First of all, I'm horrified that you were put through what you were put through in the 90's. That should never have happened. Nor should anyone in a wealthy country ever have to "dumpster-dive".

The term "white privilege" doesn't mean white people never have hard times, though. It means that what Pentland did to this kid would never happen to you- you, or I, will never be treated like that just for walking down a street in our own neighborhood, just as you or I will never be shot by a cop during a traffic stop. Whiteness doesn't guarantee anyone wealth, but it does guarantee freedom from random, unjustified threatening encounters like this.

And if the Pentland haven't even offered a defense for what they did here, and if the police didn't charge this kid with ANY crime, isn't that pretty much all the proof we need that what they did here was totally unjustified and was driven by nothing but racism?