It seems like you're saying that what is identified as privilege is actually the result of hard work from previous white generations that we should be grateful to be benefitting from, and that white communities are the superior ones that other racial groups should emulate because white communities demonstrate how you can achieve your dreams by working hard.
Assuming that I am understanding you correctly, I would like to first validate that you are correct to acknowledge that previous generations of white Americans have indeed worked hard to establish what we have in the United States. It makes sense that you would feel like white American ways of being-in-the-world are superior because this is your own group and I can tell you are proud of who you are. Your experience of being American, however, is just one among many other valid experiences of what it's like to be American, and it's not necessarily the case that all other racial groups want to emulate white America.
If you were to take the perspective of another racial group (e.g., Black Americans, Native Americans), then how do you think you would perceive white American communities and ways of being-in-the-world? I am not Black or Native American, but I imagine that neither group looks at white America with admiration because white communities have not been treating communities of color well since before the United States Declared Independence.
Did you know, for example, that white American communities owned slaves for longer than owning slaves has been illegal? The first slaves were taken here in 1619 and slavery wasn't abolished until 1865, which is 256 years of legally-sanctioned slavery. It has only been 155 years since 1865, which means that it was legal for white Americans to own slaves for 101 years longer than it has been illegal.
The 13th Amendment that abolished slavery states: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." It is crucial to note the qualification that slavery and involuntary servitude are still considered valid punishments for crime, which means that slavery has never actually been abolished in the United States; it has only changed forms. Did you know that inmates contribute a significant amount of labor to our economy and are typically punished with solitary confinement if they refuse to work?
I share these facts about slavery and imprisonment in order for you to consider the price of your self-admitted advantages, because there has never been a time in American history that white America hasn't depended on systematically exploiting Black labor. We would not have become a world power if we had not enslaved Black communities for over 250 years.
What if instead of being a competition life was more like a celebration waiting to happen? If life is a competition then only one person can win, and white people definitely are winning but this implies that it is necessary for everyone else to be losing, which means it's impossible for other groups to "catch up" to white communities if we are competing with each other.
One of my favorite quotes is "He faces no competition because he does not compete." Life is so much better when we release ourselves from trying to be better than others and instead meet others on their own terms, for we are all at eye-level when we sit at the table together.
Imagine if someone you cared about was really sick and upset--what would you do to care for them? I hope that you would want to provide them resources to get better and listen to why they're upset. It's not their fault that they got sick and they probably have a lot of reasons for why they are upset. If we truly do care for this person, then we will want to help them be well and alleviate whatever pain is in the way of their success. Someone who is sick and upset will not feel better by being told to not be sick or upset and instead act like a happy and healthy person.
Black people are sick and upset because of how they have been treated by white communities throughout American history. If we really do care about their well-being then we need to start listening to what they say about us so that we can begin to behave in ways that are less harmful. We are all related to each other through our human connection, but I fear that a lot of our humanity as white people has been whittled away because we feel that we are superior to others even though we are not and thus spend endless amounts of perilous effort on maintaining a sense of superiority at the expense of other people's health and well-being.
I hope it is clear that I mean you no disrespect and only share these thoughts with you in the spirit of wanting to understand where you're coming from and offer other suggestions about how to examine these issues. It's not a matter of "I'm right and you're wrong," it is more a matter of sharing our truths together so we can reach common ground, not win a competition -- for what is the price of winning a game when all the other players are dying from it?
