To be honest, I'm going to try to stay out of this conversation, mainly because others are able to explain my points much better than I ever could.
For those saying "my family didn't own slaves so I never benefited: Ugh, really? There is this lovely thing called accumulation and disaccumulation of wealth (not just income, but actual wealth) based on race. If your family was in the US before the 1960s, you benefited. You most likely benefited from being white after the 1960s, but I'm just going to focus on the first part. Watch the first 13 minutes of this video by
Tim Wise. Yes, he is southern and his family did own slaves, but this applies to the entire nation. My family didn't own slaves either, but that doesn't mean the system has been working in our favor for hundreds of years.
And with this I will let those more eloquent than I to continue