Louise O'Neill: 'Growing up as a white child in a predominantly white environment, race wasn’t something I gave much thought to'

Black Live Matters Protest Dublin

As white people have been forced to acknowledged the ugly truth of white supremacy, I have found myself wondering if this is how men felt during the #MeToo movement. Agonising over every off-hand remark in their past, remembering when they stayed quiet instead of speaking up, looking at every advantage afforded to them and wondering if it wasn’t, as previously assumed, a result of their hard work and talent but instead, a reward given by a insidiously unjust system working to maintain the status quo.

Growing up as a white child in a predominantly white environment, race wasn’t something I gave much thought to. When the first arrival of asylum seekers came to this country, and a Direct Provision centre was set up in my home town, I simply assumed that the residents must have been relieved to have found somewhere safe to live at last.