I’m an old white guy
How the fuck did that happen?
Straight – with a few predilections just like everyone else – white, and old
British, Scottish to be truly accurate
You might have noticed
I do not share the guilt of southern slave owner forbearers
I share the guilt of empire building classists who raped and pillaged half the world…
And helped invent southern slave trade
Sure we help create the abolitionist movement too
but that’s like saying “I no longer beat my wife”
Call me ally if you must, but it is a title I’m not sure I deserve
I am here to be uncomfortable
To recognize that I will never recognize
I can’t speak, even in fiction, to the inconceivable
I’m not a person of color
I’m not gay, I’m not trans, I’m not marginalized from my position of privilege
Even my outsider status as a holder of a piece of plastic with green card written on it hardly makes a dent it that
They even want my vote
Although they can’t have it
Pledging allegiance is just a step too far
Just being able to say these words is cloaked in a privilege i didn’t earn
But that I was born with
Born to Anglo Saxon white Protestant parents
One dead, one dying
So I’m here for truth
To hear truth
Maybe even to speak it
Exercising my privilege to be welcomed
Or even just tolerated
Without fear other than nerves
As that old white guy.
Word Outlet 