On August 11, Simone Manuel became the first African American ever to medal in an individual swimming event at the Olympics. She took home gold in a tie with Canadian Penny Oleksiak in the women's 100-meter freestyle, and set an Olympic record in the process. To put that in perspective, that’s 120 years without an African American victory.

The image of Manuel’s hand clasped over her mouth in disbelief at the race’s conclusion will be forever associated with that night. And my local paper decided Manuel--who has local ties no less--be recognized on their Twitter by (naturally) honoring...Michael Phelps? Oh yeah, and some African American woman or whatever.

At least NBC was a bit more accommodating--never mind.

Just two nights before, African American gymnast Gabby Douglas stood as part of the Final Five to claim another gold. As the strains of “The Star-Spangled Banner” began to play in the arena, Douglas stood at attention, flanked by her glassy-eyed teammates.

However, Douglas failed to put her hand over her heart during the anthem, and was promptly vilified over the Twittersphere for not doing so. She was targeted by angry Twitterers for an act of disrespect towards her flag, and by extension, her country. Nevermind that she’s already won several golds for it.

On August 14, American swimmers Ryan Lochte, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz got caught red-handed in what became a terribly-executed (not to mention terribly-named) lie of a night out.

Just like that, in six nights, America showed us once again that yes, white privilege in this country does exist, and it stops for nothing. Not even the world’s largest sporting event.

For Manuel, the fact that it took over a century for an African American to claim Olympic gold in an individual swimming even follows a lengthy and charged legacy in institutional racism. Public swimming pools like the one Manuel practiced in back home in Texas became one of the last bastions of segregation in the mid-20th century. Pools were built in areas accessible only to white Americans. And when African Americans fought for access to these same pools, they got everything from arrests, to beatings to acid baths--all in the name of keeping everything separate and unequal.

Decades later, segregation's legacy still leaves its mark. Just under 70 percent of black children have little to no ability to swim, and black children drown in swimming pools at a rate of five and a half times higher than their white counterparts.

You know where the “black people can’t swim jokes” started? Right here.

What Manuel’s victory has taught us is that racism can’t be shoved away with the passage of one proclamation, one law, or even a set of laws. You don’t remove four centuries of oppression in a year. Or a decade. Or a generation. Or even a century. Sometimes it takes 31 Olympiads to get there.

And even then, you get snubbed for it.

For Douglas, her actions follow a long list of people of color who have been vilified for their perceived lack of patriotism towards a country that has stopped at nothing to treat them like second-class citizens. Fellow Spartans Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists in the air in protest, Michelle Obama drawing heat for being proud of her country "for the first time," and then-Senator Obama--a future president no less--drawing ire for not putting his hand over his heart, not wearing a flag pin, and allegedly being a Muslim (read: not a Christian, and therefore not American) are just a few examples of black Americans being put under a microscope for their allegiance by the people who oppressed them in the first place.

For Lochte, his actions follow the formula for covering white Americans who find themselves in trouble: “boys will be boys,” and to “give these kids a break.” Never mind the fact that Lochte is 32 (and therefore not a boy anymore), and lied about getting robbed. His actions show us that a white man can literally urinate on someone else’s property, vandalize it and then cover it about it by saying he was the one who was wronged.

If all of this doesn’t convince you of the benefits being white and male in this country bestow upon you, imagine if the roles were reversed. If Manuel and Douglas were white, and Lochte, Bentz and Conger were black.

Unfortunately for us, we don’t have to. The same night Manuel took gold, Michael Phelps, a white male (but you knew that already), got a free pass for his jovial attitude during his medal ceremony, invoking the Baltimorean tradition of yelling "O!" during the national anthem.

But that isn't even the most glaring example. Just days after Douglas's ceremony, American athletes Ryan Crouser and Joe Kovac (two more white, male athletes--but you probably guessed that already) failed to put their hands over their hearts during their gold medal ceremonies for shot put. Yet their non-salutes didn't grab the attention of the Twittersphere like Douglas's actions did.

That’s a concession Douglas, as a black female, wasn’t given during her ceremony.

A black version of Lochte, Bentz and Conger would have been labeled “lawless,” “thugs,” without the light-heartedness the actual Lochte and friends have been afforded. That’s a concession these three were given.

If that still doesn’t convince you of this problem we’ve lived with for centuries, then you probably know what I’m going to tell you to concede to next.

Although the Olympics are over, this problem that we all live with isn’t. It shouldn’t take another 31 Olympiads to address it.