When i was in California this holidays past i went with my uncle to buy some new snowboard boots because the old ones were slightly uncomfortable. in the store the woman serving us always directed her suggestions and questions to my uncle, even tho he continually stated that he was a skier, knew nothing about snowboard boots and that they were for me. It was as if this women found it hard to accept that i was my own person, and that i was capable of discussing the merits of a product that i was to use. This was one of my few encounters with sexism, and the frustration and anger i felt at being treated as if i was less significant than a man was only a drop in the vast ocean of emotion coloured people must feel every day. I don’t think about it much, you can’t if you want to live a happy life, but now that i am thinking about it i feel guilty that i will never face the same struggle as people with coloured skin. i feel angry that i will never have to worry about people thinking i’m up to no good when i’m minding my own business. i feel guilty that my ancestors caused the manifestation of prejudice. I feel so sad that i will be given advantages in life at the expense of coloured people, but these are just the pathetic thoughts of any decent white person when alerted to the presents of racism around them. All that really counts is what i am going to do about it, and the answer is not all that much. I’m not an activist, i’m not a politician, i’m not coloured, and although i know racism exists and am repulsed by it i will do nothing to stop it, apart from trying not to contribute to it and be aware of my own privilege. Maybe this makes me a bad person, but frankly i don’t have the time or energy to fight for something that will do nothing to improve my status in life, and i am willing to challenge anyone in this room who says they will make a substantial stand against racism. This is white privilege, this is what i have been given, this is my gift, being able to ignore racism and go about life ignorant while others can’t. Sexism effects me and so i will fight it. I will struggle against it until my dying breath, believing i am an empowered and just women, as i leave the dark skinned people to their battle for in my head it’s not my problem. At the end of the day i am just a selfish white person like all the people around me.