Let’s talk about privilege and what defines it...

I think I have privilege because I am white.

For most of my life I did not have a pot to piss in.

I finally married into someone who also grew up working class but worked his ass off to earn the kind of money he makes today

Would I as a woman be able to access that kind of money and privilege on my own?

It would have been very difficult, unless I worked in a different job.

Would I have been able to access it if I was a person of color?
Almost impossible

As a woman, I could work my ass off in my line of work and I would NEVER come close to what my white husband could make.

So, I benefit and am privileged, as white women have been for generations by being able to marry money.

It is splitting hairs I suppose to feel proud of at least marrying someone who earned every single penny, instead of the kind of privilege that comes from being born into wealth and privilege.

At the end of the day its all privilege afforded to white Americans

Had I not married a man who was successful, I would have been lucky to own one home and probably would have been bankrupted by the costs associated with being the sole support of my mother and her health care costs

But I absolutely 100% acknowledge my privilege

We try and succeed at living very modestly.

We have to keep a home in the Los Angeles for Rons work. We have a very modest and very inexpensive (California standards) home in a working/middle class area far from Hollywood

We have a second home in the town I grew up in, that also is VERY VERY modest that we bought for a song, and provides Ron with a place to write and for me to see friends and family

I was privileged to be able to save my earnings that I made over the course of 6 years.
I used that money to fulfill a dream that began when I was about 8, and I bought a dilapidated old farm for me.

Again, more privilege.

I’d like to think that I have a led a life that has been determined by principles, ethics and struggle. I don’t think I can remember a day where I wasn’t having to fight for every step and every penny

But I am still privileged.

I have fought my entire life, as my parents before me did, for justice and equality.
I know how much my family gave up for that fight

But I am still privileged.

I actually had friends who felt I was selling out my ethics and principles because I fell in love with the man I fell in love with.

I cannot and will not apologize for that

So that is my story.
I have told it before, but I think I will probably retell it many times

What I hope is that you all will not negate the things I discuss, the values I hold, the paths I propose, because of my privilige.

I am who I am. I have lived the life I have lived.
In the best way that I know how