Joy DeGruy, a black woman, went to the grocery store one day with her 10-year-old daughter and sister-in-law Kathleen. What happened next happens every day in America – only it doesn’t have to.
She told the story of their experience standing at the checkout line at a grocery store. The checker, who thinks Kathleen is white (although she is actually biracial), was friendly and chatty as she accepts her check without ID. She steps away to wait for DeGruy.
When DeGruy stepped up to the checker, it’s a different story.
“No conversation. She looks up at me, so I write my check. And she goes, ‘I’m going to need two pieces of ID.’ At which point my daughter looks at me, gets very, very embarrassed and tears come to her eyes, and she’s like ‘Mommy, you’re not going to let her do this. Why is she doing this to us?’ “
DeGruy decided to let it pass and gives her the ID. But it got worse. The checker pulled out the bad check book and starts searching for her license in the book, as her daughter completely collapsed in tears.
Kathleen, who was watching all this, challenged the checker, asking her why she is doing this and is told it’s the store policy. Kathleen protests, since the checker didn’t ask her for ID. The manager walks over at this point and asks if there’s a problem.
“‘Yes, ‘” Kathleen said, “‘there is a problem here. Here’s what happened.’
“So you see, she used her white privilege and even though Kathleen is half-black and half-white, she recognizes what that means. She made the statement, she pointed out the injustice, and…influenced everyone in that space… Kathleen knew she walked through the world differently than I did, and she used her white privilege to educate and make right a situation that was wrong. And that’s what you can do, every single day.”
Featured image is a screengrab via YouTube.
