Peggy McIntosh
Think Piece
Similar to the author, Peggy McIntosh, I had never really given much thought to my skin color giving me "white privilege". I think the way McIntosh describes white privilege as " an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebook, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks". It is good that McIntosh also notes that just because white people benefit from white privilege, does not make them oppressors. Many are not aware they are privileged; once they become aware they are privileged however, and do nothing to lessen or end white privilege, then we become oppressors. I think that all of the effects McIntosh listed can be found in everyday life, and most I can say I have experienced myself. A few that stood out to me were: #9 That you can go into a music shop, a supermarket or a hairdresser and find other people of your race or culture represented, #26 about makeup and bandages matching my skin color (this is something that I was never aware of, but now that it has been made aware, I can look back and see how true it is), and constant throughout many of McIntosh's effects was that everyday accomplishments or actions are not attributed to being "white".
It is important also that McIntosh mentions that just being aware of these privileges and the systems in place, or even further not liking them, will still not change the normalcy that has become of them. McIntosh offers one solution, that the ignorance most people have about the access to the real "American Dream" and how most people feel racism has ended simply because we have improved since the Civil Rights Movement, is the biggest problem that we face, and that informing the oblivious whites who have earned this advantage and conferred dominance is very important.
I think more solutions can be offered to this problem. What other ways can we change our American society so that all 26 of McIntosh's daily effects no longer exist? What ways can we educate people on white privilege, unearned advantage and conferred dominance? How can we teach people to walk in another's shoe?
http://www.tolerance.org/article/racism-and-white-privilege
This is a picture of a children's textbook, and as McIntosh states, the history of American civilization is pictured as being of all whites.
**Housekeeping Note- the first blog post I did was with the reading for next week, this is the REAL blog post one, which should have been published last night, but I published the other one last night instead by mistake**
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