Growing up, I was blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from, and become lifelong friends with, people from many different cultures and ethnic groups. Though where I’m from is a blue-collar, predominantly white town, I didn’t have to travel far to spend time with nonwhite friends. They always made me feel a part of their family and their community.
But when my friends who aren’t Caucasian would visit me, the same level of acceptance and inclusion wasn’t always given to them.
Acknowledging white privilege exists doesn’t make you a bad person. It means you’re aware of reality.
When I hear people claim that being white doesn’t provide systemic advantages, I wonder if they’ve ever had a meaningful conversation with a human being of color.
If you’re white, you don’t have to feel guilty for the privilege afforded you. You didn’t control where you were born. But it does mean you have a human duty to stand up and fight for liberty and justice for all.
The decision not to indict Darren Wilson on even one charge proved, yet again, that the system is bankrupt.
Though there are police officers who abuse their power, most are honest, hard-working citizens. I’m friends with many cops, and most of them want to simply return to their families safe. Unfortunately, the minority of corrupt ones results in the word “police” being a synonym for “distrust” and “corruption” for many. Understandably so.
I don’t know what it’s like to be racially profiled to any meaningful degree. If you’re reading this and you’re white, you don’t either. The closest you can be to it is to be with a friend or loved one as he or she experiences it. If you’ve been in that position, I hope you seek justice. But sitting idly by and saying nothing in the face of injustice and inhumanity is the same as condoning the actions.
We have to prevent another unarmed black man from being murdered by a police officer. We can prevent store clerks from looking out of the corners of their eyes at our friends. But change must come from within the system. And we must acknowledge we are the system.
— Alexander Hallett, Milwaukee
