White vs. Everyone else

Kristine Severo
Section A01
Reading Reflection #4

Campaign ad to raise awareness about white privilege and the importance of systemic change towards racial justice.

When reading White Privilege and Male Privilege, I felt a little uneasy and frustrated. Author Peggy McIntosh pens out a list of "white privileges" that she has experienced in comparison to her non-white friends. Though this might have been her intent, I felt the list was ignorant and oblivious to the fact that we now live in post-racial America, where more than half of those things she has experienced no longer applies to the world we live in today. The list made me feel a little uneasy, as McIntosh was basically listing off her "rights" as a white person. Some of her examples are biased and narrowly looks at white people as being "good" people when in fact there are white people who don't fit her specific criteria.

When a person claims they have white privilege, they are essentially saying they can do something with a little less effort as opposed to someone who is a minority. Because of this, I feel that white privilege is more of a internal entitlement that an individual personally thinks he/she has. It was a little absurd for McIntosh to think that because she is white, she is accepted more in society. I think that this no longer applies to the world we live in today because the number of minorities in the workforce and education system is dramatically increasing. White privilege doesn't give you the right to be immoral and see others differently. As I continued reading her list, I felt more insulted as a minority because her generalizations and assumptions didn't make sense.

However, I also feel that she made this absurd list to show how people will associate even the smallest things to the color of your skin. For example, McIntosh's #45 states that she can "choose blemish cover or bandages in 'flesh' color and have them more or less match [her] skin" (81). Just because the color of a bandaid matches your skin tone does not mean you have white privilege. Instead, this is ignorance at its finest if white people really think the world revolves around them. White privilege is not an entitlement for an individual to abandon moral beliefs and become an ignorant human being.

Question: How would you feel if someone used their "white privilege" to help end minority oppression? Would it even be possible?