Reddit reviews Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing

Of course you don’t see or feel the privilege. And this is absolutely no fault of your own. You’ve had it your whole life. To you it’s perfectly normal, expected, it’s the status quo and it is invisible to you.

I had this very discussion with my uncle-in-law a little while back. He couldn’t understand how people of color and people in poverty can’t live “the American Dream” simply by working hard (ie “pull yourself up by your bootstraps). He kept pointing out the challenges in his own upbringing and how he had overcome them “all on his own.” He just could not see how his upper middle class upbringing which included a working father and stay at home mom both of whom were college educated, four bedroom house in a good neighborhood, and private schooling with after school tutoring had afforded him a level of privilege not available to people in poverty.

So here is my challenge to you. Go and find a black man any black man and ask them about how they have experienced racism and discrimination in their own lives; ask him how he responds to being pulled over by a cop. Find a poor family of color using government assistance and ask them about how they are talked to by everyday people while they work two full time jobs and go without food to make sure their kids have dinner. Go and find a person who speaks with a Spanish accent and ask them how often they are told to “go back where they came from.” Go and find a woman working in the same position as you do and ask her what her salary is. Go and ask a woman what she does to protect herself when she has to go out alone at night.

Then ask yourself why YOU have never experienced those things. The answer is because you are a white male. Still don’t believe me. Then pull out a book and read. Here are some great books that will educate you to the condition of people of color:

• Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal
  
• Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome: America's Legacy of Enduring Injury and Healing
  
• So You Want to Talk About Race
  
• The Hate U Give
  
  These are just a few examples. There are Oh so many more. Before you discount the idea of privilege make sure you educate yourself about the condition of the people under your feet.
  
  YOU may not be putting people down to pull yourself up, but that doesn’t mean you didn’t start higher up the ladder than they did.

a fascinating book on this if you're interested