An example is a black woman who had been depositing her salary check in the same bank for years, and every time she went in she was asked to produced identification. Finally someday illegally withdrew $5000 from her account, and when she was told she was furious, not because of the loss but because the white man (as it was eventually shown to be) who stole the money was not asked to produce any ID. Was this human error or a culture that tends to be more suspicious of black people than of white?

Secondly, because I have a white skin, I will never know what it’s like to walk down George Street with a black or a brown or a yellow skin and be looked at differently, or be treated differently in a store, and wonder if either of the above is because of my skin color. The ultimate white privilege is that I don’t have to think about race unless I choose to do so.

Thirdly to deny race, or not to see color, is itself a form of racism. I am a racist in this sense : people of different races bring with them a different culture, music, history, life story, even language. If I acknowledge their race then I also acknowledge their experience, and I am the richer for being privileged to share a small part of it.

Jeremy Barnes
Springfield Township