Azadehruh Alam,

Thank you for this comment. Maybe you are right. I am doing some soul searching. I did not think that was the case. I thought that as the generations progressed, at least in my family, that we were more conscious of unfair White privilege and LESS racist. And that doesn’t even count my Italian immigrant grandma, who grew up poor on a farm in Italy and served a Black man dinner in the Bronx apartment building where she lived (in the 1940s) because he had knocked on her door and said he was hungry.

Am I wrong to mention that family story? I guess I am. Because if the color of the man’s skin had not mattered, my Dad probably would not have told me the story. But to me, it showed my grandmother’s truth, and resistance to racism. I still take it to heart 80 years later.

But I am hearing from a lot of people that I just don’t see my privilege. My young adult daughter, whose best friend is Black (they met as sixth grade girls in the Montclair public school system) had a big shouting match with me last night about how I/she/we have such White privilege and I do not see it.

I thank you for advancing this conversation and moving it forward, at least in my mind.

Sincerely, Alice