I Am Privileged … I Have Never

I typically reserve this space for articles on how to grow your credit union, but today, I’m using it to exorcise some demons.

In marketing, it often takes an impactful message to generate momentum and change of behavior. When I was in college, Rodney King’s beating affected me, but did not change me. Over the years, I was aware of Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, and others … but not enough to do anything. As a white man, I’ve had the luxury, the privilege of seeing it, knowing it’s wrong and moving on with my life. But, in marketing, frequency also has impact. In rapid succession, we witnessed Ahmaud Arbery’s white murderers not getting charged for two months. If that recording had never surfaced, would they still be free? We saw Breonna Taylor get killed while laying in bed. Then the final straw … the message with impact …

I have never seen anything like what I saw on May 25, 2020. I have never felt as sickened, watching a man kneel on another human being’s neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds. I white man who ceased being a police officer and became a perpetrator with a personal vendetta. 8:46 of a man begging for his life and his mother. 8:46 of bystanders begging for humanity. 8:46 of at least one fellow officer pleading for reason. Eight minutes and forty-six seconds!

I am privileged that I have never before experienced the emotions that I felt during those eight minutes and forty-six seconds … but I now realize that black America has felt this way every single time someone who looks like them gets murdered with no justice served.

I am privileged because I have never…

I am privileged, I have never been followed around a store by a suspicious clerk.

I am privileged, I have never been in a work meeting, looked around and realized that no faces look like mine.

I am privileged, I have never been pulled over solely for the color of my skin.

I am privileged, I have never had anyone uncomfortably step away from me in an elevator while clutching their purse a bit tighter.

I am privileged, I have never had to worry about being equitably paid for what I do.

I am privileged, my grandfather was never held back for his race … subsequently, holding back his entire lineage.

Because I am privileged … I will never understand what it is like to be black in America. But I can change … and if I do, maybe other around me will too.