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In reply to the discussion: DU ... Just So You Know, It's NOT Our Imagination ... [View all]intheflow
(28,462 posts)Please count me in as a white ally. I will never know what it's like to be black in America. You talk all you want. I can hear you and think I understand you and I - a white middle-aged woman in her 50s - will still never know what black Americans experience on a daily basis.
As a woman, I have experienced some oppression, but it's my skin that gives me a (probably literally, at some times) a Get Out Of Jail Free card.
I am poor financially but rich in privilege.
I live in hope that some day people of color will be given the same benefits of the doubt as my white brethren get and don't even now they're getting. I try to educate my white-skinned (and white-passing) family, cohorts and acquaintances, but most can't even hear that they're not hearing me, much less not hearing you. I keep trying, but what authority do I have since I cannot speak directly from experience, only from history?
My voice is a poor substitute to your experience. Please keep talking. Please keep educating. Thank you for your voice and persistence in the struggle. I will never know what it's like to be black in America, but I will always be your white ally.