By Ross Beroff, editorial columnist
Identify as male? Check.
Grow up in the Suburbs? Check.
White? It’s complicated, but everyone just assumes I am.
Attend a top university? Check.
Privilege?
I was told recently to check my privilege.
Because I’m white or male, or a mix of other assorted assumptions and reasons, I cannot have an opinion on issues of race or gender. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wanted people to be judged not on the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. This goes both ways.
When you look at me or hear the superficial details of my life, you do not know my story. You do not know the story of my great-grandparents who came to the United States to escape persecution and were literally running for their lives. You do not know the story of my mother’s upbringing in the NYC housing projects in Brooklyn, nor my Father’s in Queens. Their race and gender didn’t lift them above their surroundings. Their blood, sweat and hard work did.
I grew up in the suburbs, and yes I had the privilege of going to doctors. I had such a privilege that I was constantly visiting them, in and out of their offices as I was diagnosed with disease after disease, including some that no doctors can diagnose let alone cure. My race and my gender have nothing to do with the biological issues that I’ve had to deal with, and, what some would say, suffer through.
From the subtle: “there’s a coin over there,” to the incredibly overt, “Hitler was right,” or “Jewish scum.” I too experience racism on a daily basis. Because of my belief that Jews deserve a homeland and my support of Israel, I’m accused of being a killer. I am forced to listen to century old stereotypes just because I believe in the peace and security of my people. I am not allowed to enter half the countries in the Middle East just because I am Jewish or have Israel stamped in my passport.
I attend Northeastern; I am privileged to do so. I didn’t get here because I am white, I don’t even identify as white. I didn’t get here because I am male. I got here because of the sacrifices of my parents and their parents before them. I got here because I worked damn hard.
I’m told not to express my opinion on issues of race and gender, as they express theirs. Is that not a double standard? I am not saying that privilege does not exist. The next time you tell someone to check their privilege, check your own, actually get to know that persons story, their background, what they have gone through, and realize sometimes issues are not about race or gender or some other class specification.
To all the social justice warriors online, take a step back and realize that the equality you say you are fighting for is not and cannot be equal until you start judging people just on the content of their character and stop assuming because I am a “white, straight male” that my opinion does not count, that my struggle is not real, and that my ancestors sacrifices don’t matter.
