Privilege

The very first question was one that related to me well. “I can if I wish to arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time”. I grew up in southern Alberta so I was constantly with people of my race and was hardly around any other cultures. Sports and university are what changed that but before I moved to Regina there were hardly any non-white people in my life. In grade two a new student arrived in our class and he was African American and his English wasn’t great. He did fit in well luckily because he was very good at basketball. Thinking back I couldn’t imagine how hard it was for this kid in grade 2 to move to a new country, be surrounded by people that are not his race and learn a new language. I truly did have it good growing up, I was always comfortable growing up and never had any challenges. This was my first memory looking back to my past.

The second question the resonated with me was number 5. “ I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed”. This example has less to do with white privilege but more to do with gender. I have always been a big guy and felt safe anywhere I went. Going shopping I could go to any store alone and fell completely safe and It was until I talked to a female friend of mine. She was telling me how sometimes in public places they will feel unsafe around specifically older men. It was confusing how I’ve never felt unsafe once and for this girl every other time she went out she had to keep looking over her shoulder. After looking through the rest of the questions I noticed a theme of me being oblivious to other people’s troubles. It gave me a lot more respect for the people around me