"White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
This essay by Peggy McIntosh is a favorite among students of education and cultural studies.McIntosh came to realize "I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had not been taught to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage. . . . I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious."
It follows, then, that addressing power imbalances cannot include simply empowering oppressed or marginalized people, but must include a relinquishing of power as well. Whether or not this is truly a zero-sum game, it is crucial for white children to cease learning that their lives and identities are morally neutral and/or ideal and that the goal for other groups is to come up to their level, so to speak. In other words, white people must give up the "myth of meritocracy" by which they rationalize their social standings and the superficial understanding of racism that sees whites as raceless and racism as enacted only through hate crimes and racial slurs.
Here are some of the daily priviliges McIntosh feels she enjoys, though has not earned, as a white person:
- I can, if I wish, arrange to be in the company of people mof my race most of the time.
- I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
- When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization", I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
- I can go into a music shop and count on fining the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who will cut my hair.
- I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
- I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children's magazines featuring people of my race.
- If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones.
- I can choose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.
These privileges, McIntosh argues, vary between positive advantages which we would want for all people and privileges that reinforce hierarchies and operate necessarily at the expense of others. It is important to distinguish such privileges as we assess whether our goal at a given moment is to share a paritcular privilege equitably or eliminate it.
Labels: education, power, race
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posted by Burke Scarbrough at
13:04
2 comments
2 Comments:
It's late and I'm tired, so I won't spend long on this.....
* I am never asked to attend a White conference.
* I am never "positively targeted" for employment or promotion.
* I'm never allowed to comment when "people of colour" move into my area and insist that they really don't need to learn to speak English. Even though my taxes pay for the interpreters that Government provides for non-English speakers.
* I'm never allowed to comment when "people of colour" move into my area, dress and act exactly like they did elsewhere, turning local streets and schools into downtown Karachi, Baghdad [insert town here] and destroying my culture in the process.
* I can, if I wish, watch as my language and the language of "my people" is bastardised. Yo, wots up wid dat tho.?
* I can, if I wish, walk down my daughter's road and find every second store is either selling halal meat, veils/saris, or is a curry restaurant.
* When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization", I am shown that people of my colour developed slavery (which we didn't - it was in fact the Africans themselves) and I should feel ashamed and apologise for that.
* I'm never allowed to openly discuss matters such as the above in public, because then I'll be called a racist.
If you're going to argue that finding bandages in your skin colour gives you an advantage, then
a) you are pretty petty and
b) you aren't looking hard enough.
its like complaining that "I am never asked to vote in a poll for Music Of White Origin".
Hello. I wish to respond to your blog. First of all, I think you're incredibly intelligent. I am a person of color who teaches ELD to ELL. But you are not entirely correct. I'll explain why later, I promise.
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