Edit: Here's a really great summary of the situation https://asiansinsolidarity.wordpress.com/…/black-62-sweatp…/

EDIT: This post is getting far more shares than I ever imagined. I just want to remind everyone viewing/ sharing this that this narrative is not about me and my feelings. This story and the event that happened last week is about are people of color that are oppressed each and every day by this institution and this country at large and I in no way meant to take the conversation away from them and their stories. Race and discrimination are just as much of a problem here today as it was on Monday- even though many people are not talking about it or even THINKING about it anymore. My privilege allowed me to share my story. My privilege and my influential friends and thus their influential friends made this post go "viral". All of that is privilege at work.

To those white people that are seeing this, use this as an opportunity and wake up call to confront the privilege in your own life. Have these conversations and find the own "swords" in your life- with things you could get away with that your friends of color could not. There are many white people on this post trying to suppress the voices of others with comments such as "all lives matter" or "white privilege doesn't exist". CHALLENGE THAT. fight back. And not just on this post, but in real life. Challenge racist jokes. Challenge stereotypes and hold your white friends accountable.

POC seeing this, I am sorry that this post is taking up a lot of space. It was never my intention for it to be spread this vast, and I am sorry to those who could potentially feel silenced by the airtime this is getting.

A lot of white people from different areas in my life have messaged me to have important conversations about race that we've never had before. That was my intention in writing this post- using a relatable narrative to help fellow white people acknowledge their privilege. Thank those of you for those of you who have seen this and been able to have critical conversations.

However, let's please not forget who is actually affected by the campus events this week. Hint: It's not me. I am returning to my comfortable life in Southern California where I will enjoy a summer of traveling and interning freely as a white woman through South America (which is not without problems of its own). Part of the reason I am able to do that so freely and without fear has deep roots in colonialism, which I need to be challenging within myself each and every day now, in the US, and when I am abroad. POC at Colgate were traumatized this week. I was not. That is what should be remembered about what happens at Colgate- not a Facebook status.

EDIT: I received this open letter from someone who read my posts, Sahil Gadhavi. Please, please, please read his words. If you can read mine, you can read his.
"Where is this response when you see black men being incarcerated everyday while white men walk free for the same crimes or more? Where is this overpouring of attention when black children are being shot by the police everyday, while your own white children are being raised in the ignorance afforded by their skin? Where is this praise when black activists march up and down the city squares all over the country screaming “Black lives matter” and all they hear back is All lives matter. Where is this immediate acceptance of the truth when I tell people that I have been consistently racially profiled every time I fly in from India, because of the melanin in my skin, my hair, my beard? Why do we face the suspicion while Jenny Lundt gets the praise?
I only write this to make people realize that even in doing so she is exposing more white privilege by the stark difference in how much positive response from white people she is getting and how negative it would’ve been had she been a black person trying to talk about white privilege. The burden of proof, alas, lies with the oppressed and not the oppressors. Such is systemic racism. Such is our reality. So we persist."
https://docs.google.com/…/1OuQ9p4Rkz8spp1tuZgPTuPRbiU…/edit…
I want to thank the people who have challenged me to think more critically about my role in this conversation and the amount of space that me and my whiteness are taking up.
The question then becomes what now. It's not enough to simply be aware. Acknowledge your privilege and then think critically about things you can be doing in your own life to reflect this new found self realization. Work on your compassion and empathy. Challenge your innate biases and be conscious of the way you categorize people and situations in your head. Speak up when your white professors are being ass holes. Support your professors of color on SET forms. It's not easy to talk about race- but push yourself out of your comfort zone to have difficult conversations with the people in your life. Give constructive criticism. SHOW UP. Show up to campus events and rallys. Vote for POC running for posistions of power. Vote for white people that prioritize institutional change and openly speak about racism. If your representatives aren't doing enough, CALL THEM. Use your privilege, your money, your power, your platform, your influence. Donate to causes! And above all, support the POC in your life. Hear their stories. Read books by black authors. Don't invalidate their experiences. Step back, listen, and advocate when need be.
Even then, these things aren't enough. But it's a start. If every white person reading my posts commits to doing better in their own lives, we can create a paradigm shift that can ripple through all of our communities and the world at whole. We need to do better to uplift the POC in this country and that is on us.
Thank you for this letter.

#blacklivesmatter