HE’S WRITE ON ‘WHITE’
Conn. teen nails ‘privilege’ essay
Others said that the council overstepped its bounds by bringing up white privilege — the unseen advantages white people automatically get in a society where positions of power are dominated by people who look like them.
Chet, who moved to Westport from Morningside Heights six years ago, wrote in his essay that he had not thought about white privilege until he moved to the wealthy suburb.
He recounted incidents in which a white student said the N-word when talking about diversity in an almost all-white classroom, and another classmate saying that Chet would have an easier time getting into college because he is black.
“I was stunned,” Chet wrote, “and mumbled something instead of firing back, ‘Your parents are third-generation Princeton and your father runs a hedge fund and yet you think my ride is free?”’
The teen, who wants to go into law or social work in order to help others, told The News that the episodes in his essay were just two examples of all the racially tinged interactions he has had in Westport. Others, he said, include the time a middle school teacher called him Jamal despite the fact there was no Jamal at his school.
He called for more inclusive discussions and sensitivity about privilege, words echoed by his mother Amanda Freeman, a sociology professor at the University of Hartford.
“We have the kids discuss these things at the dinner table because it’s part of our work,” said Freeman, who is white.
Chet’s father is Trey Ellis, a Columbia University professor and the screenwriter for films including 1995’s “The Tuskegee Airmen.”
Freeman said many parents have contacted her to say they were moved after reading her son’s essay.
Chet said he met with a local police chief to discuss possible hate mail. He’s yet to receive any.
He also said that some of his classmates said he only won the contest because he is black. “I think it’s a factor, but I think rightfully so, it’s a factor,” Chet said, adding that he has an uncommon perspective for his town.
Second place and $750 went to Josiah Tarrant, a white student who wrote about seeing white privilege while growing up with a little brother adopted from Ethiopia.