In the lead-up to the 2016 election, American fault lines trembled. Now, with the death of George Floyd, deep fissures are exposed, and voices are once again clashing on ideas of race and privilege.

Racism always gets star billing, but privilege — gender, sexual, racial, class — is more insidious and subversive; it is often ignored and easily misunderstood. Many denounce its existence without actually understanding it. As a public-school educator, I zero in on it.

We all want to feel that what we have is earned — the American Dream! — but privilege interferes with that notion.

So what is privilege?

Privilege is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group.” Benefits are unearned and easy to take for granted.

Racial privilege only exists in a society characterized by racial inequality. That’s an important distinction. As Wellesley educator Peggy McIntosh said 30 years ago to describe the unique cunning of white privilege, “unearned assets are cashed in each day” without people even realizing they are doing it. In an unjust society, privilege is invisible to the wearer.

Class privilege is defined as privilege based on someone’s social status. Those whom society deems members of a lower social class — in America, this often means the poor and under- educated — often experience painful and crippling class discrimination.

Having privilege does not disqualify you from hardship. You can experience privilege because of one aspect of who you are (say, the color of your skin), but be denied privilege based on another (like your income). That is where most people who deny privilege get tripped up. These hierarchies in our society are interlocking and tricky to untangle.

No matter who you are or where you live, denial of privilege always leads to oppression; if you have been denied access to necessities that others take for granted — like housing, education, employment— you are experiencing some form of oppression. Oppression leads to frustration, anger, helplessness and hopelessness. A society built on these principles cannot succeed.

The idea that equality of opportunity and high aspirations are available to any American solely through hard work and determination is central to American culture. The people who came to America 400 years ago left places where that ideal is not the dominant paradigm. They left countries defined by racial, religious and class discrimination with a dream of equality. And people are still coming with that dream clutched tightly in their fists.

Did the American Dream ever really exist? Will it still be our dominant cultural identity 50 years from now? I hope so. My students hope so, too. Nobody wants to grow up in a society defined by privilege instead of sweat.

So what are some solutions? First, we need to start listening. It takes active listening to recognize and unpack privilege. We also need intentional education — from the top down; our educational system, administrators and teachers must prioritize multicultural learning. In Hawaii, that means that, in addition to U.S. and Native Hawaiian history and culture, we need to be more inclusive to all of the other cultures that make up the United States (and the world). We need to re-center the narrative; the United States is not the center of the universe, nor is Hawaii.

Lastly, as individuals, we must be disciplined and diligent in educating ourselves and striving for inclusivity and empathy over isolationism and tribalism.

As far as I can tell, this generation of teenagers is leading the way.

Brooke Nasser is an English and news-writing teacher at Kalani High School; she also is a freelance filmmaker and journalist.