The hashtag #MyWhitePrivilege briefly became a trending topic on Saturday, at first becoming a space for white people to admit the ways in which the color of their skin has benefitted them…before the conversation devolved into something else!
The hashtag started after Twitter user @FreeYourMindKid asked white people to share the most “outrageous thing that you’ve gotten away with as a white person that you know damn well a black or brown person would have never gotten away with…”
White people - What is the most outrageous thing that you've gotten away with as a white person that you know damn well a black or brown person would have never gotten away with?#MyWhitePrivilege
— 🇹🇹Black🇭🇹Aziz🇳🇬aNANsi🇯🇲 (@Freeyourmindkid) March 30, 2019
He then asked them to caption their responses #MyWhitePrivilege. Here were some of them:
I got caught stealing multiple times as a teenager and they never called the cops. They just let me go with a warning. Every. Single. Time. #MyWhitePrivilege
When I door-knocked for political campaigns people usually opened their doors with curiosity, rarely with anger, never with fear. Police were never called. #MyWhitePrivilege
— Cindy Gross #Words4Justice #BefriendingDragons (@CindyGross) March 30, 2019
Got financing to buy a house as a 30 year old pizza cook. I've never been denied a line of credit actually. #MyWhitePrivilege
A LOT of shoplifting when I was younger: even when I was caught all I got was a slap on the wrist. But nobody was watching the white girl in the polo shirt, they were too busy scrutinizing the Hispanic and Latinx kids. #MyWhitePrivilege
I got pulled over for going 85 in a 25 while texting and drinking whiskey out of a gallon jug and the cop apologized when he saw that I was white and offered me a coupon to Arby’s as a token of regret. I slapped him and said “be gone.” He cried and walked away. #MyWhitePrivilege
Although many were open to sharing their stories, the hashtag quickly devolved as right-wing conservatives used the opportunity to clown the very idea of White Privilege.
#MyWhitePrivilege let me get away with faking my own hate crime and have 16 felony charges dropped. Oh wait...
instead of tweeting #MyWhitePrivilege I approached a group of African Americans and told them how awesome it is being white in hopes they would give me a standing ovation for how self-aware I am of my privilege
Anyway, I should be out of intensive care by next week
