What Gives Me the Right? (A Post About Privilege, Integrity, and Doing the Work Anyway)

Sometimes I look at my life and think about the ease I experience, the safety I have, the privileges I was born into, and I wonder: What gives me the right to do this work?

I’m white. Cis. I was raised with money. I own a home. I’ve had access to education, healthcare, safety, rest. My life, in so many ways, has been soft where others’ have been sharp.

So who am I to talk about liberation, joy, stress, self-judgment, fear? Who am I to coach anyone? Who am I to have something to say about social justice?

These questions sit with me often. They don’t go away. And I don’t think they should.

And I’ve realized something important:

This isn’t guilt. It’s conscience. And conscience isn’t a reason to disappear. It’s a reason to show up differently.

I used to believe (quietly, unconsciously) that maybe I needed to suffer more to be credible. That my ease somehow disqualified me from contributing. That I had to choose between honesty and impact, or between owning my privilege and using my voice.

But the belief that ease cancels out insight is just another product of the same systems I want to challenge. It centers individual suffering instead of collective responsibility.

It says: Don’t speak until you’ve earned it. It says: If you’re not hurting, you’re not trustworthy.

Here’s where I’m landing now: Privilege doesn’t disqualify me. It calls me to be more intentional, more transparent, more accountable.

So this is what I try to practice instead:

• I speak from my lane. I don’t pretend to know what I don’t. I share what I’ve learned, what I’ve witnessed, and how I’m growing.

• I name my privilege out loud. I don’t pretend I got here alone. I don’t hide the scaffolding that made my path smoother.

• I don’t center myself in conversations that aren’t about me — but I also don’t disappear when it’s time to redistribute resources, make space, or take action.

• I let discomfort shape me. Not as a punishment, but as a guide.

  
  

I’m not trying to be a voice for anyone else. But I am trying to be a voice that takes responsibility for how I show up in this world and how I use what I have access to.

If you’ve ever felt like your privilege makes your voice unwelcome or your work less meaningful, maybe this is your reminder too:

You don’t need to suffer more to be valid. You don’t need to disown your ease to be in integrity. You just need to keep choosing to do the work differently.

And I’m right here with you.