Our minister at the Allen Avenue UU Church in Portland spoke on the topic of Black Lives Matter. The congregation sat in an almost eerie silence while she related the details of the deaths of Trajan Martin, of Michael Brown and of Sandra Bland at Prairie View A&M in Hempstead, Texas.

Growing up near Houston, we always stopped in Hempstead on our way to my grandparent’s farm near Waco to buy the best watermelon in the world, those “Hempstead melons.” On up the road a piece, we passed by Prairie View A&M College on the right. And not far beyond that, Texas A&M College, in the town of College Station. Texas A&M was, at that time, an all-male college, whose students were mandated to take military training. It is a well-known fact that Texas A&M students have performed heroically in defense of the United States, eight former students having received the prestigious Medal of Honor. In 1963, the university opened its doors to the female half of the U.S. population, and in 1964 the first African American was admitted to the campus.

On those trips with our parents, we learned about those two separate colleges. We learned that Prairie View A&M was only for the negroes and their college was given the outcast books and sports equipment from Texas A&M. Their teachers were not paid equally to those of Texas A&M. That’s just the way it was, and I later learned the words “white privilege.”

I saw it everywhere as a child. My elementary school, my junior high school, my high school all white students, all white teachers and faculty. On the outskirts of town, the run-down schools for the blacks stood in stark contrast to my newly-built high school. I saw it in the separate neighborhoods. My neighborhood, a struggling middle class neighborhood, yet with paved streets and rows of small white homes built on concrete slabs. In the black communities, dusty dirt roads meandered between unpainted homes undergirded by wooden logs. White privilege.

So, I watched the dashboard video of Texas State Trooper Brian T. Encinia as he pulled Sandra Bland from her car. He had stopped her for failing to signal before changing lanes on a quiet tree-lined road with very little traffic. How many times do I fail to signal before changing lanes on a quiet street? Am I in fear of being pulled over for that minor traffic violation? No, because I have white privilege.

Sandra Bland and Officer Encina both graduated from Prairie View A&M. My husband and I both graduated from Texas A&M. Texas A&M is 60 percent white and 3.5 percent black while Prairie View is 85 percent black and 3 percent white. I claim white privilege, I didn’t have to even consider attending Prairie View A&M.

Did Sandra commit suicide? If so, why? If not, what did happen? I don’t know, but I do know she suffered what too many black people in the United States endure. She suffered from having black skin. I have white privilege.

Sally Breen lives in Windham.