Yesterday was the day after Halloween and as you may expect there were continued celebrations of all hallows eve. This semester I have been taking classes that have been opening my eyes to privilege and in spring 2012 I took a class that also discussed the privilege of white males. At first, this idea made me uncomfortable. I did not want to think of being the person who is in power because of my skin, gender and sex. I pushed this to the back of my head. While working this summer I continued to reflect on what I had begun to learn in the spring. I started to look at the institution where I worked: a boys camp. The majority of boys who were there were white and from the upper middle income bracket. Now, as I have been thinking about this I have started to realize that racial jokes that people tell, are “funny” only because it is someone with privilege in a patriarchal society telling it. White males telling jokes about different ethnicities or dressing up as a different race for Halloween shows their position. The races that these white males dress up as are cultures. People are not something to look at in a zoo or gawked at like “freaks” in a circus. How often would you ever see someone who is of color dressed up as a Native American? This Halloween I observed someone dressed as a KKK member. I found myself overcome with rage. This is about as funny as painting a swastika on a synagogue. I wanted to run out of the building I was in, not to tell this person how I felt, but to physically injure them. I stopped because I was in shock. Discussing this with my mother, she helped me understand even more in depth the idea of privilege. I then understood, if I went up to this person and started yelling at him or her or decided to throw a punch I may be able to negotiate my way out of the situation. If I was a young man of color I would run the risk of being attacked because of the color of my skin. The gall of the person who dressed up in this costume reeks of ignorance, hatred and prejudice. I thought the purpose of becoming educated was to help us to identify our privilege, to practice civil exchange of thoughts and ideas and to embrace diversity with respect. Maybe, how to be aware of our privileges and change the way we behave in the world. Dressing like a Klan member is not amusing. We have to start to open the eyes of those who are blind to privilege. I wish people would be more aware of their behaviors and how they are perceived. Please open your eyes and try to realize how privileged you are and please respect everyone.