LET’S TALK ABOUT PRIVILEGE:

 

79.4% of the 10804 zip code is White. 6.8% and 6.7% is Black and Hispanic, respectively. Only 2.6% of the 14, 753 residents in 10804 live in poverty. 

 

15% of the 41,759 residents of 10801 live in poverty. 8.7% of 10805’s 19,215 residents live in poverty. The correlation between wealth and the elitist attitude that has fed into the discrimination and adversity so many people of New Rochelle face, and faces silently.

 

Privilege is an uncomfortable conversation to have. From those who stem from privilege, too often the reaction either consists of guilt or straight denial. Those who recognize the resources they were given at birth seldom acknowledge how it influences the ways in which they interact with their environment. Though many pay lip service to diversity and inclusion, without a commitment to catalyzing anti-racist progressive change within their communities, it’s not enough to protect the most vulnerable within our community.

 

This is not a condemnation of the privileged. When someone’s early education is filled with those of their socioeconomic class, and largely their own race, their environment confirms their worldview. To be wealthy and white is the norm. When there are few students from the working class, few students of color, their experiences are erased and silenced.  This is where racism starts. This is where classism starts.

​

This is part of the elitist attitude our society teaches. Students are implicitly taught, by their parents, their school makeup, to  either pity those financially worse off than you, OR ignore it. Willful ignorance is only made possible by these privileges. It’s a choice that is then reinforced by environment, again and again. How many times have our parents warned us of making eye contact with those who are homeless? That they are in that position because of making the wrong choice in life, that they will simply use their donations to buy drugs or alcohol, not the victims of a centuries-old system built to make the rich richer, and the poor poorer.

 

Short term reform has proven to be inadequate. We see this in our imprisonment rates, the American wealth gap, the American culture as a whole. New Rochelle embodies the problem we have in the United States. New Rochelle is a self-proclaimed model diversity only upheld through racial segregation.

 

Growing up in these bubble communities only perpetuates to the vicious cycle too many Americans have been oppressed by. We’re taught, as humans, only act on behalf of our own self-interest, or for those we identify as our community. If no one in your personal network has ever not known if they’re going to make rent this month, has never depended on welfare, has never been food insecure, you will never be able to begin to truly empathize with those who struggle every day. You WILL stay silent.

 

As New Rochelle residents, especially those from 10804, we must analyze our mindset, acknowledge the difficult truths of privilege. Then, let us rid ourselves of the institutions that have ingrained these implicit biases, and that have enforced racist policies.

 

We must fight for inclusivity with inclusivity. Only then will we accomplish the mission of those before us. Only then will we be able imagine a generation free of oppression.