Story 9
"@Ah_nayP: 1. I feel this is necessary because some people have issues with comprehension. So I will explain white privilege through my family history."
"@Ah_nayP: 2. I don't come from a long line of rich folk who just had money to pay for everything through generations."
"@Ah_nayP: 3. At the age of 12, my orphaned great grandfather left SA for Zimbabwe and became a railroad worker. He got married and had 7 kids."
"@Ah_nayP: 4. The family sometimes lived in tents wherever he was working on the rails. None of them got a tertiary education."
"@Ah_nayP: 5. That was my grandmother's family. My grandfather's parents also could not afford to send him to university. He ended up being a miner."
"@Ah_nayP: 6. My grandparents couldn't afford to send my dad to university so he volunteered 2 extra years in the army to pay his way."
"@Ah_nayP: 7. That still wasn't enough so while studying towards a BA, he worked nights as a security guard to pay his fees."
"@Ah_nayP: 8. After graduating, he had a stint as a farm hand and then started working in the mines as well."
"@Ah_nayP: 9. From the mines, he was picked up by one of the overseeing companies and moved into the corporate sphere."
"@Ah_nayP: 10. Being a white male, he quickly moved up the ladder and ended up in a top position at a large chemical company."
"@Ah_nayP: 11. That salary allowed myself and my brothers to go to a private school and university with our fees paid."
"@Ah_nayP: 12. This doesn't mean that my dad didn't work his ass off but being a white male gave him more opportunities."
"@Ah_nayP: 13. As such, it took one generation to break the cycle of poverty in my family. This is not what happens to black families."
"@Ah_nayP: 14. The chances of a mine worker being plucked from the mines and placed in the corporate world without any qualifications are nil."
"@Ah_nayP: 15. Their children don't get the opportunities that I got because of centuries of structural inequality."
"@Ah_nayP: 16. And that's what white privilege entails. Black people who were in the same position as my family have to work so much harder to get out."
"@Ah_nayP: 17. I will be the first person in my family to get a professional degree too but it was much easier for me than my classmates from townships"
"@Ah_nayP: 18. Class and race in South Africa are heavily intertwined and if you try to say otherwise, you're plain ignorant."
"@Ah_nayP: 19. So please shut the fuck up about your job in a CD store."
"@Ah_nayP: 20. I've also worked throughout my varsity career and will be paying for my second degree with the money I saved up from that."
"@Ah_nayP: 21. But that wouldn't have been possible if my first degree wasn't paid for already. So it's not the same."
"@Ah_nayP: 22. And even with all my privilege, I turned down UCT because it was too expensive. So imagine what it's like for the kid who has nothing."
"@Ah_nayP: 23. As a white person and/or a person in a privileged position, you are also responsible for educating yourself on structural inequality."
"@Ah_nayP: 24. It took years at Wits for me to also shake my privilege blinders. I'm grateful to the people I met who gave me perspective."
"@Ah_nayP: In summary, #CheckYourPrivilege and #FeesMustFall!"
