White Privilege Reflection Paper

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Reflection Paper 4
In the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” McIntosh describes how societal structures, personal entitlement, and White preference for comfort and their dominant, unearned position work to maintain systems of oppression and unfair treatment of people of color. White people can expect that their choices, wants, needs, preferences, desires, and rights will be honored. They can expect to be treated pleasantly, without suspicion, that they will receive proper service, and that they will not be asked to represent their entire group. White people can also expect to see themselves represented more positively in the media and to feel like an insider in many jobs and organizations. These expectations are White privilege because they are not extended to many people of color. In the article “White Fragility,” DiAngelo builds upon the concept of White privilege described in McIntosh’s paper by discussing the extreme discomfort often felt by White people when discussing issues of race, racism, discrimination, and White …show more content…

This builds upon the previous pieces by McIntosh and DiAngelo because these papers mostly rely on race as the primary category and Hills-Collins highlights that gender and class area also salient categories when describing systems of oppression. Dichotomous thinking in relies on categories and schemas and reduces the complexity of the systems of oppression and people’s true experiences. Therefore, Hills-Collins recommends considering how our race, class, and gender are interlocking to contribute to our positions as oppressors and the oppressed, to build coalitions around common causes, and to build empathy for both our oppressors and those we

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