OK, so here’s the deal:

I really hate the whole “YOU MAKE ME FEEL GUILTY FOR BEING WHITE THAT’S HORRIBLE” backlash against the anti-racism movement.

Here’s why:

1) If, after being educated on systematic and institutionalized social injustices, your response (as a privileged person) is: “OMG BUT WHAT ABOUT ME” you totally missed the point

2) If you are privileged, you aren’t a bad person. You’re just benefiting off of unfair shit.

3) We aren’t saying that you personally owned slaves, or employed chinese laborers, or forced the Native Americans on the Trail of Tears. We’re saying that you inherently benefit from all of these things, because you are white. And thus have white privilege.

4) So the point is: you basically won the fucking lottery, only instead of arbitrary prizes of money, you won the prize of “being treated as a legitimate human being who does not have to deal with racialized inequality."

5) The question you should ask yourself is not "why are you making me feel bad for something I didn’t do” and more, “why am I benefiting unfairly and what should I do about that”

6) If anything, white privilege implicates the founding fathers and history, versus people today. It says, “shit was fucked up back then and it’s STILL happening because of the way shit was fucked up years ago.”

7) Literally there is no personal responsibility other than, “why would you want to defend a system that is fucked up and based on morality that has long been proven to be problematic?”

8) So no. Privilege does not make you a bad person. It makes you a lucky person. It means you can do shit and not have to worry about things that un-privileged people have to worry about. Nobody will ever blame you for looking like a thug because you were wearing a hoodie. Nobody will ever say “me love you long time” and then attempt to coerce you into being a good little submissive schoolgirl. Nobody will ever debate your “American-ness” on the color of your skin alone.

9) These things may not be your fault personally, but you are a shitty person if you benefit from these things without recognizing the fucked up nature. Or, what’s worse, without realizing that whining about people calling this shit out is essentially saying, “stop making me feel bad about the fact that you’re mistreated. I shouldn’t have to care about other people’s human dignity because I didn’t do it.” That’s fucked up. It’s fucked up to turn it all about yourself.

10) And while we’re on the subject, turning a debate into racism into “but now I feel bad because what about the white people” is essentially white privilege in a nutshell. You’re co-opting other people’s voices in order to say, “OK BUT WHAT ABOUT ME ME ME."

we’re done here.