I’ve actually written about this in a way. I wrote whether or not we should retire the term “white privilege” (look for it on my profile). Not because it’s not true. But some white people get so turned off, insulted, and fragile when they hear it. It’s almost like dealing with a child to get them to take medicine. Sometimes you have to hide it. Maybe we need another term that addresses the same issue, but calls it something else.

As far as what it it takes to “fix” the problem: technically you can’t fix the “problem.” It takes years of relationship with people you relate to in order to change minds and hearts (Or wait for the generation to die out). The best that we can do in a short term is change laws and policies that have the same effect as racism. Whether it’s fighting voter suppression laws, police reform, or hiring practices. Having white people understand the privilege they have gives them the empathy to help make those kinds of changes possible.

The civil rights act, or the voter rights bill, did not change the hearts of racists. But they only came about because of the work of activists who in their day were treated exactly the way civil rights activist today are treated. Just as I wrote in this essay, people today love to invoke Martin Luther king Junior, yet don’t remember how when he was alive, had you been alive then, you probably would be saying the same thing to him and people like him that you are saying to me now.