I read this piece and found it very informative. You present the concept of white privilege as meaning that white people are, in essence, the “default” standard in American life, being the norm, not meriting special attention because of their skin color. That appears to be largely true. My response is that, for white people born before the 1960’s, most grew up in white neighborhoods, went to white schools, prayed in white houses of worship, and, in general, were well on their way to adulthood before encountering nonwhites in any number. Of course they see white people as the norm! As for those younger, they still grew up in a world in which the dominant group was white people. That is not a value judgment. That is real. Do people of color face systemic racism? Yes. Do sexual minorities face prejudice and misunderstanding? Yes. But to call the favored position held heretofore by white people “privilege?” Your opening paragraphs were correct. The overwhelming number of white people see or hear that word and the wall goes up. If scholars of race relations hired every social science research company in America, and they networked every supercomputer in existence, they could not come up with a term better calculated to snuff out debate and simultaneously increase white racial animus if they tried. That may not be the politically correct position. I assure you it is accurate.