Let’s Try This Again...

So I royally messed up on my first blog so here is my second attempt to do things right...

Quote 1:

 “I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was “meant” to remain oblivious.”

What I believe McIntosh is trying to say is that we are taught to not notice all the privileges that we have.  That package is an opportunity, an opportunity that is not given to all.  Only few are able to experience the true top of the line privilege but even if, and when they screw up there will always be that package that will eventually help them out.  Being a white person I have realized now that I do have this privilege. 

Quote 2:

“Whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow “them” to be more like “us”.”

I don’t think whites see helping others as helping them to be more like us rather than they are just helping someone who is less fortunate.  Like McIntosh says I do think of my life as average so does that mean others think of their lives as less fortunate?    

Quote 3:

“In proportion as my racial group was being made confident, comfortable, and oblivious, other groups were likely being made unconfident, uncomfortable, and alienated.  Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence, which I was being subtly trained to visit, in turn, upon people of color.” 

This all relates to the culture of power, white.  While we are gaining and enjoying life we are causing others to fall behind and dislike life.  I can’t imagine being a minority and all the day to day privileges that they are not able to receive.  As a child school, family and friends protected or obscured my view from what is really going on... And I as one person can not change society but I can motivate others and inform them of reality. 

Conclusion: I enjoyed reading McIntosh more than the other articles we have read in class. It was an easy read and although it summarizes the same points and arguments as the other articles it was different to hear it from a white woman’s perspective.  As I read her points that she listed I realized how right she was.  Even when she mentioned the fact about the band aids... I don’t think I have ever seen a dark colored band aid. They are all nude colored.  Reading these articles have made me realize that I have much more privileges over others. And like McIntosh states, “disapproving of the system won’t be enough to change them,” we must as a society be the change we wish to see in the future.