I picked this up completely on a whim after hearing someone mention it online. It is absolutely an amazing work. To really get a feel for how far this country has come in 50 short years, and to really understand how far we have left to go, you need to read this.

As a white male, I’ve always been offended by the term ‘white privilege’, because it implies that I somehow didn’t work for what I have. But having read this, I can finally appreciate it. My ‘white privilege’ has nothing to do with me not working hard and not deserving the things that I have accomplished. I have worked hard, and I do deserve those things.

But these are things that blacks never had the opportunity to do. No matter how smart they were, no matter how well dressed, or well spoken, no matter how *white* they tried to appear to blend in, they would never be given the opportunity to prove themselves on their own merits. Their opportunities were taken away before they ever had a chance to even attempt to do grab them.

And while I can definitely appreciate how far we have come in a relatively short time, I am now able to see with a fresh new perspective the things that are still wrong with our thinking today.