I was born into one of the most privileged societies in the world.

I am in a safe country. I am blessed with one of the best educations in the world. I live in a beautiful home. I feel safe in my home. I just had my gall bladder removed, and it didn’t cost my family a penny. When I get a paycheck, it’s for me to spend, I don’t have to contribute to my family. It’s not a matter of will I eat, it’s what will I eat.

I am white.

I have never experienced a true struggle. I have never been scared for my life. I have never ever been scared when I see a police car. I have never been judged based on the colour of my skin. I have never been intentionally, physically injured by someone. I have never been denied an opportunity because of my race.

The list goes on and on.

This is my privilege.

If you can make a list like I can, you are privileged too. And even if the only thing on your list is the fact that you are white, your list is already a hundred times longer than the list of a person of colour.

One privilege that I am overwhelmingly grateful for having, is the fact that I get to learn about racism and not have grown up with it.

I have the privilege to do research about black oppression and police brutality. Not once have my parents ever had to sit me down and explain how to deal with police officers.

A girl I used to play soccer with posted a photo on Instagram saying “All Lives Matter” with a bunch of bible quotes. I responded with this image:

She responded by saying she believes all lives matter is the proper statement, because where she comes from white genocide is a huge issue. I was in disbelief. Any genocide is terrible and completely inhumane. But that’s in one part of the world, there has been black murder for centuries in all parts of the world. All lives DON’T matter right now! Innocent black lives are being thrown away for no good reason! That doesn’t sound to me like all lives matter. Just because you say black lives matter, doesn’t mean you are implying that white genocide is not a big problem. It means that at this given moment, we need to support our brothers and sisters of colour. We need to use our privilege for good, to stand up and alongside the black community.

If you are staying silent right now, you are doing more harm than good. Being silent is a form of racism.

You don’t have to go to the protests. I wish I could go to the one happening in my city tomorrow, but unfortunately I just had surgery. But you have to do something. Signing petitions takes less than a minute. Donate what you would normally spend on a coffee from your favourite cafe, and donate that to bail funds and organizations supporting black lives matter. Do something.

The white race has been taking from the black community for centuries. We took their time, energy and entire lives with slavery. We took their families and ripped them apart so that we wouldn’t have to work as hard as we needed to.

And now, we have taken so many opportunities from the black community. Police brutality has claimed so many innocent lives.

When you are born white, it’s like you have a thirty-second head start in a race. It’s time we slow down and finish the race together as one.