the evolution of a charge: from white privilege to white supremacist

[Gormy Cuss]

98. I grew up in a poor nearly all white neighborhood.

The vast majority of households were headed by single women collecting AFDC. The rest of the families were working poor who thought they were middle class because they were so much better off than the single parent households.

Still, when we left our area we had no fear of people assuming we were criminal, stupid, and hopelessly inferior. Our neighbors who were A/A or Latino got that treatment frequently. Yes, inside the neighborhood the cops, social workers, and others treated us all like dirt, but once we "cleaned up" we were just accepted as white. Not so for the POCs, who even with success and standing in the community had to put up with a rasher of prejudice on a regular basis. And that, quite frankly, is why we were privileged.

eta: believe me, I know how hard it is to wrap one's head around this. I sure as hell didn't feel privileged when my family was on AFDC.