White Privilege

I recently  posted this on Facebook and a friend suggested I post it on my website. It's an issue dear to my heart and it's on a lot of people's minds, so from my perspective -  

White privilege. I recently read a post about white people not being able to understand it. Experience is a key factor. If you volunteer with women in Dauphin Country Prison for over 10 years, you'll get some insights. If you pilot a Life Esteem class for 180 students for 2 years in the Harrisburg School District and see the best and brightest end up in Abraxus and other adjudicated youth programs, you'll learn more about it. If you see drug deals in the John Harris parking lot and know those kids will end up in prison, yet see drug deals in the Cedar Cliff parking lot and know if caught most will only get a slap on the wrist, you'll have some idea. Or you could teach a teen parenting class at an inner city high school in the basement with three staff people with their desks in the corners, a table wedged in the middle of the room, pipes over head and no windows. Then you could cross over to the white shore to see their teen parenting program - a fully stocked state of the art kitchen, a television tuned to Good Morning America and comfy couches for the girls to watch. Oh, and in the next room there are cribs set up and two full time staff people to watch the children while the girls are in class. When someone you love is stopped on Christmas Eve, yelled at to get out of the car, guns pointed and told to walk backwards because her car looked like one that was stolen, you know what white privilege is. My heart aches because I know what white privilege is.