This is a must read about white privilege.

I don't know who wrote this, but it's incredibly powerful and true. It deserves to be read, reflected on, widely shared, and discussed.

"It all started in grade school with Little Black Sambo.....

White people have been lied to.

We were lied to in school, for our entire education, indoctrinated by a white supremacist curriculum that neglects to teach a very large portion of our history in this country.

We were lied to when we were taught that slavery was as simple as black people being brought here as slaves, and then being freed after the civil war. When they left out the rape, the separation of families, the wet nursing of white babies, the murder, the continuation of indentured servitude long after slavery ended. They forgot to mention that children were taken whenever possible, because they could fit more of them into smaller spaces on a boat. That 15% of the people on the ship died before they even reached land, due to overheating, thirst, starvation, and violence. That suicide was so common that they put nets around the ship to catch those who tried to escape. That the lifespan of a worker on a sugar plantation was as little as seven years. In our history classes, they left out the black babies being used as alligator bait. When we were asked to debate the pros and cons of slavery, they indirectly taught us that there were "pros," even if that wasn't the intention.

We were lied to when we learned about Martin Luther King Jr. and it was implied that racism ended when the civil rights movement ended. Whenever we are taught about "how things used to be" it suggests that it isn't like that anymore.

We were lied to when the schools left out housing discrimination, job discrimination, and educational disparities as reasons why we are still not equal. When it is implied that, in America, we all have the same shot on the same playing field at greatness, we are being sold a lie, and because it makes us feel better to believe that lie, we do.

We were lied to when we were told not to see color, when we should have been told to see, appreciate, honor, and respect our differences as much as we appreciate what makes us the same.

We were lied to when we were taught that school segregation ended with Ruby Bridges. They forgot to mention the part where housing discrimination and job discrimination kept us segregated, even when the law did not. That it still keeps us segregated now.

We were lied to when we were taught that the police are here to help people. They didn't tell us that the amount of help you receive is inversely proportional to the amount of melanin in your skin. They didn't tell us that, when we believe that lie, and we ask the police for "help," other people die.

We were lied to when we were taught that the only way to be racist is to be overtly racist. When we were told that being a good person was enough. They did not teach us the part where being silently complicit in a system that has its roots in white supremacy, and benefitting from that system, is also racism. When we were told that being an ally just means that you're nice to black people or "don't see color." That we, as white people, can sit in discomfort when our loved ones spew racist rhetoric, and not say anything at all, because we "don't want to make waves," and still call ourselves allies. That we can "not be political" on our Facebook pages because we don't want to argue with family members with different beliefs. Guess what - when we are silent, because we don't want to upset our family members or friends - we are complicit in this system.

White people, we have been lied to. And you know what? I think a lot more of us know that than are willing to admit it. A friend said to me the other day "Because if I'm honest, I know you understand some of what we go through." And she was right. And now I'm saying the same to you. White people who pretend not to understand the problem in our country right now are LYING. Full stop. White people who victimize themselves by shedding tears when they are confronted with uncomfortable truths are ACTING. They know.

Until we are willing to risk our privilege by admitting it exists, we are contributing to a white supremacist system. The lies we have been told have been easy to believe, because they comfort us. There is privilege in that, too. Those lies that comfort us are bringing consistent harm to others.

It's time for white people to really be allies. To stop pretending we don't know any better and truly be allies. To get out of the freaking way and serve as a support system. To speak up when it's needed, but also to just be a support system. Being an ally doesn't mean speaking FOR someone. It means standing by their side and supporting them while they speak. Truly empowering them. And it means we have to deal with the discomfort that comes from admitting our privilege and doing what needs to be done to change the system, even if the current system works for us.

Otherwise, we will just spend the rest of our lives posting videos on Facebook of someone's father, uncle, cousin, son, sister, mother, aunt, grandma... being brutalized. At what point will we stop acting like we don't know any better?"

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