The white norm and my skin.

I am very white. And where I come from, everyone else is white too. The only person of color I encountered on a regular basis when I was little, was a woman from Barbados who lived just outside of my village with her husband, who was white. They had a little boy a couple of years younger than me and we went to kindergarten together. I have tried to remember, really remember, anything from my childhood that tells me that I at some point questioned this woman and her son's darker skin, but can't think of anything at all. But when I think a bit further, I sort of understand why.

I love my parents, but they don't have any opinions about anything. I've tried to talk politics with them, but it's impossible. Now, I happen to be a bit too opinionated sometimes and I've wondered how that can be when my parents are how they are. But is it possible that because my parents never pushed their opinions on me (or, couldn't because they didn't have any) like some parents do their children, that I was able to shape my own ideas about the world and how I see things? It makes sense. And you know what more makes sense? My not caring for appearance as a young kid. I didn't have a parent who told me that "they have dark skin, that is not good, do not trust them" and I think that therefore I was raised to be more open-minded. And those who are told those things, often grow up to become narrow-minded and racist.

It was when I got older and started to hear and read things about racism that I got an understanding about how some people view others differently because of their darker skin and that I am incredibly fortunate to be born white in a middle class home, because I have always had everything I needed and no one discriminated me because of how I looked like. Now I have read a lot about this enormous issue and I understand how privileged I am. I wish I wasn't. I wish there weren't such a thing where a people could be more privileged, whether we are talking about skin color or class. As long as privilege exist, the world is poisoned by some kind of evil lurking in the darkness.

I'm not going to hate my whiteness though. 1. I can't do anything about it and there is therefore 2. no point in hating it. And 3. my pale skin is 'me'. It makes me who I am, just as it makes everyone else who they are. It doesn't matter what color your skin is, but as the skin is with you from day one, you learn to love it pretty quick, regardless of color. I can't think of myself with another skin color, because I am my pale skin.

I don't care about skin color or religion or culture. If you are nice to me I am nice to you. If you find happiness in your religion, then I am happy that you are happy. If you find strength and a sense of meaning in your culture and your traditions, please continue. I don't care what you do. There are not many things that makes me as happy as when I see other people's happiness.

[I decided to write this in English, as it is an important question. Can you still love your whiteness if you don't care about skin color?]