I found my privilege sitting in traffic

Marvin Day, of Jackson Heights, holds up a large bus on Seventh Avenue in Times Square on Dec. 4, 2014 in protests over the death of Eric Garner. Photo Credit: Library of Congress/William P. Gottlieb

Everybody wants to change the world, until a the movement gets in the way of their ability to move.

That’s the experience I had last weekend, when my desire to get where I was going for a dinner reservation in New York City ran up against the desire of a crowd of protesters to make a statement about race and justice.

Sitting in traffic, this is what I felt: This is what privilege is, the ability to marginalize the fight against systemic injustice because the injustice doesn’t happen to me.

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