I asked students to write down their first short response to the idea of privilege—a fast story that we could rumble on. One of the white women in the class wrote, “You don’t know me. I came from nothing. I worked for everything I have. I didn’t come from privilege—I’m just like you. Stop feeling sorry for yourself.” This led to a painful discussion about the true nature of unearned privilege and how it has nothing to do with working hard. It’s about being afforded special, almost invisible privileges because of our group membership.
