I go to New Trier High School, of the small city of Winnetka, on the north shore of Chicago. It's one of the wealthiest areas in the country, and in turn (due to America's lopsided educational system,) it's high school is among the top in our nation. But likely the biggest difference between my school and, say, a CPS school, is the diversity of my school (or, rather, lack thereof.) If you walk through the halls of New Trier, you don't see Latinos, African Americans, and Asian Americans... you see white people. I don't believe I'm in a single class with an African American student; and despite the fact that this doesn't happen in most schools, it really should NEVER happen. So taking all this into account, if I were told to "check my privilege" by someone with a different racial background than myself, I would acknowledge it as probably being honest.
But that's not what Tal Fortgang did. Instead of considering the comment and realizing the fact that he's been luckier than most, he took it as a personal assault. Instead, he wrote an article about it in the Princeton Tory entitled, "Why I Don't Apologize for 'White Privilege.'" And if you read his article, you can already see why the title is misleading. It implies that someone attacked him, personally, with some kind of inversely racist remarks, but no. An African American student at Princeton simply told him to "check his privilege." No one is asking him to apologize for being a rich, white male, but merely asking him to acknowledge the fact that his life has been somewhat easier than the lives of many people of color. But Fortgang rushed to his computer and typed out an enraged article about how his parents and his parent's parents worked oh so hard to break the cycle of poverty, and how he is a product of their labors.
Fotgang's outrage is an unfortunately accurate portrayal of some of America's most elite, and their ignorance towards the advantages that they've had. Despite many U.S. laws that discriminate against minorities and the fact that Princeton's population is almost 60% white, he still somehow denies that he is being favored. But I ask: how can this be true when I look around the halls of a place like New Trier and I don't see any minorities?
I agree that there is a clear correlation between race and opportunity. As a result of many historically racist policies, many people of color have been much less likely to become economically successful. Besides historical policies, I think there are so few people of color at New Trier because of the de facto segregation, which prevented even well-off people of color from moving to many parts of the New Trier Township and has been occurring in Chicago for many decades.
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