I was born into privilege

My skin is white and cloaks me like a Mayoral robe 

marking out my status for all to see 

I am male and straight  

and have never had cause to question my gender or sexuality 

I was born without disability 

I can see, I can hear, I can speak 

I am too fat nor too thin 

I am not too short or too tall 

I am just right 

I fit in 

I can read and write  

and have always had books to read on any topic that has interested me 

I finished school and went to university  

and it was free 

When I have been sick, I have seen a doctor 

and it has been free 

I am able to express my opinion  

without being threatened, imprisoned, tortured, killed, exiled 

without being talked over, put down, ridiculed or patronised 

based on my race, gender or education 

I have always had sanitation and clean water from a running tap  

I have always had enough to eat 

I have always had 

enough 

I was allowed to vote when I reach voting age 

no further qualification required 

no recitation of the Justices of the Supreme Court 

just my birth and my age a determinant of my right 

my sex, race, education, my history irrelevant 

I vote for whomever I choose without question and without consequence 

not dragged from my bed 

or hung from a tree 

or beaten and dragged through the streets 

forced to flee 

I am able to join a union or political party of my choice, without consequence 

I am able to practice any faith and worship any god – or not – such as I may choose 

I have never lived with armed police or troops on my streets  

When I see the Police, I am not afraid of them nor am I given cause to be 

I have never lived with war nor been a refugee 

I can go where I wish 

Without the compulsion of fear, violence and oppression to drive me 

my passport accepted to grant me welcome 

my mode of transport irrelevant  

I have never been refused work based on any circumstance but my lack of merit 

I have never been refused service based on my race, colour, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or physical characteristics  

I have never been made to feel like a burden upon society 

I have never had to listen to labels like “lazy”, “leaner”, “disinterested” or “unmotivated” and realise “They’re talking about me”  

those labels applied because I was unable to work or because there was simply no work for me  

I have never had to listen to shock jocks talking about “those people” and knowing that I am one of “those” people.   

I have never had to hear Senators say “these people may have been the victims today; usually they are the perpetrators”  

and know that they are talking about 50 of my brothers and sisters and their children 

slain in prayer 

having greeted their killer, not as perpetrators, but with a welcome “salaam brother” 

I have never been removed from my family 

I have practiced and enjoyed my culture whenever and however I have wanted 

without having to explain or justify it 

When I turn on the TV, people look and sound like me 

and they tell my stories 

I have been taught my language and allowed to use it and I have never been told that I cannot 

I have expressed myself without punishment or consequence 

I have never been married as a child or without my consent 

I have never been enslaved, trafficked or prostituted 

I have never been labelled or treated differently 

because someone thinks of me that way 

I have never been made to feel that my difference is something that I should be deeply ashamed of 

something that makes me lesser and which disentitles me 

something that offends the decent and right minded 

something that is the cause of problems  

the cause of my problems 

that I am a problem to be solved 

and that I am somehow ungrateful and troublesome if I expect to be treated the same as others 

to be given the same as others 

to be consulted about decisions that affect me 

I have been accepted for my strengths and criticised for my weaknesses  

rather than my inherent characteristics assumed as flaws and incapacities  

I have not had to march, be beaten, imprisoned, murdered 

to have my humanity accepted 

to obtain what was and has always been mine and which has been possessed by others 

to obtain that which was denied to me based on the characteristics with which I was born or which I inherited 

My whiteness, my maleness has been entitlement enough 

I am acutely aware that my privilege is based in someone else’s disadvantage 

That my freedom is simply privilege extended until enjoyed by one and all 

That privilege means hierarchy  

And that hierarchy is antithetical of equality 

That humanity is a universal truth denied by privilege 

That my privilege denies my humanity 

That the very elements that distinguish me as unique have become corrupted as the markers of privilege  

I have learnt that my privilege is a lie so huge that it cannot be swallowed whole 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”  

So wrote the slave owners, the misogynists, the intolerant, the Indian killers, all white and male 

And so, their privilege was protected by god and thereby made unassailable, undeniable, justified and perfect.