Maybe It’s Time We Listen

by Michelle Montoro

I feel like someone stole my rose colored glasses. Ripped them right off my face, threw to them ground, and stomped on them until they were nothing but a pile of shattered plastic. But I think I probably deserved it. I have been hiding behind those things for my entire life. Refusing to acknowledge what my fancy lenses were concealing. I suppose it is time to stop hiding and start educating myself on the injustices in our world today.

My friend Debbie recently wrote in a post on a similar topic,

“In my bubble, I love people because of who they are…what type of human being they are. For me, things such as race, sexual orientation, religion, disability and physical appearance have zero effect on how I feel about someone. Therefore, even though I was aware that racism exists, I was effectively blinded to it because of my own beliefs, and that my friends, is white privilege.”

Debbie of Fashion Fairy Dust

I remember learning about white privilege in a diversity course many years ago and in all honesty, I didn’t quite understand what it meant. I rehearsed the correct interpretation well enough to pass an exam on the topic, but I didn’t really get it. Once the class was over, I simply slipped my rose colored glasses back on and went about my merry life never really contemplating the…