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If you don't do anything else for three minutes and 11 seconds today, at least watch this video because either you or someone you know needs to see it (please share).
Thanks to TikToker @cavatica, we may finally have the closest-to-perfect explanation of White privilege for those "not racists" and "but I face hardships, too" folks. There's no doubt you've faced challenges in your life, but the difference is you didn't face those challenges because of the color of your skin.
In her viral video that has been viewed nearly 340k times, @cavatica stitched a post that began with a rant from a user that said:
"I certainly don't think that Black people should expect racism because White people are going to stop being that way. There's plenty of people that are still going to be that way, but just because I'm White or we're White doesn't mean that we are."
*Record scratch*
Enter @cavatica, who not only disagrees, but perfectly explains in three minutes why that statement is far from correct.
"Yes it does. Yes it does. That's literally what that means."
"Look my fellow rice cakes. I'm going to say something out loud that you would probably prefer I kept to myself, but we are terrible at self-examination because we are obsessed with being perceived as good. We are good people with good intentions who do good things and we know that racism is bad, so we are offended by the mere insinuation that we could be capable of dehumanizing anybody."
"And that line of thinking right there is why we continue to take L's left and right - because you can't confront a problem if you don't acknowledge the problem exists."
"Listen, you are not evil and bad because you were born White, and no reasonable person is saying that you are. What we're saying is that it is a problem if you don't acknowledge what it means to have been born White in a racist society."
She continued:
"It is a problem if you are not willing to examine the privileges - I know we all hate that word - but the privileges, the benefits and the means of insulation we inherit by virtue of being born White.
"And it's not that we can't experience other disadvantages including some that we may share with Black, Indigenous, and other people of color - we can be discriminated against on the basis of our sexuality, our gender, our physical ability, our economic status..."
"There are plenty of reasons why a given White person might grow up in a sh*tty situation, but the color of our skin has never ever ever ever been one of those problems. And if you can't say that out loud, then you're being a racist."
She added the text:
"*individual problems also don't always represent a systemic issue like racism."
@cavatica/TikTok
She continued by diffusing the definition of racism as many White people view it:
"White folks, we have to disabuse ourselves of this notion that to be racist is to walk around throwing out the n-word left and right. That's not what that means. Racism sleeps, racism waits, racism is little things that you don't even know that you're doing until somebody tells you about it after the fact."
"If you could always see racism from space, then we - and by we I mean White people and only White people - wouldn't have been so shocked over the last few years to discover that so many of our loved ones are big old racist bags of sh*t."
"Because 1) Racism is subtle. It sneaks up on you. It manifests in tiny ways, and 2) We never had to interrogate those behaviors because we were insulated by racism."
She continued that often times, racism manifests itself "unconsciously by accident," but we have to rely on others to call us out and "build our experience around that knowledge."
@cavatica added the disclaimer:
"It's also not the job of BIPOC to educate us, but we have to be receptive when they do."
@cavatica/TikTok
She finished her video:
"If you can just get comfortable with the fact that prejudice is an inherent part of the human experience, then getting feedback about it will involve a lot fewer tears and heartbreak."
"In conclusion my fellow snowmericans, to be good is to accept your limitations and be okay with being wrong."
You can watch the full TikTok below.
Warning: NSFW language
👏👏👏👏👏
Viewers of the video thanked @cavatica for her explanation and agreed with her statements.
@cavatica/TikTok
@cavatica/TikTok
@cavatica/TikTok
@cavatica/TikTok
@cavatica/TikTok
The TikTok was even shared by comedian and SNLalum Leslie Jones on Twitter with the caption:
"This! I mean all of this!"
Warning: NSFW language
...and Jones' fans 100% agreed.
Thank you @cavatica for explaining how privilege works so that it can be understood by everyone, even those not wanting to acknowledge its existence.