As a white woman, I can visit a theater, college, bank, etc. with no one questioning why I am there. I am perceived as none threatening, honest, and of good character. Those are some of my privileges.
I had characters who looked like me and were not characterizations.
I am not from a wealthy family. We did not have a lake house and income property but I still knew that schooling was possible. My parents started talking about possible colleges very early. I knew that I would be able to go to college. Granted I also knew that it would be hard for my parents to pay for it and I did have to take out and repay some loans. However, Some of my friends knew they would not get loans so they gave up on their dreams and it was impossible for r their parents to help due to higher mortgage interest and lower-paying jobs.
I was able to babysit in my neighborhood and was considered a hard-working and trustworthy preteen and teenager. Some of my friends did not get the opportunity to prove themselves.
In this training, I realized that I did some things I should not have. I asked some of my friends how to say greetings and please and thank you in their languages so that I could talk to their non English speaking grandparents a little. I thought I was being polite.
