Being White and Privileged as Zimmerman Walks by KMA Sullivan
“white folks need to see the reality in front of us and do what we can to change it”
I'm white. White and privileged up the wing ding. Daughters of the American Revolution? Whatev. I can trace my direct line back to the Mayflower, back to William the Conqueror, back to Eleanor of Aquitaine. My grandmothers, born at the turn of the last century, both went to college. Now that's some white privilege right there. But you know what? The Zimmerman verdict? That's not someone else's problem. It's my problem.
It's my problem because my gentle black daughter who lives in South Florida has recently been verbally assaulted by her landlord with words like, "No one deserves to live with a nigger." It's my problem because a professional colleague I adore is afraid to go out of his apartment to get food at night, because the city he lives in has abandoned the safety of black residents through intentional public policy decisions.
It's my problem because a dear friend who has to drive a long distance to see his family is afraid to stop for gas because the acquittal in the Zimmerman case has effectively rendered it open season on shooting black men. It's my problem because one of my black sons is about to marry a pale-skinned redhead, and they are stared at wherever they go. It's my problem because of the large volume of white friends and acquaintances I know who think racism in this country doesn't exist, or if it does, then it is someone else's problem.
It's my problem because the elements surrounding the Zimmerman case make it clear that we are living in a system that is increasingly broken, increasingly geared to protect those already in power, while it offers a big fuck you to those who are not in power. And there doesn't seem to be the desire or the will at the top to fix it. It's my problem because I'm white and privileged, and I can do something about it.
I'll start with making sure I'm informed about the reality that surrounds me, and demand that others do the same. The next time well-meaning friends wax on about how slavery was a long time ago and we've come so far since then, I won't be quiet out of respect for them. I'll speak up out of respect for what is real, and for what impacts the lives of so many. It's time for people, white people, people of privilege, to speak up. It's well past time.
People we know, love, admire, work with, work for, care for, live with or near are demoralized, disrespected, and in danger on a daily basis as a result of racist attitudes and laws that are allowed to continue in this country. If we want to think of ourselves as moral, compassionate, even merely sensible, then us whitey white folks need to see the reality in front of us and do what we can to change it. If not for others, then we need to change it for ourselves.
All of us benefit from a society that has a functional justice system whose laws protect the life and humanity of all its citizens.
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KMA Sullivan's poetry and essays have been published or are forthcoming in Southern Humanities Review, The Rumpus, Forklift, Ohio, The Nervous Break Down, Pear Noir!, The Good Men Project, diode, and elsewhere. She has been awarded fellowships in poetry and creative nonfiction at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, and Southern Literary Seminars. She is the editor of Vinyl Poetry and the publisher at YesYes Books.
[Photo Via: Epoch Times]
If you liked this essay, you may also enjoy "Not Merely Inter-Race, Inter-Class," by Shoshone Odess. Read it here.