White Privilege?

 

I have been mentioning the events in Ferguson the past few weeks in worship and some of you have asked more about the term “white privilege.”  If you are white, sometimes it can be hard to see all of the ways that it’s easier to exist in society because of your skin color.  I didn’t realize how it felt to be judged based on skin color until I lived overseas as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria.  With Italian heritage, my skin is an olive complexion and I lived in a town in Bulgaria that was half ethnic Bulgarian and half Romani.  The Romani people trace their origin to India and have darker skin and hair.  One day I went to a cafe to get a cup of coffee and the waitress seemed to be helping everyone around me, but she wouldn’t come up and take my order, even when I tried to get her attention.  It took me a few minutes before I realized that she thought I was a Roma woman and was therefore refusing me service.  I felt ashamed and angry as I realized no one around me cared or noticed my mistreatment.  I could not believe that my skin color meant I didn’t belong at a public coffee shop and when my husband (a tall white male) arrived to join me for coffee she quickly came to the table to see what we wanted.   I told her we were leaving and never went back to that cafe, not because I wanted her to suffer from the lack of business, but because going back meant reliving the humiliation I felt that day. I experienced 20 minutes of discrimination and still carry the impact of that day with me and there are others who spend decades dealing with experiences like that on a regular basis.  James chapter 2, verses 2 through 9 speaks about how we tend to show favoritism towards certain types of people and how sick God is of our prejudicial actions against his precious children.  After the Peace Corps I went to Duke in Durham, North Carolina where we explored white privilege. Here is an article that was shared in a few of my classes and was also mandatory reading to join Reconciliation UMC in Durham (where Brandon and I worshipped while at Duke).  I hope this helps!  The Gathering UMC is planning a discussion about faith, race, and a Christian response to the events in Ferguson at Calypso Bar on the Oceanfront in October- stay tuned for more info…