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Among my third-graders, conflicts often arose over the issue of skin color. “Your mama left you in the oven too long. You look just like a burnt cookie!” “Oh yeah, well you look like a white boy. I bet you ain’t even black.” As a young white teacher coming into a school that is about half African-American and half Latino, I knew there would be racial conflicts, but I didn’t know how they would manifest themselves. I assumed that both groups’ first concern would be the oppression and racism from white people. I was not expecting the intense criticism that I found within the African-American community of its own members.

Teaching the movement to high schoolers gave this college student an opportunity to address her personal "privilege paralysis" and embrace her potential as an agent of change.

A recent news segment offers a great lesson in privilege and the dangerous social function of humor based on identity.

How do you respond to co-workers who do not recognize their own privileges? An after-school program staff member shares her experience.

This educator reflects on a blog she wrote for Teaching Tolerance in 2014—and finds herself confronting the same misperceptions from others about her culture and worldview.