Flesh Coloured Human Beings

Connecting Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack with Allan G. Johnson’s Privilege, Power, and Difference

            In McIntosh’s piece on white privilege she talks about unearned privileges that white people are born with. These tools are assets that white people are unaware of because they are never told that they have them. Instead they are taught about racism in a way that shows them it is wrong to treat others that are different than you in a way that makes them feel exactly that, that they are different. Having a disadvantage means that someone else has that advantage instead. That advantage puts African Americans and other races as the oppressed while the whites become the oppressors. Even if ignorance isn’t perceived as ignoring the issue at hand, it doesn’t mean that it still isn’t racism.

            Even once this truth is shared it is often found that the whites, although they can now recognize the disadvantage that puts the other races in, refuse to change the way it is because they will end up losing the power they have acquired through their privilege. When McIntosh mentions that “privilege can look like strength when it is in fact permission to escape or to dominate” she is admitting that by not doing anything to change the current way we treat one another, we continue to hold the power.

            As a white woman, I would feel incredibly offended if someone said I received a job not on merit but rather because of the colour of my skin. That would make me feel as though the position wasn’t earned. Now imagine how an African American woman feels when the same is true for her. She receives the job to fill an ethnic minority quota instead of on her merits. The difference is I would ever think of as a possibility because I have never been taught to see it that way.

            Both McIntosh and Johnson offer a list of privileges white people have without even being aware of them. They both mention how a white person never has to worry about not getting approved for a loan to purchase a home. They both talk about hoe white people make up many of the national heroes, government officials and something that I never realized before, people who make up our national heritage and who are the founding fathers of our nation. Most heartbreaking is how both of them speak about how whites can completely forget about their race as a label for who they are. Instead they can consider themselves simply as human beings. Imagine that for a second longer and picture what other alternatives there are to not being considered a human being. Disgusting, isn't it?

            To sum up what I have shared, I would like to use McIntosh’s words because I feel like they clearly paint a picture of the ordeal we find ourselves faced with today. “If these things (above) are true, this is not such a free country; one’s life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own.” It is time to get back to the root ideals of our founding fathers and create a true free country where no one has to feel different because of the colour of their skin any longer!

 

 

Point(s) to Share in Class:

            In McIntosh’s piece on white privilege she talks about white people’s unearned privileges as tools which they are unaware that they have because they are never told that they have them. Instead they are taught about racism in a way that shows them it is wrong to treat others that are different than you in a way that makes them feel exactly that, that they are different. Having a disadvantage means that someone else has that advantage instead. That advantage puts African Americans and other races as the oppressed while the whites become the oppressors. Even if ignorance isn’t perceived as ignoring the issue at hand, it doesn’t mean that it still isn’t racism.

            Most heartbreaking is how both of them speak about how whites can completely forget about their race as a label for who they are. Instead they can consider themselves simply as human beings. Imagine that for a second longer and picture what other alternatives there are to not being considered a human being. Disgusting, huh?

Picture Links:

http://ciburbanity.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/25fn3g7.jpg

http://morallowground.com/wp-content/uploads/white-privilege1.jpeg

http://resistingthemilieu.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/the-tea-parties-constitution1.jpg?w=300&h=246

http://revangiemn.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/flesh-colored-crayons1.jpg