Critical Reflection 3

The article that has stuck out to me most recently and perhaps more than any other is Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” I think it caught my eye because I can relate to what she is discussing and identify with the same privileges discussed in the article. McIntosh does a fantastic job in recognizing the unearned advantages of being white that would otherwise be unnoticed and taken for granted, some of which I would have never thought of before reading it. McIntosh also reveals the systematic aspect of whiteness and how it is continually taught to us throughout our lives without really knowing, as a sort of hidden curriculum. In this reflection I will both analyze the content of white privilege as well as discuss how I can relate to what it is saying, perhaps it will raise my consciousness of daily privileges because of the unearned advantage I have been given.

Peggy McIntosh brings up an interesting point at the beginning of her article where she draws a line between male advantage and the advantages of whiteness, where one looks upon the “others” as being disadvantaged rather than viewing themselves as the advantaged. Males may agree that women are systematically disadvantaged but will not
support the view that they are over-privileged, which also applies to the study of whiteness as whites view people of other race in the same perspective. “These denials protect male privilege from being fully acknowledged, lessened or ended” (McIntosh, 1989, p.#). McIntosh suggests that recognizing other groups’ disadvantages is not the only solution to obtaining equality but also recognizing ones own advantages and perhaps lessening them rather than denying them would also be beneficial. I have many times talked to people of my race who deny that they are an over-privileged group, but would agree that people of other races are sometimes disadvantaged and of course because I come from a small rural area in which there is very little and almost no population other than white, I have met many who deny they are more privileged and also deny that other races are disadvantaged. 

McIntosh’s list of daily privileges in regard to her own life was a rather mind blowing realization for myself and over-whelming to say the least because I am able to identify with so many of them and because it brought out an ability to think of other privileges in my own life. Number 46 on McIntosh’s full list is one that really seems to stand out to me “I can choose blemish color or bandages in ‘flesh’ color and have them more or less match my skin”(1989, p.#). This is something that I would have never really thought of before reading this article as, like McIntosh, I was taught not to see myself as one who is advantaged. If an individual of color were to wear a bandage, which are made in peach or beige-like colors, it would serve as a constant reminder that whiteness is the predominant power. As for me, wearing a bandage I can feel normalized and therefore not left out. Peggy McIntosh brings up this issue in the text “whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal” (1989, p.#). I have been taught my whole life to see myself this way, as are most whites, and therefore something like a bandage of my skin color just seemed “normal” and not problematic in a sense of oppressing another group.

In this Race, Racism and Colonialism class I have realized something, which Peggy discusses in her text, that racism does not only take place from individual acts of meanness but rather because of the systematic racial dominance. “In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of a group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth” (Mcintosh, 1989, p.#). This is not to say that I didn’t know there was systematic racism but I was unable to see it and as a white, denied and ignored its presence. This class and this article has brought the specifics to my attention and the ability to recognize my advantages, establishing these thoughts consciously is hopefully a step in the right direction however to end this oppressive phenomenon there is need for a change in the social system. “ To redesign social systems we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen dimensions. The silence and denials surrounding privilege are the key political tool here. They keep the thinking about equity incomplete, protecting unearned and conferred dominance by making these taboosubjects” (McIntosh, 1989, p.#).

McIntosh, P. (1989). "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" Peace and Freedom, 49.