Commentary: White progressive parents and the conundrum of privilege

Greg and Sarah live in a predominantly white neighborhood and send their children to a predominantly white private school. "I don't want to believe we are hypocrites," Greg tells me. "But if we say diversity is important to us, but then we didn't stick around in the place that was diverse, maybe we are?" He looks at Sarah. "I dunno," he continues. "I guess we made decisions based on other things that were more important. But what does that say about us then?"

For two years I conducted research with 30 affluent white parents and