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White Privilege: A Manifesto
by Seth Michelson

July 1, 2014 Contributed By: Seth Michelson

—found in an interview with actor Levar Burton, who is African-American

Listen: I’m gonna be
honest with you. This
is a practice I engage in
every time I’m stopped
by law enforcement.
I’ve taught this to my son,
now thirty-three, as part
of my duty as a father
to ensure he knows the kind
of world in which he is
growing up. When I get
stopped by the police,
I take my hat off
and my sunglasses off,
put them on the passenger seat
and roll down my window.
I take my hands, stick them out
the window and lay them
flat against the door
because I want that officer
to be as relaxed as he can be
when he approaches
my vehicle. I do this
because I live in America.

Return to table of contents for Issue 8 Summer 2014.

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Filed Under: Poetry Posted On: July 1, 2014

Further Reading

THE WALKING THE CABBAGE PROJECT (2000-2010) photography and performance art by Han Bing

Return to table of contents for PRACTICES, POWER & THE PUBLIC SPHERE Return to table of contents for Issue 2 Winter 2010

JOHNSON’S REPLY by Kent Johnson

Greetings to you over there, in the 5th or 7th arrondissement. You’d asked me some months back if I might wish to respond. I wrote you back, you’ll recall, and said I thought it best to let your review stand alone. But yesterday, the folks from MAYDAY wrote me and asked, as well, that I say something […]

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