by Not Sure
01/12/24
Johns Hopkins Hospital Chief Diversity Officer Sherita Hill Golden sent a letter out essentially implying that all people who don’t look like Ms. Golden are ‘privileged’. Thus, Ms. Golden is superior to all the white men. It never ceases to amaze me that people with real privilege are always the ones accusing others of such privilege. If a white person had put out such a letter denigrating all non-white people, that white person would have been fired on the spot. However, it seems that Ms. Golden still has her job and is backed and supported by her racist institution - Johns Hopkins. To be able to spew non-stop hate, racism, and supremacy and still keep her job is real privilege.
Allow me to pass along how I used ‘privilege’ to my benefit. This happened some twenty years or so ago but I assure readers the story I am passing along is 100% real and true.
At the time, I lived in a large southern city and as such, part of the tax money I paid to the city every year went to garbage service. The pick-up day for my neighborhood was Monday.
It so happened that a Monday in January was a federal holiday. We did not get garbage service that week.
The next Monday rolled around and I had two weeks of garbage stuffed in the trash bin issued to me and it was left on the curb as always. We experienced a light snow fall of several inches. Granted, in the south, a few inches of snow shuts everything down. So, the trash collectors did not make it to our neighborhood for a second week.
The next Monday rolled around and I now have three weeks of garbage with a bin full and other bags next to the bin. The weather was fine that Monday and I looked forward to finally having all that garbage picked up.
As I drove into my neighborhood, I could see that my neighbors had received garbage service and their bins were empty. Not mine.
The next day I called the garbage service. They told me I had too much trash to pick up and I would have to dispose of it myself. Why am I paying taxes?
The next day I called the Mayor’s office and they said they would look into it. Crickets for a few days and I called back. They gave me the same story that I had an excessive amount of trash regardless of my explanation.
My Scots-Irish ancestry would not allow me to give up. I had a moment of brilliance. Or, perhaps it was ‘privilege’.
My voting district Councilperson was a liberal female (who a few years later became Mayor). So I emailed her with my dilemma complete with the whole background of how I came to accumulate so much trash.
As I composed my email, it came to me in a flash. I mentioned that if I did not receive garbage service I was going to call the NAACP. I did not lie about my race. I just wrote that my next step would be the NAACP.
The very next day I received an email back from my Councilperson. She was sorry this had happened and the city was not going to discriminate against me.
Hallelujah!!
Two days later a garbage truck came to my house and picked up all my trash. It wasn’t even my neighborhood collection day. I felt so…, well…, privileged!!!
Again, I can assure readers this is a true story.
This is real privilege. Ms. Golden is the personification of such privilege.
