I am a white student who has “white privilege” and who has committed hundreds of “micro-aggressions” throughout my life due to my “ignorance” of other cultures. There. That’s what most of you want me to say. But now, please allow me to say what I really feel. I warn you, though, you may not want to hear what I have to say. I don’t care about being politically correct, and if people don’t like my opinion, so be it. I have listened to many of your opinions on matters of race and diversity, so I hope you will at least be tolerant enough to listen to mine.

Honestly, I’m sick and tired of all this politically correct talk of racial equality and white privilege and micro-aggressions. I’ve actually grown to hate it, because that’s all I hear about – don’t say this because you might offend this group of people, don’t wear that because you might offend that group of people. We’re constantly being instructed on what to say and do in order to have a more caring and inclusive community, and I don’t know about you, but I hate that. Not the part about living together in peace and equality – that’s definitely a very admirable goal – but rather, I hate having to censor every word I utter and monitor every action I make just to avoid offending someone and being branded as a racist, sexist, or whatever other -ist there is. Life is complicated enough, so why make it more complicated by making everyone over-analyze everything to find and prevent micro-aggressions? Let’s face it, there are more important things to be worrying about. Elsewhere in the world, terrorists are beheading Christians who won’t convert to Islam, homosexuals are getting arrested and even killed because of their lifestyle, “refugees” are raping women because they see women as inferior, and innocent children are being burned alive. And people here find it upsetting when someone wears a sombrero?

In reality, the micro-aggressions aren’t the problem. People are the problem. We have developed such a thin skin, taking everything personally and getting offended at the tiniest things. We’re lucky we live in a country where we have the kind of luxury to whine about people hurting our feelings. At least our feelings are all that are hurt.

What’s more is that if people are so desperate for equality, then why do they constantly point out our differences? We’re always forced to label ourselves and put ourselves into boxes based on our race, ethnicity, religion, gender, political leaning, etc. How are we supposed to achieve equality when all we see are the divisions between us? Yes, people are different. Just look around you and you will see that. But most of the differences people focus on are skin-deep. If you take away the outer layers, we’re all essentially the same; we’re all made of the same basic bones and organs, and we all share the same human DNA. In one of my favorite books, Tuesdays with Morrie, Morrie says, “If we saw each other as more alike, we might be very eager to join in one big human family in this world, and to care about that family the way we care about our own.” I think more people should adopt this attitude. Instead of being black, white, gay, straight … why can’t we all just be human and love each other for that alone?​

Katrina Drury ’19 is from Cincinnatus, New York.