system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Just because I’m a white American doesn’t mean I’m a colonizer

I was in a Facebook argument about something completely unrelated and someone called me a colonizer. I mean, just because my ancestors stole and colonized land doesn’t mean im a colonizer, does it? My reasoning is that I never colonized land. I was born in an already colonized country and I live in my parents home. I haven’t stolen land from people. I reside in stolen land and benefit from American colonization, but does that make me a colonizer? Wouldn’t that mean basically everyone in every country is a colonizer? I mean, there were people in America before native Americans (I think, correct me if I’m wrong please), so then by that logic wouldn’t native Americans also be colonizers?

I guess you might compare this to white privilege. Yes because I benefit from the systems put in place to protect white people, and I get all the other benefits I get for being white, that absolutely means I have white privilege. Yes I have a “colonization” privilege, but is it true that since I benefit from that, then I’m a colonizer? 

Just because my ancestors owned slaves and I benefit from the centuries of slavery, does that mean I’m a slave owner? Perhaps this is an invalid comparison, if so please tell me why.

Perhaps my perception of what a colonizer is in incorrect?

Edit: in my opinion, a colonizer would be someone who has literally stolen or colonized land from another. The difference for me is that I live on stolen land, but I didn’t steal it myself.

Edit 2: Based on what other commenters said, I’m taking the word colonizer too literally, it was probably just an angry insult. But regardless, the point they were probably trying to make was that I benefit from colonization privilege, which I agree.
gpt
I would suggest taking a more nuanced view. There are many other people around the world that would consider the US to be colonizers right now. You (and me) benefit greatly from extracting cheap resources from third world countries. It’s not exactly the same but there are enough similarities that it would be fair to consider what the US does as a modern form of colonialism.