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Summary on the Pathology of “White Privilege”
Summary on the Pathology of “White Privilege”
Summary on the Pathology of “White Privilege”
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White privilege is something that many of us who are Caucasian don’t understand because in most cases we are the majority of the population and not a minority like many others from different cultures and different races. Like in the video the woman says she will never have to teach her child how to look for cultural competence in knowing that they are in many cases different and looked at different because of there race and culture. My point of view on white privilege is about the same as what it was prior to watching this video because I understood prior to the video that people of different races and cultures are often placed into situations and scenarios that many Caucasian have never had to deal with it or will ever have to deal with in …show more content…
I can remember going to school and him being very judgmental towards others and telling us “to watch who our friends where” which was his way of saying make sure you are only friends with your own culture. I can remember wanting to be friends with those who were different from me in grade school however because of my father I felt that I couldn’t because I was disobeying him. One event in particular was in the third grade when a African American student moved into town and the home room teacher paired us together to be study partners all year. It was something I hated for the longest time most of the time I spent putting him down or not helping he at all and only worrying about myself because being as senseless as I was then in my own messed up reality I thought I was acting how I should. Finally one day came when I set back and thought why do I not like this kid he’s done nothing to me yet I have treated him horribly since day one. I remember coming to the realization that this kid is not bad he’s not out to get me and just because he’s different doesn’t mean he just be looked at or treated any differently then how I am or how I treat any of my other
As a woman of mixed race, I don’t think I’ve experienced white privilege. As a child, I never noticed the disparities between races, but that was because I was young. As a child I grew up around many different people of many different races. That was until I moved to Blair, I remember being the only child in my class who was a different skin tone. I also remember being the only family in my neighborhood that was a different race. My dad always tells me the story of how our elderly neighbors would always talk about how nicely dressed we were, and how nice our hair looked. My dad asked him “What are we supposed to look like,
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.
America is a presumptuous country; its citizens don’t feel like learning any other language so they make everyone else learn English. White Americans are the average human being and act as the standard of living, acting, and nearly all aspects of life. In her essay “White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh talks about how being white has never been discussed as a race/culture before because that identity has been pushed on everyone else, and being white subsequently carries its own set of advantages. Gloria Anzaldua is a Chicana, a person of mixed identities. In an excerpt titled “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” she discusses how the languages she speaks identifies who she is in certain situations and how, throughout her life, she has been pushed to speak and act more “American” like. McIntosh’s idea of whiteness as a subconscious race that carries its own advantages can enlighten why Anzaldua feels like she
In her 16 January 2016 The Washington Post editorial, “What is White Privilege?”, Christine Emba asserts white privilege is a societal advantage inherent in people who are white, irrespective of their “wealth, gender, or other factors.” According to Emba, white privilege makes life smoother and is an entity that is hidden or unknown until the privilege is taken away. Although racism is still a rampant issue in society today, white privilege is a concept created by the progressive left in order to brand whites as a scapegoat for issues and adversities that non-whites face. This concept of privilege ultimately causes further dissension between whites and non-whites.
My father still communicated but it was never the same. I was forced to grow up without that father figure in my life. I was never able to attend a father daughter dance or even seen my dad at one of my many extracurricular events. As I got older the foundation of how I was raised was still intact. I started to be known as a disrespectful child. Not because I was actually disrespectful but because I did not change myself to fit in with the other people. Being in a small town most of your teachers knew each other so they would talk and that gave me that reputation. I started to defend myself when I felt I was being mistreated or singled out. I still did not say yes ma’am, no ma’am, yes sir, or no sir. The older I got the more I realized why that was such an issue. I was raised by a northerner but I lived in the south. During slavery days if you didn’t answer your master in that way it was sought out that you were disrespectful. That certain subject has been carried on throughout the south for many years. I begin to understand that fully and I found other ways to answer and say things so no one would consider me
Doing research about the existence of white privilege, I found two articles with the opposite point of view on related information. Although both authors are Caucasians, they have completely opposing opinions about the existence of the white privilege. While Peggy McIntosh is trying to spread awareness to Caucasians in regards to their own privilege, Duke wants them to understand that they are in the same position as all other races. He explains that the awareness of “white privilege” is only a fallacy that causes feel of guilt without foundation.
In the article “What is White Privilege?” Christine Emba explains what white privilege is and how it naturally comes with benefits, being a person of the white race. Emba talks about the societal advantages that come with being in the group called “norm American”. She’s states about how having white privilege has made its self home in America, shifting how other non dominating races lives are being affected. Emba’s article was a success only if you were new to the idea of white privilege or just opening up to the idea. She gives a well rounded bases to white privilege and its effects. She discusses the advantages of being a white American and how you are given a social privilege automatically. How even though some people cause
Peggy McIntosh defines white privilege as something that white people are “taught not to recognize”, a metaphorical “knapsack” of “unearned assets…special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks” (McIntosh). Essentially, it refers to unearned special treatment white people get because of their skin color. She makes an excellent point when she refers to the way white people see their color as “neutral, normative, average, ideal” (McIntosh), which –while it is appalling—I would consider it to be accurate. McIntosh continued on to give a whopping 50 examples of how she has benefitted from white privilege, from ensuring her new neighbours will be kind to her if she decides to move to being sure that she will
To completely understand white privilege you first need to understand what white privilege is. White privilege is defined as a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others. White privilege can exist without white people 's conscious knowledge of its presence and it helps to maintain the racial hierarchy in this country.(mtholyoke.edu) There are many examples of white privilege. They range from people’s thoughts to people 's court cases, to actions. Basically to sum that up you have more privileges and fewer assumptions get made because you 're white. These privileges are not a conscious bias and do not make the person a racist.
Whiteness is a term that has been discussed throughout history and through scholarly authors. Whiteness is defined in many ways, according to Kress “pervasive non- presence, its invisibility. Whiteness seems at times to be everywhere and nowhere, even present throughout U.S history, and yest having no definable history of its own. Whiteness as a historically rooted cultural practice is then enacted on the unconscious level. Knowledge the is created from the vantage point of Whiteness thus transforms into “common sense,” while practices or behaviors that are enacted based on the unspoken norms of Whiteness become the only acceptable way of being” (Kress, 2008, pg 43). This definition for example, whiteness has become into hegemony. I define it as racial ideologies that have been established throughout history. Which has formed racial segregation between white and non-whites, and has led to discrimination and injustice. White privilege has also been a factor in whiteness; it’s the privilege that white color people get better benefits
My understanding from the video is that white privilege is a structural advantage for whites. This advantage is in the form of educational opportunities, housing, and jobs in addition to other benefits for which blacks are excluded. A few examples that Tim Wise mentioned in the video were the unemployment benefits which specifically excluded Agricultural Workers. These types of workers were primarily black. Additional examples would be the FHA housing benefits and the GI Bill. These benefits were only available to whites.
Pop artist Macklemore is most known for the famous lyric, “I’m gonna pop some tags, only got twenty dollars in my pocket” which is from his hit song, “Thrift Shop”. Many people don’t realize this thrifty shopper is an activist as well. He is commonly known to produce songs about current issues in our society including gay marriage and racial issues. His song “White Privilege” is a two-part song that majority of people haven’t heard. It speaks openly about the current issue of racial injustice our society is facing. The song is simple to interpret on multiple levels, including the symbolic elements of the lyrics, reason for why the song was written, and the events happening at the time it was written.