Like many people I know, I have always had liberal values, and I was born with white privilege.
Like others, I have verbally supported issues like women’s right to choose, LGBT rights, gun control, higher minimum wage, healthcare for all, and opposed institutional racism and bigotry, etc. However, our privileges still exist, and we haven’t done nearly enough. Many of us have been expressing our beliefs for years, but we haven’t shown up. We haven’t joined Black Lives Matter or anti-deportation or a myriad of other types of protests. We haven’t demanded action from our local representatives over and over again until they are forced to listen. We haven’t marched alongside those who are impacted the most by human rights violations and harmful policies that perpetuate institutional racism and bigotry.
Some don’t agree with the “liberal” concepts above, in which case you will write this off, and therefore I am mostly not speaking to you. But there is one glaring reason, as I see it, that our community of white privileged liberals has neglected to protest enough and therefore neglected those who needed our voices most. We are not personally impacted. Most of us have access to high quality healthcare, we were able to marry the person we chose, we do not live in areas with high rates of gun violence, we are not victims of discriminatory policing practices, we have educational opportunities that lead to higher paying jobs, we were born in the US and do not have to fight to live here, and so much more.
So why would we protest? When would we find the time? Standing in intersections with cardboard signs is unseemly, and uncomfortable, and maybe it’s just not our thing. This is the very definition of white privilege. It allows us to go about our day to day lives and believe in these liberal values but not sacrifice our convenience or comfort. Many write checks to charities that are doing the hard work, and that is wonderful but not enough. I am extremely new to the protesting world and have for many years been neglecting the people and causes I claimed to support. I have just recently taken part in the women’s march, the homeless count, the LAX protest against the Muslim ban, a pro Planned Parenthood rally, a Jewish event for welcoming refugees, a protest against deportations and anti-immigrant rhetoric/policies, and have been attending meetings with local advocacy groups. Now that I have started joining in, I can see in the eyes of those who have been protesting their entire lives, that they are resentful. They may not think it or say it out loud, but they know that when the protest is done, I can walk to my car and go home to a safe neighborhood and continue enjoying the privileges which they have never been afforded. They are wondering where we were before.
The recent presidential election and the aftermath of the inauguration have shaken something loose in many of us. I realize now, we should have been there all along, in the streets, working for social justice in ways that we didn’t have time for or that made us uncomfortable or that others didn’t approve or understand. It is too late to fix all that has already happened, we cannot truly atone for all our privileges, but we can try to stop being part of the problem. The liberal values for which we feel so strongly will not matter if we sit on the sidelines and let injustices continue. I claimed to be passionate, mostly by posting frequent political rants on Facebook, yet I allowed my privileges to get in the way of joining the protests. Violence is never the answer, but disruptive, inconvenient and uncomfortable protests are often the only way victims of these issues can be heard. And their voices will only get louder and more impactful if we join them. Donations are great and necessary, but if you look in the eyes of someone who is terrified of being deported, or being shot, or not being able to afford medicine, you may see that the money does no good if they are all alone when they literally scream for justice.
Protest-fatigue may be real, but you will never find it in those who have been fighting for their lives. I am now committing to do my best, which will still never be enough, to go outside my comfort zone, and to risk being judged by people who do not understand. I am committing to own my white privilege and my children’s white privilege, and to never deny it exists and that we are part of the problem. I am committing to chant in the street even when the person next to me wonders why I wasn’t there before. I am committing to inconvenience myself in a way that will never compare to what others experience thru racism and bigotry. I am committing to use this political climate for something good, and a positive change in my own actions, and to fight so that someday the people we have neglected can receive basic human rights and justice, and therefore my own privileges will no longer exist. I will protest.
Rachel Rosen is a health educator, wife and mother in the San Fernando Valley.
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