ON PRIVILEGE--TRUE STORY TIME: I grew up in a trailer park and then a lower middle class neighborhood, a weird combination of old people whose houses were paid off and working class renters like my parents. I went to school in the church basement but all my friends in the 1/7

neighborhood went to public school, except one. He went to the super expensive rich kid private school, bc he had an uncle who was a doctor in Chicago or someplace who paid for it. I loved learning, so I was jealous, even after he told me how hard it was to be around spoiled 2/x

rich kids all the time. My parents were abusive addicts. His loved him and each other. I don't remember what his dad did. His mom waited tables. Our paths really diverged in high school. I got home around 3, then bagged groceries from 4 to 10. He got home around 3, then did 3/x

homework for the AP courses he had the good fortunate to be taking, or got SAT prep (the school offered it). He cut grass on weekends for money but didn't have a job otherwise. I worked 5-7 days a week at the grocery store. When I got out on my own (as soon as I turned 18) we 4/x

lost touch. The last I heard, while I was working and saving to move north, he was doing well. Rich uncle and scholarships the private school helped its students get combine to pay for his college. I'm in debt up to my eyeballs. While obviously it would have been easier for 5/x

me if I had his advantages, I don't resent it. I hope he will be able to give similar advantages to his children and that his whole family's trajectory will change. That would be amazing--an American success story, a combination of an uncle's sacrificial love and his own hard 6/x

work. The point? He's black. Our current cultural moment absolutely insists that I have "privilege over" him, that he is oppressed and marginalized. It's not just bullshit, it's counterproductive since our leaders are now making policy based on this idea. Worth some thought. /end