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,
As Neyyirah Waheed once stated, “Never trust anyone who says they do not see color. This means to them, you are invisible.” Neyyirah is explaining how at one time, when one’s self was little, one is taught not see color. But at the same time, one becomes more aware of the situation while being told to ignore it all at once. Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack reflects on how she was taught how to deny the privilege she was born with as a white woman but also how to benefit from it.
In his essay, Mike Rose focuses on three personal references to allow his reader to understand the purpose of his work “Blue Collar Brilliance”. To begin, Mike Rose introduces his mother, Rosie, who was a waitress at coffee shops and family restaurants. By allowing the reader to be familiar with
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.
The severity of racial profiling is very concerning. As proven by numerous texts studied for this Expository Writing class, it is evident that the Black respondents of Otis Johnson’s poll, analyzing citizens’ relationships with the police, are not the only Black people that: “expressed far less confidence than whites in local police to treat both races equally” (Johnson). In White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh describes various privileges which sound ordinary, though surprisingly only White people have. Among them, is one that affects all people on a daily basis: “If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven’t been singled out because of my race” (McIntosh). Governmental
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.
Scott Kurashige’s The Shifting Grounds of Race: Black and Japanese Americans in the Making of Multiethnic Los Angeles exposes its’ readers to the history of race and politics in the city of Los Angeles, California. In his research, the author describes the political history of Japanese and Black Americans in LA by discussing the interethnic cooperation and competition each group faced while dealing with bigoted and racist beliefs and challenges that white people threw their way. Kurashige’s research focuses most on how these two racial groups at Little Tokyo/Bronzeville produce entirely different responses to the political sphere around them after World War II. The author shows how the African Americans in this city were trapped in the lower
Racism is still a very prominent issue in America today. Yes, it has improved from the days of slavery, and we do have a black president; but society is nowhere near equal, and that is not acceptable. White Privilege by Paula Rothenberg truly opened my eyes to the extent of the social injustice on African Americans. Many people are implicitly racist, meaning that they are unaware of their racism. And in fact, just by being white, one is oppressing another race because the privilege and respect that comes with the skin color.
In “Cultural Knowledge aand Social Inequality”, By Annette Lareau, she address interesting data’s that demonstrates the upward mobile adults from middle class. Under instituitions and cultural knowledge, she discusses how cultural knowledge matters when white and African American young adults of differing class backgrounds navigate key institutions. She found that middles class young adults had more knowledge than working class regarding how institution worked. This study is and can be very useful for working class young adults, and is topic we should dig deeper into. In the article “Black America and the Class Divide” an interesting data from Du bois, which really connects to this reading I believe is “Du Bois knew, of course, that any black
After entering Chicana and Chicano Studies Introduction to Comparative Ethnic and Global Societies, we, as a class, were introduced to the terms “community cultural wealth” and “critical race theory.” Critical Race theory is the positive aspect of the community using the community cultural wealth capitals navigational, social, linguistic, aspirational, familial and resistance to show the fight for social justice within the community. These capitals help us to analyze how people of color can gain a knowledgeable skill set that is often unnoticed in common society. All people know are the stereotypes. What our group did was show how the African American community is not only involved in a positive way, but also show acts of resistance through
In the play A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry introduces a family trying to move up in the world but has trouble doing so because they are racially opposed by society. Starting in the 1890’s the Jim Crow Laws were used in the South as a way to oppose African-American giving them a status called, “separate but equal.” They mandated segregation of public schools, public transportation, public facilities including restaurants, bathrooms, and drinking fountains. In the 1950s African- Americans were starting to fight for equal rights and were starting to make headway.
New York, New York - Who ever said; "When Opportunity knocks, open the door?" Whomever uttered that statement should be shot and gagged. That's the problem we face in this egotistical society! Opportunity is a fundamental gift that reserves itself for those who take and embrace a situation by exherating effort to make it happen. Charlamagne Tha God, the co-host of Power 105.1's The Breakfast Club explains in his new book Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes to Those Who Create It, how embracing one's truths is the fundamental key to success and happiness.
Every movie depicts a host of social elements in every scene. It 's only when the situations are realistic, do they manage to strike a chord with the audience. Slumdog millionaire is a British film, set and filmed in India. Slumdog millionaire is a movie set in the backdrop of the Mumbai slums and shows the life of a former street child Jamal, the protagonist and his struggle to reach the top.
A problem I would like to solve is the prevalent racial inequality in the United States today. African Americans and Hispanics are the most underserved racial groups in American society. About 45% of African Americans and 46% of Hispanics live in episodic poverty (defined as poverty lasting less than three years). Over 15% of African Americans are unemployed, and they make up 40% of the prison population in America. This is a shocking statistic, as only 13% of the United States ' population is African American.
Do you agree with the Norwegian and Japanese position on permitting the hunting of non-endangered species of whales as a cultural exemption? Answer: I think to certain extend I agree to maintain some level of whaling, I guess that it should only be allowed in the villages that depend of this meat as a main source of food, and it should be banned in places where is only done to seek monetary gain. Do you think the whaling ban constitutes a violation of these nations' sovereignty? Answer: I don't believe that sovereignty should be taken that seriously as it is only an idea and it does not affects peoples life in any way and it is not vital for human kind survival, I do think like I mention on the question below, that if it is an imperative
