The year was 1958. I was 17, ignorant of major adult topics, and interested mostly in girls and cars. Okay, I was ONLY interested in girls and cars. So there. But that would prove to be a year of change. My hometown of Little Rock had just completed one year of school integration (nine black students in a high school of several thousand white students), and the white parents had decided that was enough. The governor closed (YES, closed) the high schools that year to prevent the good white children from having to associate with black children. White power. The term today would be White Privilege. If white people don’t want to have school, then no one will have school. This was a decision that shocked me, my parents, and my friends.

Who were we punishing here? To anyone with their eyes open, it was the high school students themselves, regardless of color, who were being punished. Not the parents; their lives continued. Not the teachers. Oh, no, they were still employed. It was just the kids, the ones who had no power and no funds and no way on their own to resolve this. Black people could not have pulled this stunt; only while people–because they have privilege. The punishment wasn’t short-term either: A year lost caused students to lose focus, some to abandon further education, some to apply for GED credentials, some to join the military, and many (myself included) to finish high school short of several topics and lacking any college advisors for assistance.

White privilege continued further in this incidence, as a hurry-up ‘school’ was quickly formed that allowed only white students. The school was magically accredited within months, again by white privilege.

This all happened 60+ years ago, but white privilege lives on. Today, the push to hide, discredit, or otherwise prevent discussion of Critical Race Theory is being done under the umbrella of white privilege. The world needs to move on.