White privileged people are uncomfortable talking about being white privileged people.

"That would upset me very much. I wouldn't go there."

So said one Westport, CT, resident to the Associated Press regarding an essay topic asking local students their thoughts on white privilege, a topic that is frustrating many residents.

The essay topic is one many Americans are troubled with acknowledging-- race and wealth. Americans are uncomfortable with the topic because, on some level, many judge one another based on easy qualifiers like wealth and race, too, yet they don't want to be judged in turn on such simplistic metrics.

Westport is beautiful, quaint, charming, and enveloped in money. For local populations between 20,000-60,000, Westport is noted as one of the United States' ten wealthiest communities. It's ranked fifth in the nation for median family income, with median home prices of $1,200,000. And the town is also 93% white.

These aren't flaws or problems. Repeat: These are not flaws. There is nothing wrong. These are simply facts.

Westport is wealthy and predominantly white--which led to a creation from the city of a diversity council a decade ago called TEAM Westport, which sought to increase the diversity and appeal of the community to a broader spectrum of people. Part of that involved asking local students this year what white privilege entailed in their lives.

That's all. The essay question simply asks for self-awareness.

It hasn't gone well.

"There's a lot more controversy around it than many of us expected," said Harold Bailey Jr., a retired IBM vice president who is black and chairs the diversity council. "Just the fact it says 'white' and 'privilege,' for some people that's all they need to see, and all of a sudden we're race-baiting or trying to get people to feel guilty. That's not at all what it's about."

Longtime resident Bari Reiner disagrees. "It's an open town," she said. "There are no barricades here. Nobody says if you're black or whatever, you can't move here."

Reiner--and others--seem to misunderstand nuance. The question asked what it simply meant to be white and wealthy, and the benefits inherent in that combination, which Reiner and 93% of her fellow residents are. It is, again, a matter of self-awareness.

Right now, reading comprehension awareness about what the essay question actually asks would be an huge advancement.