This anger and discomfort, however, only comes from the first painful acknowledgement that race does matter in America, and the secondary realization that everyone in America doesn t always have the same chance at success. This also happens to be a fact that most people of color have probably known their whole lives. Once whites have this knowledge, they have a choice people of color will never have. They can go back to sleep and never think about race again, or they can continue to be awakened with more and more knowledge and awareness of the reality of race in America. Whites can begin to notice that there have been only three attempts at hour-long dramas with a predominantly black cast.
Whites can begin to notice the lack of faculty and staff of color on their campus.
They can begin to notice how people of color are constantly being called on to be representatives of their race. The notion of white privilege is the antithesis of the American dream. To acknowledge white privilege is to acknowledge that America is not a meritocracy. We, as Americans, do not always end up in the places we end up because we deserve that position or we have earned it. The individualistic idea that each American can pull him or herself up by the bootstraps is as big an illusion as the idea of a color-blind society.