The Notion of White Privilege White privilege is a term used to refer to societal privileges granted to people identified as white in western countries. These privileges are beyond what is experienced by non-white or people of color living under the same economic, political and social environments. These privileges could be obvious or less obvious that white people may not realize they have. These include cultural affirmations of one 's own worth, presumed greater social status, and the freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely (McIntosh, 1990). The effects of these privileges can also be seen in personal, educational and professional contexts. In both Tim Wise’s, ‘White Like Me: Reflections on Race from a Privileged Son’ and Ta-Nehisi …show more content…
He first gives an experience where he locked his keys in the car and so he had to try jimmy the lock with a hanger. Coincidentally, a police officer notices this and instead of viewing Wise with suspicion, he goes ahead and shows him a number of techniques on how to break into a car. He also talks about how he was in a position to potentially cause harm to former president George Bush by coming too close to him without being suspected by the police guards. He further points out that, Black and Latino males are three times more likely than white males to have their cars stopped and searched for drugs – even though white males are four-and-a-half times more likely to actually have drugs on them when they are stopped (Wise, 2007 ). Lastly, during training sessions with law enforcement officers, Wise asks, “What’s the first thing you think when you see a young black or Latino male driving a nice car in your neighborhood?” Without exception, they respond, “Drug dealer.” Wise then asks, “What’s the first thing you think when you see a young white male driving the same type of car in the same community?” Again, without exception, they say, “Spoiled little rich kid. Daddy probably bought him the car (Young, 2015).” This clearly shows that police have the wrong attitude towards young black men which is totally …show more content…
Coates first speaks of the non-indictment of Darren Wilson in the death of Michael Brown through his words to his son“…You stayed up till 11 pm that night, waiting for the announcement of an indictment, and when instead it was announced that there was none you said, “I’ve got to go,” and you went into your room, and I heard you crying. I came in five minutes after, and I didn’t hug you, and I didn’t comfort you, because I thought it would be wrong to comfort you. I did not tell you that it would be okay, because I have never believed it would be okay... (Coates, 2015)” Secondly, he narrates the story of Mabel Jones who worked hard to give her children comfortable lives including learning in private schools and frequent trips to Europe. Regardless of her social status and wealth, her son was tracked and killed by a policeman in what was considered a mistake. Surprisingly, Coates does not believe that only white officers discriminate against young black males. While it is clear that Darren Wilson, a white police man, is behind the death of Michael Brown who was a black teenager, he also reveals that Prince C. Jones, Jr. was killed in an altercation with a Prince George 's County, Virginia policeman who happened to be
In her article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh writes about the privilege white individuals get without noticing it. McIntosh talks about how whites are taught to not recognize their privilege. McIntosh having a background in Women’s Studies, she also talks about how men have more privileges than women, yet they rarely recognize it. In the article McIntosh claims that “After I realized the extent to which men work from a base of unacknowledged privilege, I understood that much of their oppressiveness was unconscious.”
Growing up as an African-American you are always taught to be twice as good. Twice as good as the white people to receive the same treatment as them. I grew up hearing this same phrase constantly but never really understood exactly what it meant until I got old enough to actually see the kind of world we are living in. The author of the article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” Peggy Mclntosh, took as step into shoes of black America and found that white privilege not only exist, but many whites are blind to it. She gives a clear argument about how white privilege is harmful to our society and how we can work together to fix this.
Tim Wise’s book White Like Me provides a picture of what it is like to be white in America. A main topic covered in White Like Me is white privilege. On pages 24 and 25 Wise illustrates what white privilege is and shares his opinion regarding how to address white privilege in society today. Wise’s plan for addressing white privilege is one not of guilt, but of responsibility, a difference Wise highlights. The concept of feeling guilty for white privilege lacks reason because white privilege is something built up through generations and its existence is not of any one person’s fault.
Everyone has privilege in one way or another. People feel that privilege is give to one race more, instead of every race. The race that it’s getting more privilege is the White race and with that comes White privilege. White means the people who have a light skin color also known as Caucasian or European and privilege means an advantage over others. An example of privilege is getting away with something that someone may not get away with. So White privilege is defined as “an invisible package of unearned assets that [someone that is White] can count on cashing in each day, but about which [they were] ‘meant’ to remain oblivious” (McIntosh 1990: 1). McIntosh is saying in that quote is that Whites do not recognize that they have this privilege
“I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group,” Peggy McIntosh wrote in her article White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Too often this country lets ignorance be a substitute for racism. Many believe that if it is not blatant racism, then what they are doing is okay. Both the video and the article show that by reversing the terms, there is proof that racism is still very existent in this world. By looking into A Class Divided and White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack along with their ability to broaden the cultural competence, once can see how race is still very prominent in our culture.
Dr. Peggy McIntosh looks at white privilege, by “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” She describes white privilege as almost a special check or coin that she gets to cash in on. Dr. McIntosh tells that white privilege has been a taboo and repressed subject – and that many white people are taught not to see or recognize it. However, she is granted privileges (McIntosh 30). Dr. McIntosh goes on to describe twenty-six ways in which her skin-color grants her certain privileges. In example twenty, she describes how she can buy “…posters, postcards, picture books…” and other items that “…feature people of my race” (32). Additionally, in her first example, she talks about being able to be in the “company of people of my race most of the time” (McIntosh 31). Instances in which a privilege person would not even recognize unless they were looking, show evidence for white privilege. People take these advantages for granted because they simply expect them. Due to the lack of melatonin in her skin, she was granted privileges and her skin served as an asset to her. Dr. McIntosh conveys how her privilege is not only a “favored state,” but also a power over other
White privilege is not a figment of African American or colored people’s imagination, it is just as real as many problems in America and one privilege that wealthy and middle class white people have is the right to a decent education. Many people might not think a simple thing such as education is a privilege seeing that all students by law have to attend schools but it is, and we all know that all schools and their districts are not created equally. In Jonathan Kozol essay “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Education Apartheid,” he writes, “Of seeing clusters of white parents and their children each morning on the corner of a street close to school, waiting for a bus that took the children to a predominantly white school” (349) Kozol
According to the Oxford Dictionary privilege is a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group (Oxford Dictionary, n.d.). Furthermore if you add white to privilege you get white privilege which highlights the societal privileges granted to those who are white particularly in Western culture. In the novel Ceremony by Lesli Marmon Silko captures white privilege through the highlighted differences between whites and Native Americans. The narrator Tayo is aware of the privileges that whites have in comparison to Native Americans. Tayos awareness of racism is identified by his examination of the U.S. Army uniform, his analysis of Floyd Lee, and his inspection of Leroy 's truck.
Power and privilege may be challenging and trigger defensiveness from white counterparts. However, it is important to recognize the systemic privilege that whites have over those who come from disadvantaged groups. Prior, to the readings I had a little knowledge of the power and privilege but I did not know the avenues that privileged people do to ensure that their children enroll in the top universities and colleges. As a result, whites have greater access to certain higher social status and income levels that will position them to have greater control over decision-making. This privilege reinforces the imbalance of privilege that whites have over racialized groups.
Much like the adage, prevention is better than cure many African American parents hoped to prevent an incident in which their child would be disciplined by America. In this attempt the parents would make certain that their child is disciplined beforehand. The method used was physical discipline, a lower wrong than the discipline of America. While reminiscing of the first time his father disciplined him physically, Coates recalls that “Maybe that saved [him]. Maybe it didn’t” (16). As a child one cannot fully grasp the gravity and pain of a parent beating their child. It is only once Coates becomes a parent himself that he understood the complexities of being a parent of a child of color. Coates articulates, “Now I personally understood my father and the old mantra— ‘Either I can beat you or the police.’ I understood it all… Black people love their children with a kind of obsession. You are all we have and you come to us endangered” (82). Coates, now an adult understood both the love and fear in which his father had when beating him. Additionally, Coates, from his experiences in his childhood understood the growing up as an African American male in America is dangerous and unforgiving. Police brutality is the strong arm in which America uses to discipline young African American teen who fail to comply with their requests. Cooper makes note of this use of brutality by America when she discusses the death of Michael Brown at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson. Cooper
America has had plenty of racial unrest, and what 's shocking is how we continue to ignore its side effects. Many people believe white privilege does not exist or it’s not a real thing even though America was built by white people, with a foundation for whites. White privilege is prevalent in America. They believe there is no way the color of someone’s skin, gives them a privilege. In reality, it does. No matter how much we ignore the fact, that the color of your skin can change the way you live, it’s true. It’s not fair, but it’s true.
“White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks” (McIntosh, 172). White privilege is all around us, but society has been carefully taught
By now we are used to the fact people are being murdered based on what they look like, because it is a part of America’s tradition. It hit Coates close to home when someone he went to college with was murdered by the Prince George police, in Virginia. He believes that Prince Jones, the man that was murdered, was hunted downed. He sees the corruption not only in the Prince George Police but also in the nation. The police officer who killed Prince Jones was known for being untruthful and having no need to kill Prince Jones. This police officer was not charge and he returned to his job. Coates recognized that “Prince was not killed by a single officer as much as he was murdered by his country” (Coates 78). During this time the police system and judiciary system were extremely corrupted and unfortunately that has not changed today. Police shootings were common and they still are common today. Not much has changed since the time he grew up in. In the past few years some police brutality has been televised. Everyone waits for the final verdict, only to discover the police officer is not guilty of his crime, like if were some kind of accident. Because the jury represent to nation, it is astonishing to know that the nation would allow any man to die because of the color of his skin. It is not okay to kill our future, and not have any
One’s cultural identity consists of their race, gender, socioeconomic status, age, religion, and so on. Being aware of your own cultural identity is just as important as being aware of other’s. People’s cultural identity defines who they are, the privilege (or lack of privilege) they receive, and how society views them. It is important to understand that White individuals have more privileges than individuals of color. White individuals do not experience detriment and difficulties due specifically to their skin color and instead receive advantages. White privilege is defined as benefits that white individuals have that people of color do not (Kendall, 2012). The following walks through my personal cultural background, how it was shaped, defined, and developed, and limitations to my personal competencies.
This research paper will explore the effect of white privilege on Campus and among the writer's student at California state university, Chico. First I will discuss the stereotypes from the American background.In this history of the united states, white people make up the majority of the nation’s politicians, military leaders, and corporate executive while minority group has a smaller presence also white people higher than the blacks. stereotypes to which they have been exposed become the foundation for the adult prejudices. Second, I will discuss the white privilege, because of white people higher than the blacks, White people have white privilege, and white privilege has provided people with the opportunity to seek admission