Michelle, I hear your frustration in this piece. I don't want to make you more frustrated but I think you've got the wrong end of the stick.

I take your point, sort of. But white privilege is not a "cover-up" or politically correct phrase for racism, it's not a genteel way to say racism. "White privilege" and racism are two aspects of the same belief system. It is one of the underlying assumptions of racism: It is the natural result of the belief system of White supremacy. Racism, white privilege, white supremacy: these are all interconnected concepts and each adds something different to our understanding.

As someone who is not overtly or consciously racist, who regards themselves as an ally and tries to do the work of looking at their own attitudes and complicity, no matter how well I do at that, I still benefit from white privilege whether I like it or not. It's easier for me to get a job or housing, for example. But the instances in an average day are countless.

As a white male I get to see myself mirrored in the images all around me in the media, I go into a grocery store and can buy the foods that are part of my heritage and culture. I can speak in a meeting at work and be quite sure I will be listened to. I can move to a new neighbourhood and be pretty sure of a welcome from the residents. I can walk down the street late at night and not be stopped. The list is endless. Reading that list was an eye-opener for me, I had never considered those "trivial" examples.

And to say to the community that "there is nothing holding you back but yourself?" That surprised me, and as a Black woman you have the standing to make that remark. I don't know if it’s true, and I could never know if it’s true. I haven’t lived the life, you have. I could never say those words to a Black person, I do not have standing to say anything like that, because I would be speaking from my position of — white privilege, unaware of the many subtle and not so subtle barriers Blacks face.