As an American, I have been under the impression that we live within a democracy. In a democracy, people learn to agree to disagree. In a democracy, the public should be able to come to a consensus through processes like voting.  Merriam-Webster defines democracy as “a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting; an organization or situation in which everyone is treated equally and has equal rights.”

The negative opinions of some white people toward the way black people choose to protest oppression is uncalled for. Many white people around our nation are publicly displaying their white privilege without being conscious of the display.

If you’re a white person who is personally offended by the protest of oppressed cultures challenging the norms and values that our nation has adopted, you should take a long look in the mirror. Analyze your mindset because if you think hard enough you can discover your white privilege.

You may discover the unleveled playing field which you have greater opportunity to succeed in. Your negative opinions do not matter when we, as black people, are fighting the oppression of this nation.

The mindset of white privilege interests me because it has weakened white people as a whole.

Can you prove me wrong?

It has divided the greater sense of community among white people. White privilege makes white people compete among each other to see who can eventually exert power over the most people.  It allows white people to not be aware of their surroundings. Cultures that endure through centuries of oppression show resilience. Resilience builds character. White people, as a whole, have not shown good character towards our peaceful protest. The white people passing judgment display themselves as ignorant small minded pouting children.

I relate this type of cultural resilience to Karl Marx’s term of class consciousness. Class consciousness is defined by Merriam-Webster as “having or showing a lot of awareness about which economic or social level a person is in: thinking that a person’s economic or social class is important.” The black community is displaying our cultural class consciousness which is challenging the status quo. Not just challenging the status quo, but proving the status quo wrong.

Oppressed cultures in America have shown that we handle poverty different than white communities do, proving resilience. For example, data on drug usage in America analyzed on an economic level will show that poor whites indulge and overdose on drugs more often than the oppressed cultures of our nation.

Decatur is an example of white poverty and how killer drugs slither through white communities. White privilege is shown within the heroin epidemic. The way our nation deals with minority drug issues is by labeling us criminals. White drug issues are deemed as a national crisis and epidemics not widely talked about within the media. An equation of crisis that makes a lot of sense to me is Crisis = Danger + Turning Point. The killing and oppression of black people is one of our many national crises that have been relevant for centuries. You are witnessing the turning point.

Personally, white privilege makes sense to me as a black man. To the white reader who may not feel privileged due to your socioeconomic status, class status, or etc., I challenge you to open your mind. Your privilege lies within you. By choosing to not be conscious to your surroundings, you are choosing to be close-minded. To people with deep prejudice, hating my culture — hating black people — is stupid; be open to learning about us.

As black people in a white world, we are forced to be aware of you.  If you fight my statement by asking the question of “How?” just Google inventions by black inventors. You will be surprised by our greatness and resilience. Many black inventions were not recorded during slavery. Due to laws on patenting inventions, many slave owners stole their slaves inventions. Do you honestly believe the cotton gin was created by a white slave owner?