Talking Points #1

White Privilege 

By: Peggy McIntosh

McIntosh, just like all the other articles that we have been reading in class is about privilege.  Someone will always have the upper hand.  Originally she argued the disadvantages of women over men but now she took an in depth look at race and color.  White people are taught that the privilege is oblivious but the only reason that they can’t see it is because they are the ones that have something to gain.  “White privilege [is] an invisible package of unearned assets that [they] can count on cashing in each day, but about which [they were] “meant” to remain oblivious.” (p 1) She believes that if you can realize that being a white person gives you more advantage then she asks what will you do to lesson or end this advantage?  McIntosh lists multiple ways on how she believes that white people have the upper hand and I believe that she is true in saying that we do but I do believe that we have come a long way in the past couple of decades... I also want to bring up this quote that basically wraps of the meaning of this article. 

“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.”

You as yourself can’t change what society needs to fix as a whole.