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Examples Of White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack

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America is a diverse melting pot of various ethnicities and heritages all blended together to create the American society. As beautiful as that is, America as a population is mired in fear of addressing issues such as white privilege which is the product of discrimination and racism. White privilege is viewed by those opposed to it that those who are privilege received unwarranted success as a result of status, luck and privilege rather than putting in hard work or using their brain to earn their success. The existence of discrimination from white privilege comes from the privilege attained by a certain as well as oppression and social prejudice facing certain other groups or races. Individuals who are privileged in one society seldomly are unaware of their privilege, not because of their own doing, but simply because it is very easy to be oblivious to the privilege when you have never seen its adverse effect from the other side. …show more content…

throughout her life she discovered how her skin tone enabled her to maneuver situations in life a lot easier than she should be able to. White Privilege is synonymous to dominance. it correlates to an unearned strength and unearned control/power. Unearned power hearkens back to domination and one exerted superiority over another. white privilege can both intentionally or unintentionally oppress those who do not have it.White privilege still exists and is applicable in today’s society. We definitely can still talk about and recognize the existence of white

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White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack While reading this piece by Peggy McIntosh, I found myself as a white woman thinking, 'yes I can do these things,' and realized right there what white privilege looks like. Looking at the fifty points McIntosh discusses, it is clear that the predominance of white privilege affects her daily life. These daily effects McIntosh discusses range from who she wants to surround herself with, knowing and feeling financially secure and feeling welcomed in public life. While only choosing fifty instances where McIntosh feels her white privilege comes into contact, it is apparent that the instances are common when discussing primarily skin color compared to race, class, and religion. Without argument,

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1147 Words | 5 Pages

McIntosh gives a complete list of activities she can do and enjoy on a daily basis as a white woman that for others are a constant reminder of the unspoken white privilege that surrounds them and few refuse to acknowledge. Paula Rothenburg is a professor at William Patterson University and is the author of White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism. Rothenburg considers white privilege to be the other side of racism, meaning that having certain advantages and not wanting to accept them, while still profiting from them is indirectly using racism for one's own benefit. It is important to understand that white privilege does not exclusively exist in the Caucasian race, but in every race. Being a “light skinned” Mexican woman, not only

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327 Words | 2 Pages

This week we were assigned to read to different articles. The first article was written by Peggy McIntosh titled, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. Throughout the article, Peggy showed the readers what it means to have white privilege. She showed the readers 50 different types of “advantages” that whites get over other races, such as African Americans. This is the biggest theme throughout her entire piece.

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351 Words | 2 Pages

In Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege”, she talks about how white privilege is “like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks” (1). What she meant by this, was that light-skinned/white people are at an automatic advantage over dark-skinned people, whom in turn, become the disadvantaged. She claims that being white protected her from danger and violence and freed her to do many things that she realized other people of color could not. She believes she can get away with doing more things and that more doors are open to her especially due to the color of her skin. When relating this to the movie, “The Hangover”, it is easy to point out these concepts of white privilege.

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781 Words | 4 Pages

Jennifer R. Holladay, the interim director of the Teaching Tolerance program at Southern Poverty Law Center, mentions an eye-popping statement in her book, White Anti-Racist Activism: A Personal Roadmap. It says, “White privilege is not something that white people necessarily do, create, or enjoy on purpose. Unlike the more overt individual and institutional manifestations of racism, it is a transparent preference for whiteness that saturates our society” (Holladay). Holladay is trying to convince her readers that individuals with white skin tend to receive more perks than minority races for no apparent reason, through her words. This is the exact same message that is conveyed in Color-Blind Racism, an essay by Eduardo Bonilla-Silva.

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467 Words | 2 Pages

White privilege is one contributor to many inequalities. This article is a great tool for all social workers to use to help identify the many social inequalities that others face due to white

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555 Words | 3 Pages

Are white people superior to black people? Despite arguing against white privilege, if you read “White Economic Privilege is Alive and Well” by Paul F. Compos you may get the sense that he believes it. While reading “White Economic Privilege is Alive and Well” by Paul F Compos I have concluded that white privilege is not thriving as much as he assumes it is. In my opinion, I believe, that if you’re poor, you’re poor you can accept it and keep living like that or you can choose to fix the dilemma.

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1430 Words | 6 Pages

White privilege is a form of embedded racism wherein “white” people are granted greater power, or access to resources as opposed to other races (Robbins et al. 2014: 99). White privilege is demonstrated in the case of Jennifer Cramblett, a white lesbian woman who decided to undergo artificial insemination. This resulted in a problematic situation as the sperm bank sent the wrong specimen to her (Mystal 2014). This was discovered well into her pregnancy, but she went ahead and delivered the baby. Two years after the baby girl was born, Cramblett decided to sue the sperm bank even after they gave her a refund because she was forced to make changes to accommodate her black child (Mystal 2014).

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308 Words | 2 Pages

Privilege, for lack of a better word, is power. In sociology, this power is seen as what one group has over the other. W.E.B DuBois thought of privilege as emotional/psychological, i.e. knowing what one is not. What are some examples of this? You have straight privilege where you don’t have to worry about coming out or have your right to marry be debated (your heterosexuality has power over other sexualities); if you are thin, you’re not shamed often for your weight be it in what you buy or your clothing size (you being thin has power over those that are not); if you are able bodied, you require no assistance with daily tasks and are often included when group activities occur (you being able bodied have power over the dis/abled).

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617 Words | 3 Pages

White privilege is the societal privilege that benefits individuals whom society recognizes as white in some countries, beyond what is generally experienced by non-white individuals under a similar social, political, or financial conditions. Peggy Mcintosh explains white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets. White privilege denotes the subtle or sometimes obvious passive advantages that white people may not notice that they receive, which originates from overt bias and prejudice. These incorporates cultural affirmations of one’s own worth; presumed greater social status; and freedom to move, buy, work, play, and speak freely. A lot of the time people feel guilty about being the beneficiaries of some form of privilege, but a lot of the time they do not understand that having privileges is not the result of what we have done as an individual but should be seen more like a membership given upon birth.

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972 Words | 4 Pages

I agree with Ben Shapiro, that people see race in their own way. But, what the people believe is “white privilege” is simply not true, it’s just a misconception with lies they have been told. In the past, white privilege was a thing; the United States was historically racist and some people are still suffering from historical discrimination.

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1422 Words | 6 Pages

Whites are not aware of the privilege they have, simply for the fact that this is their life the majority do not know anything different. When you have been drinking coke every day of your life and everyone else has ben drinking diet coke labeled as coke you wont know the difference. Lipsitz (1995) affirms whiteness is everywhere in US culture, but it is very hard to see. This is how white privilege looks to the average American even though everyone else is not getting the same treat as the whites they do not understand it because they have been treated the same way or so they think their whole life as well. Minorities are getting diet coke their whole life, though they see the whites making more money, and treated better in turn they begin questioning and coming up with the

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1788 Words | 8 Pages

People see whiteness because they experience its effects. A useful comparison can be drawn between the unrecognised privileges of males, and those of white people (McIntosh, 1988). It is not unusual for men to acknowledge that women are disadvantaged. With that said, McIntosh (1988) argues that white privilege is in the same manner without recognition and thus preserved. McIntosh (1988) views white privilege as an invisible collection of unearned assets that is of benefit to white people on a daily basis.

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657 Words | 3 Pages

There are still factors that have only been erased on the surface but still play a large role in the way that people of color are treated in America, and dictate to a certain extent, compromise the “freedom” that people have. On the other hand, we have white America, who have heightened chances of achieving anything that they please. This does not apply to every white American, as there are also white Americans who are living on or below the poverty line, and much like everybody else must put in a lot of effort to reach certain heights, however they have an advantage over all other denomination of people known as “white privilege” which are the societal benefits that people who can be categorized as “white” enjoy over the rest of the population and in the end, have a higher social status. Ultimately, people of color must work harder, and face many more setbacks in their climb to success than white Americans do, which is not fair,

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1628 Words | 7 Pages

Specifically, when the quote mentions, “…white privilege is not limited to perks like band aids and hair care products. The second function of white skin privilege is that it creates significant advantages for white people. There are sorts of things that…. a white person, generally do not encounter, have to deal with or even recognize.” Being important because it is showing many whites don’t notice the privileges they are given but many minorities do in which white privilege is a cause preventing social equality and one part of white privilege is not having the same rights to by the same products causing unfair advantages to those of a white skin

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