“White privilege” makes me feel invalid

Alice N,
TN.

I want to feel like my achievements are because of me and not because of my race. However, I’m told that I’ve only gotten to where I am because I’m white. This makes me feel like years of studying into early morning and fighting to get myself noticed out of a sea of faces was for nothing. Being white automatically makes people think that I think I’m better than everyone, that I’m automatically racist, that I don’t respect PoC. I want to break free of those assumptions and just be me.