It was very hard to hear that TED talk, but I'm glad I did. I think white culture and white privilege is real and I'm a part of it. I think White people do have an inherent advantage in life and white culture is the norm. I know when I've been stopped by police, I've never been assaulted or only been given a warning (which may also be because i'm a white woman). I just think about my high school, which was a public school, but a very good school and that compared to MPS (milwaukee public schools) and how different my life and education would have been if I had gone to a MPS school. I went to Northwestern for graduate school, which is also a privileged institution. I think a lot of people don't get the chance for that type of education and even though I worked very hard to get there, I can't deny that my white privilege and accumulated wealth helped me get there. I"m choosing to go into the counseling field and I'm aware that being a therapist has an inherent quality of power. I also keep thinking about how as a white therapist I can try to use my privilege to help clients of color. I also think that if I'm not careful I could be biased or end up diagnosing clients with something more severe due to bias and inherent racism. I also have the privilege of being a white therapist and seeing a therapist of my race, whereas clients of color may not have that option. I think it's important to reflect on that and my power and privilege both in and out of the therapy room though perhaps I'm just rambling. I hope I can use that privilege to advocate for and help others instead of the opposite.
