A group of students at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania are wearing white puzzle piece pins to spread awareness about, and to remind themselves of “white privilege.”
The Elizabethtown College Democrats launched a campaign over the weekend wearing white puzzle piece pins asking students and others to reflect on how their racial identity affects their life.
Aileen Ida, president of the College Democrats, believes that a discussion on “white privilege” is necessary.
“This project will encourage people to have conversations about race and how their inherent white privilege has a part in the systematic oppression of minorities — whether or not they purposefully participate in the system,” she told Lancaster Online.
The project was adapted from a Lutheran pastor’s similar effort in Wisconsin.
Ida added that reflecting on the topic is especially important in local Lancaster County because it is a predominantly white community.
She said that the societal system put in place by white people is oppressing others.
“No matter how accepting someone is, that doesn’t stop them from being part of a system based on centuries of inequality,” Ida told The College Fix.
“I believe that this [white privilege] can be seen in the day-to-day life of people of color versus the day-to-day life of white people,” she said. “Most people of color don’t have a choice but to consider how their race affects their life on a daily basis, this is not true for most white people.”
She hopes more than 100 people will be wearing the pins by February 17 and that they will wear it for more than a month.
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