Privilege = shit you don't have to put up with

[Burma Jones]

183. Here are but a few examples of White Male privilege from my own experience.....

Getting pulled over by Houston Cops for doing 80 in a 55 back when I was 23, I was drunk and had a 9mm Beretta on the passenger seat, it was my Mom's car, she had a different last name than me and I had an out of state license. I got a warning........

Being caught four or five times with "youthful indiscretion" materials....the materials were dumped on the ground and we were told to "move along"

Being pulled over while driving an Infiniti in not so nice neighborhoods and having the cop see my face and say "Oh, not you" - this happened three times.

In fact, the only time I was frisked and handcuffed was when my Brother, some friends and I were sitting in a car near a railroad bridge reputed to be haunted. No Beer, no Booze, no Weed, BUT, the driver was, wait for it, BLACK.....Oh and a member of a group that reenacted Viking Battles, so there was a sword and an intimidating curvy bladed dagger. Anyway, guns were drawn, yelling and shoving occurred, we were handcuffed until a more senior officer showed up, heard our story, told the younger cops that kids did this all the time and let us go.

Those are the obvious examples.......

The more subtle examples include people responding more positively to things I say at work, being treated with respect before I open my mouth, not being suspected of jeez, whatever....I'm also well educated and affluent and that was made easier by being a white male. I did work long hours and paid dues....but my race and class helped get me entry into a place where I COULD work those hours and pay those dues.

So, I tell my kids that goddamn straight there's white privilege.....fortunately, my kids are friends with enough of a mix to have heard the stories themselves and to have witnessed it among their peers, so it's not just their Parents telling then this.