In what nuanced ways did you NOT realize you had white privilege?

Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Before the pandemic, I went in to a store and got a phone call while browsing. Totally distracted, I walked out to the store without paying. Upon realization, I went back in and told the store associate what I had done and returned the items. She kind of laughed and said oh yeah! You set off the alarm.

I literally walked out of a store without paying and set off an alarm and no one did anything!

Mobs of black teenagers swarm the stores and run off with stuff and no one does anything... not the store associates at least.
Anonymous
Was almost car jacked/robbed on the east side of Detroit several years ago. Something tells me the opposite of white privilege played a role in the incident.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It really freaks me out as a POC when I see white people open packages and eat things or give things to their kids to eat or to play with in stores BEFORE they pay for them. Doing that could so easily get me arrested.


I am white, and I view this as stealing no matter what your race.


Yeah, I would never do this either.

I have because the baguette price does not change but keeps my kid quiet. I do need to consider that I can get arrested for it. Never crossed my mind though, because it's not like I'm eating a banana and then weighing the peels.
Anonymous
Walking around a grocery store and putting items into my reusable grocery bag instead of a cart of carry-basket.
Anonymous
I keep the receipt for Fetch and for my own budgeting. I always thought that grocery store can pull up my receipt based on my credit card and the customer number. Not keeping the receipt to prove my purchases.
I have been blond most of my life but went brunette for 3 weeks. They were miserable 3 weeks because nobody offered to carry my groceries like they always had. Just joking, but the difference in treatment was so big, I don't want to color my hair dark ever again.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It really freaks me out as a POC when I see white people open packages and eat things or give things to their kids to eat or to play with in stores BEFORE they pay for them. Doing that could so easily get me arrested.


Most white people don't do that.



Yes we do.
Anonymous
I've often thought about one of the issues that's come up here, and I'm not sure I can express this correctly, but, to me, it boils down to the point that white people are often treated badly by other white people, but they can assume that they're being treated badly because the person they're dealing with is an incompetent a**hole, while black people are often correct in assuming that they're being treated badly because of their race (even though sometimes they may be incorrect).

I've had a few experiences where this uncertainty was there, and I saw how hard it can be to know. One that comes to mind was when I was waiting for a table at a busy restaurant with some black friends. We seemed to have to wait an inordinately long time, and I started to get mad because I suspected the race of my friends was a cause. However, it could have just been that we were two families and needed a couple of tables pushed together and it took a while to make that happen. I remember that being made to wait was annoying, but the thought that the cause was racism was infuriating. I'll always think of it that way, but maybe it wasn't?

Another incident I think of was when we were in a Range Rover dealership looking at cars. For whatever reason, unlike most car dealerships, and even that dealership on other days, we (a white couple) were being completely ignored. A black man came in, and after waiting longer than you usually have to to have a car salesman latch onto you, he said something about not being greeted that made it clear that he thought it was because of his race. I said something like "Yeah, I don't think they want to sell cars; we've been here a while and no one has talked to us, either." We then had a friendly chat about the cars, and salesmen soon helped us both. He wasn't being irrational to assume that he was being ill-treated because of his race, but that day, it really was just that they were busy/oblivious/whatever.

The problem is -- there will always be people who are jerks. I honestly don't know how racism ever gets ameliorated to the extent that black people ever get to have the privilege of just assuming that the other guy is a jerk in a general way vs. a racist jerk. You can't prove a negative. How do we get out of this endless loop?
Anonymous
If I have to return a merchandize, I carry it in an obviously large and colorful bag and walk to the customer service first. I am making sure that I am on the video camera feed. I also walk in the middle of the pathway so that no one can accuse me of being close to any merchandise. I am not Black. I am Indian-American and I am UMC. I don't do anything to trigger anyone.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It really freaks me out as a POC when I see white people open packages and eat things or give things to their kids to eat or to play with in stores BEFORE they pay for them. Doing that could so easily get me arrested.


Most white people don't do that.



Yes we do.


No, we don't. You may be a thief and do it, but most o fun don't
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It really freaks me out as a POC when I see white people open packages and eat things or give things to their kids to eat or to play with in stores BEFORE they pay for them. Doing that could so easily get me arrested.


Most white people don't do that.



Yes we do.


No, we don't. You may be a thief and do it, but most o fun don't


oops most of us don't.
Anonymous
Black hair care products are kept under lock and key because they’re stolen so frequently, not because any company is racist. Why aren’t block people embarrassed by this?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I wasn’t driving cross country with my kids and, on a long flat stretch in Kansas, I got pulled over doing 90 in a 65 zone. When the cop came to the window, I rummaged around in the pile of coats and garbage on the passenger seat for my wallet and never though once that he could have pulled a gun on me or hauled me out of the car. I got a ticket for going 75 in a 65 and a kind admonishment to pay attention.


Meant to say “was” driving cross country , obviously. Forgot to mention that I was 6 weeks out from a boob job too, so I had some of that big boob privilege going in addition to the white privilege I was born with.
Anonymous
I can go abroad wherever I want and not think about how I will be treated. I didn't realize this until I backpacked in Europe in college. I was considered an American while my American friends who were Asian and Hispanic weren't "real Americans". Then I considered teaching English abroad with the same Hispanic friend. I immediately had job offers in Asia while she didn't.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Mine is "Oh, I don't need a receipt."

I can't tell you how many times I've said no thank you to a bag or a receipt b/c I have a canvas bag, or whatever I'm buying will fit in my tote, and I don't want yet one more piece of paper to shred at home. I hadn't quite realized that all black people were making sure every little thing they bought had a receipt and a bag. What's yours?


Black woman here. I can't even believe this. I have not returned anything to a store in nearly a decade.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I wasn’t driving cross country with my kids and, on a long flat stretch in Kansas, I got pulled over doing 90 in a 65 zone. When the cop came to the window, I rummaged around in the pile of coats and garbage on the passenger seat for my wallet and never though once that he could have pulled a gun on me or hauled me out of the car. I got a ticket for going 75 in a 65 and a kind admonishment to pay attention.


Meant to say “was” driving cross country , obviously. Forgot to mention that I was 6 weeks out from a boob job too, so I had some of that big boob privilege going in addition to the white privilege I was born with.


Cops don't view women as a threat because they rarely try to assault and kill cops. Doesnt have anything to do with "white privilege."
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