"At what age is a black boy when he learns he's scary?"

I remember seeing something similar to this on television shortly after Mike Brown was murdered. Up until that point, I had kind of resented the term "white privilege". As a white male, I had never quite understood what it meant, and I certainly never thought it applied to me. I grew up middle class and while my childhood wasn't necessarily difficult, there were struggles along the way. Both of my parents worked multiple blue-collar jobs and did what was necessary to make ends meet. Nothing was ever handed to me. I worked from the age of 14 and was taught to be self-sufficient. I thought white privilege meant that life was supposed to be easy because I was white, and it wasn't. I worked and struggled for everything I have.

I now realize what the term actually means: it's the right to survive. The right to go about my life freely and without harassment from the police or anyone else. I now realize that I have in fact been enjoying white privilege my entire life, and I find it horrifying that in 2018 America, black people have to be given this talk.