Sadly over the years I thought I was open minded and inclusive for African Americans, things like the BLM, and other people that "don't look like me". When it was blatant discrimination I would react. Maybe not as strenuous as I should have but I felt I was "on the right side".

Over the last decade or so I have begun to recognize that I am a beneficiary of White Privilege even when I did not see it.

I watched the 1991 Rodney King beating captured before cell phones and I was repulsed but thought it was an isolated incident.

A few years ago I had a more vivid awaking while watching the comic Trevor Noah live with a bit he called "Driving While Black". He recounting getting stopped by a police officer on his early days in the US. While the cop walked from his cruiser to his car Trevor desperately ran through a mental check list. He was trying not to have behavior like Travon Martin and many others that caused them to be shot or otherwise murdered by the police. He did it by weaving bits of many somber news stories into his comedy skit calling the names of the black men who had been killed. In the end the police officer just wanted to tell him about his broken tail light. I sat trying to decide to be horrified or laugh knowing every name he recounted was a human that lost their life unnecessarily.

So, going forward I pledge to try harder to "Own My Shit" and try harder to understand the "Shit" I am still carrying in my subconscious. I also pledge to work in my own local community when I see "Shit" and try to help correct bad White Privilege "Shit" when I see it.