1981 Monte Carlo said:
That's crazy. Are you like 100 years old? I was born in 1981 and cannot think of one that it has given me. Are you kind of ashamed? I would feel kind of dirty if I knew that I was hired by a racist or group of racists who hired me only because I was white. Or did A&M let you in bc of your skin color? F'd up if so. Care to share the ways it has benefited you?
Are you like 100 years old? I am not
Are you kind of ashamed? Sometimes, but not because I'm white
I would feel kind of dirty if I knew that I was hired by a racist or group of racists who hired me only because I was white. Welcome to the South, it's been here a while. Incredibly, there are a few small pockets of white people left who only feel comfortable around other white people.
Care to share the ways it has benefited you?
Well, because my ancestors are not Hispanic nor Black nor any other non-White color, instead of growing up as the product of people who were systematically discriminated against for a couple of centuries, denied basic freedoms, denied the right to vote, denied being able to take certain jobs, live in certain neighborhoods, go to certain schools, drink from water fountains, denied being able to go to most colleges, etc.
I grew up as the product of multiple generations of educated, financially successful people stacked on more successful people back to the early 1800s on my mother's side of the family and the early 1900s on my father's side. This awarded me many opportunities to live in a nice neighborhood, go to better public schools, have access to more academic resources, take trips with my family that resulted in the expansion of my academic and cultural awareness, while also stoking the flames of several interests, as well as attend several high dollar academic and athletic camps that benefited my future success a student.
My best friend in elementary school was black and lived 45 minutes from school. He woke up at 5 am every day and rode a noisy ass bus to school while I slept until probably 6:50 ( am not sure of the time frame given my extreme age) and my stay-at-home mom drove me to school. She also picked me up at 230 sharp and helped me with my homework every day. She was also white, for the record. His mom was single, black, and worked three jobs, getting home at 11. I feel this probably benefited me by having more time to study and more adequate help doing so.
In college, my roommate freshman year was an Indian guy. Once, when the guys came charging through the halls demanding everyone get up and go to Bonfire Cut, he stepped out into the hall and asked them to please stop as he had a bad migraine - legit, not from drinking. One of the Bonfire rowdies allegedly called him a sand n*gger, I was still asleep but have no cause to doubt his word. He threw a punch at said rowdy, and it got ugly from there. I finally did get up and found the two of them beating the **** out of him in the stairwell near the laundry room on the 4th floor of Aston Hall. I got in there and threw some punches and just about got my head caved by one of the two Cut guys who seemed like he should have been an early MMA fighter instead of working on the Bonfire. Eventually, more people came and broke it up. My roommate was forced to go see a counselor for his anger management issues and had to check in with our RA every single week for an entire school year to insure he wasn't :causing trouble." Me and the other two white boys got off with a warning, even thought based on the work they had done to him in a few short minutes, it seemed like the two of them were trying to cause permanent brain damage to my roommate.
In 1985, we were on a family vacation in Padre Island when we got pulled over by a police officer who had his gun out as he approached the car. My dad, a very tan Mediterranean chap, rolled down the window and the cop started barking questions at him in Spanish. When my dad started saying he didn't speak Spanish in English, the cop ignored him and asked my Mom if this man was kidnapping us. He asked several multiple pointed, covering all my bases questions. My mom has super fair skin, and my brother and i are equally honky, so naturally, if a cop saw a dark-skinned man driving a sweet 1980s Buick sedan that close to the border with a white woman and two white kids, it was obviously a carjacking/kidnapping scenario. Fortunately, my dad was able to show his ID, proving he was also a honky, and I didn't lose my father to police violence that day, because everything was cool once it was established he was white. Cop even apologized.
In 1988, I was named captain of the Prep Bowl team at my junior high when our sponsor, Mr. Macey, said that I had a clear speaking voice that was easy to understand. Everyone else on the team was Black, Indian, or Chinese, so that seemed like it was me getting a privilege due to my whiteness. I was able to put this on my resume to get into an academic program in 9th grade. it felt great knowing it was because I was white.
In 2002, I traveled to Portland, Oregon to visit friends from A&M and attend a wedding. The husband of one of my friends let me borrow his truck to drive around Portland for a couple of days. He had bought it from a police auction in Dallas. It was lowered, was painted black with a blue/pink stripe down the side, and had a stereo system that cost more than some houses I've bought in my life. It was a hilarious thing to drive around. As I was exploring the Columbia Valley River Gorge, I was pulled over for no reason by a Oregon State Trooper. When he saw what i looked like, he asked about the truck, I explained it and he laughed and said "I thought you were one of those damn Mexicans up from California to buy weed." I laughed too, because he was a cop.
And most importantly:
In 1994, I had Spanish 101 with a really hot blonde girl at the Academic building. There was an anonymous football player in the same class. Despite most of the young ladies in the class talking to him frequently during class about his success and that of the team, when it was time to review for the midterm, said hot blonde girl asked me - as ugly and dorky as A&M guys get - if i wanted to come hang out and study for the mid-term. This only made logical sense because I had made high A's on the two tests, which was common knowledge because our professor like putting everyone's grades on the board. Over at her apartment a couple of days later, I commented that I was surprised she hadn't asked anonymous football player to study, since they say next to each other and were always talking. She replied, "Oh, god no, I don't like black guys." While I found this offputting, i kept my mouth shut, as I later got to make out with her for about 20 minutes because I did my dork best to make her some flash cards to help her ace the test. I never would have gotten this monumental honor had i not been white.
