing up in a very poor and constantly on the move immigrant family as a kid was not easy until we settled down in high school. I couldn't afford to go to the school I go to without hefty Pell Grants, College grants, student loans, and a work-study. But I was the first in my family born in the United States and the first to be a citizen. I'm privileged beyond belief just being here.

Watching President Obama's farewell address the other day, I felt that his listing of his accomplishments and omission of his failures would be like a college student saying, "I have a 4.0 GPA, if you don't count these B's and C's I got in these classes." But one quote of his farewell address pleaded to us liberals to be less close-minded to the plight of the white working class. We fight for equality for Syrian refugees, illegal immigrants, the LGBTQ community, and underprivileged minorities, but what we've forgotten about is "the middle-aged white guy who, from the outside, may seem like he's got advantages, but has seen his world upended by economic and cultural and technological change."

If love really trumps hate, let's talk less about white privilege, and start acknowledging the struggles that unite each of us.