Today’s double journal entry activity was so powerful. I learned a lot from the article, but I learned so much more from my colleague’s personal insights and experiences. The article states “I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible system conferring dominance on my group”. WOW! I had a hard pill to swallow here. Being a compassionate white girl didn’t disqualify me from having white privilege and being part of an oppressive system. I have looked at my personal struggles. My father is an alcoholic and my mother died of cancer when I was 13. When people talked about white privilege, I didn’t feel so privledged with these struggles.

But now I realize that these struggles would have been compounded by racism and discrimination. Insult to injury. However, minorities need to avoid assuming white privilege does not guarantee a perfect life. We all struggle. We all have our stories. We all deserve respect.