Nathan W. Pyle wrote an article telling a story of a high school teacher he once knew. The teacher set a recycling bin at the front of the room and gave each of the seated students a piece of paper to crumple up. “The game is simple — you all represent the country’s population,” the teacher told them. “And everyone in the country has a chance to become wealthy and move into the upper class. To move into the upper class, all you must do is throw your wadded-up paper into the bin while sitting in your seat.”

The students immediately realized that those in the front seats had a better chance and spoke up about the inequity and when everyone had taken their shots, most of those in the front made it but only a few in the back did. This is what privilege is. Those who complained about fairness were in the back of the room. Those in the front are much less likely to realize the privilege they have — all they see is the destination, the goal.

“Your job — as students who are receiving an education — is to be aware of your privilege. And use this particular privilege called “education” to do your best to achieve great things, all the while advocating for those in the rows behind you.”

Privilege is the advantage some people have over others. It is the benefits some are granted while others are deprived of. It is a part of a system that aids some while hindering and hurting others. Privilege means that while someone is complaining about being tired of all the news about Ferguson, Eric Garner, etc. on the news and on social media there are people truly terrified for their lives.

People with privilege have the ability to ignore what is happening because the effect it has on their lives is nonexistent in comparison to how it is affecting the lives of other people.

Generalizing white people, for example, has no real effect on them. Generalizing black people has killed them. For black people, murder by law enforcement is very, very real. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that from 2002 to 2011, the average homicide rate for blacks was 6.3 times higher than the rate for whites and there have been other studies that declare that every 28 hours, a black person is killed by police officers, security guards, or other self-appointed vigilantes. We live in a world that habitually criminalizes and kills black people. We live in a world that consistently cripples the unprivileged.

I am utterly saddened, horrified, and outraged by what happened and what is happening in Ferguson and all over the world. But I am not afraid for my life.

I have never been questioned or followed in stores. I don’t have slurs thrown at me regularly. I do not live in fear of the police. I am privileged. I am not black. I do not experience the same persecution, discrimination, and brutality as do black people. I cannot understand what black people are going through right now, what they are forced to go through each and every day. I am not black. I am not a victim in this sense. I am a person of color, but I am privileged in many more ways than one.

The University of San Francisco released a campaign, not too long ago, that included the following:

“If while growing up, college was an expectation of you, not a lofty dream, you have class privilege.

If you can comfortably walk down the street while holding your partner’s hand, you have heterosexual privilege.

If you don’t have to worry about how to get up Lone Mountain, you have able-bodied privilege.

If you can expect time off from work to celebrate your religious holidays, you have Christian privilege.

If you can use public bathrooms without stares, fear or anxiety, you have cisgender privilege.

If you’re confident that the police exist to protect you, you have white male privilege.”

Privilege doesn’t mean someone is a bad person; it doesn’t mean that a person’s life is easy, or that they don’t work hard. It just means that that person benefits from a system that simultaneously refuses the same benefits to other people (whether that privilege be about race, gender, sexual identity, class, education, etc). Privilege, of all kinds, benefits a select few while simultaneously harming others and unfortunately, it goes by unseen by many people. We need to open our eyes. We need to genuinely listen to one another. We need to become aware of this privilege and we need to challenge it constantly.