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a cce s s H ea l t h N ews . n e t M a rc h 2 0 2 6 Volume 11 | Issue No. 104 36 aH Countering Racism Requires Understanding and the Will to Activate Privilege and Influence T he recent killing of George Floyd has intensified the hurt and anger from years of targeted violence, oppression, and racism that many Black Americans have endured. With days of social unrest, there is a sense of sheer devastation about the role race plays in American culture. Parents of black children pray their sons and daughters are never listed among the litany of black people who have been unmercifully killed by police. They pray the younger generation will accomplish what their generation couldn't – demanding parity among all people, the kind of parity that evens the scales, and levels the playing field. As this country experiences a reckoning with centuries of racists acts, practices, and brutality, there is a shift in the atmosphere. The veil has lifted. Now, the putrid stench of an American way of life, dressed up in the guise of democracy, is exposed for the world to see. Many parents of black boys made it a point to have "the talk" with their sons before they reached middle school. These boys received explicit lessons about how to respond if ever approached by a police officer. These lessons were reinforced as they grew older. In the last few years, it has become apparent that this talk should be extended to their daughters, too. Many white Americans are having the talk, as well. This one is not about the dos and don'ts when approached by the police. Instead it's about white privilege — defined by Oxford as inherent advantages possessed by a white person based on race in a society characterized by racial inequality and injustice. The truth is, so-called white privilege will continue to lace American culture as long as white people leverage this false sense of superiority to maintain the higher rung within the power dynamic – at the expense of people of color. Published in July 2020

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