The personal story in last week’s letter about poverty as a young white person in this country is eye-opening and points to the inequity of class and economics in our world from a real-life view (“Sweeping generalizations about laws, white privilege need to stop,” June 28). The suffering of being less privileged than the expected “normal” must be traumatic. It is important to recall that any person’s suffering is powerful and painful. The suffering can also become a source of empathy toward others who have less — less opportunity, less freedom, less safety, less wealth, less voice, on and on, in a world where privileges of various kinds really do exist.

The thing about systemic racism in our country is that if the poor youth in last week’s letter had a skin color of brown or black, it’s likely they would have encountered insurmountable obstacles to sustaining and thriving in the land of the free.

Our white skin provides a pass that people of color do not have. Thankfully, white people are waking up, taking off the blinders and opening the tunnel vision. It’s humbling to realize I have spent the majority of my 60 years ignoring my white privilege. And, my life has been exponentially enriched with this growing awareness.

We hear the term white privilege more because white people are realizing that acknowledging privilege ultimately leads toward a more equitable world. White privilege in America is like the law of gravity. It’s a fact, not a choice. This is all of us living in the “after-life of slavery.”

The privilege conversation continues in our white communities. We study writings, books and first-person stories, all the while educating and challenging ourselves and each other to see what is before our eyes.

— Karen Nelson