Question for all the genetic lottery winners out there, like myself (tall, white, male, upper middle class and above)- do you ever feel cheated out of achievement, like you succeeded because others weren't allowed to try, or were just simply unlucky where you were fortunate?
I always regarded the "soft bigotry of low expectations" to be ridiculous because it ignored the actual circumstances minorities lived in, and how difficult it is to overcome one's environment through hard work alone. But I think it works if you flip it to look at how white privilege insulates millions of us from true competition, and an accurate measure of self-worth.
A Federal Reserve economist determined that 60% of one's income is based on one's parents income- it's a stronger predictor than genetically inherited traits such as height. White families have an average of 99k in wealth, black families have an average of 4k in wealth, according to Peter Edelman in So Rich, So Poor.
How are we supposed to be proud about not being born a poor minority in America?
The answer is we can't. But we can recognize our own privilege, and the history of how it became entrenched and defended in our society. And then we can change it.
