Look, I went to register my son for kindergarten this morning. I got there at the appointed time, was greeted by name by two staff outside the school (I had called the day before to make an appointment), and taken in the lobby where 5 black folks were already waiting. We went to the appropriate office, and the white lady running the registration literally said I was awesome and gave me the Buddy Jesus point/wink as she took my completed paperwork first. For some reason she wrote a big W at the top of my paperwork and circled it. She copied my kid's birth certificate and said she'd just look up my residence online later and that I was done. I was there 5 minutes total.

Now, there are some extenuating circumstances there. I had a kid in that school a few years ago, so I know the staff. I have internet, a printer, fresh ink, paper, and a Macbook at home so I was able to print out and complete the registration paperwork at home. I own my home, so my records are in the county real estate system. I have a car so I can get there exactly at the appointed time. I have some assets and advantages.

Those black folks (mostly women) got there before me, had gotten their paperwork from the secretary, and were already filling it out when I arrived on the scene. They were in every way ahead of me in line. But I breezed in from outside with the registrar and she took care of me first. The one white lady made sure the one white guy got taken care of quickly and kindly and then he was on his way.

I'm sure the registrar was thinking, these folks aren't quite done with their paperwork, they will have to prove residency through a complicated aggregation of utility bills and affidavits of relationship to grandma and whatnot, I can get this guy out fast and then deal with these people. How do you think that looked to the people who were already there before me? Would it look like white privilege? Would it look like racism? Would they be sensitive to the matter after seeing this kind of thing frequently?

Furthermore, white folks like to frame these issues as issues of race because it keeps us from having more meaningful conversations about poverty. Black folks are sometimes the poorest of the poor because of things like racism, economic segregation, unemployment, bad schools, and on and on. Many of the issues that we frame as "black" problems are simply symptoms of being very poor and you find white folks in the same socioeconomic bracket doing only just slightly better because, well, they're white and don't have to deal with the racist bit...they get the benefit of the doubt most times, get that job, etc.