The re-education of a Southern Boomer chapter 1

I am the superfecta of privilege. For those of you who, like me, don’t know what a superfecta is, it is getting the top four places in a horse race correct which pays out a huge amount. A trifecta on steroids. In my case the superfecta of privilege is that I am — white, male, straight and protestant — this is the ultimate poker hand of privilege especially where I grew up in the southern United States. When I talk to white people, my peers, colleagues and strangers about privilege the most common reaction I hear is, “I’m not privileged, I grew up dirt poor” or “I was the first person to go to college in my family, so there’s no way I am privileged”. A few years ago I would have had the same response. This common reaction expresses the specific experience of white people in America. It points to the disparity between the definition of privilege, based on their experience as a lower-class or middle-class white person and the reality of non-white people. Privilege in the white communities’ context is defined as the rich white people who live in the big house on the hill. In that context of privilege, I and most of my white friends and neighbors growing up were not privileged. <a href="https://medium.com/@fmyers711/the-re-education-of-a-southern-boomer-chapter-1-72900edba78e">Read More</a>