If you don't believe there is white privilege in this country...

[gollygee]

88. I'm interested in how you've responded here.

So for the first sentence: "I don't like it because it's an obvious attempt to broad brush all white people in a negative way by implying that whatever they accomplished came at the expense of white people." That's overstatement. Certainly it varies from case to case (I mean, most of George W. Bush's rise to power came from one kind of privilege or another) but for most white people, probably most of their accomplishments were mostly earned. However, that doesn't mean we can't acknowledge that it was easier for us - that we had an easier starting position - because we were white. It could have come to us as a foot in the door because someone felt comfortable with where we were from (a huge thing in Michigan - seeing an address from a white part of the Detroit area vs. a black part of the Detroit area will make a big difference in how much attention your resume recieves.) It could have come as a professor feeling comfortable having us alone in his or her office to give us extra attention so we did better in a class. There are a lot of ways privilege can manifest and those are only two - but the issue is that they're just bits of help here and there much of the time, not just handing stuff to white people, who had to do nothing on their own to accomplish anything.

So the next part: "I'll take ownership of any discrimination that I personally do." I think the majority of white people are good about this, but there's still tons of racism. Seeing how we benefit from racism even if we don't want to - seeing how we aren't able to opt out of racism by not discriminating against anyone - can make a real difference in how people respond to and see race differences.

"I'm not taking ownership of every problem that black people have simply because I'm white." This is the only part that stumps me. I'm not sure where that came from. I can see where you're coming with the rest you've written, but do you really feel like you're being asked to take ownership of problems other people have? I think you're just asked to have empathy, and recognize that while we've had bits of help here and there, people of color haven't, so it isn't fair to assume (for instance) that the reason there is more poverty in the African American community is because of laziness.