Peggy Mcinntosh On Whiteness

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.

Patricia Collins tries to expose her readers to the term oppression and the different types of oppression that human beings can be subjected to or rather the different disparities that cause human oppression including gender and race among others. Collins (74) in her attempt to expound on the issue of oppression and dichotomous thinking argues that "one side of the dichotomy is typically labeled dominant and the other subordinate" which forms the basis of the definition of the term as being a way of thinking in which an individual is convinced that they are subject to being the dominant or the subordinate on the basis of different issues including race where the white male perceives himself as the dominant while the black male becomes the subordinate. The

Racial/Ethnicity Paper America unifies and divides its inhabitants across the globe by race, class, and gender. Race is synonymous to the headings atop the aisles within a supermarket in that it describes the biological features of a human being, namely skin color, eye, and hair color, as well as, genetic predisposition to specific diseases. However, unlike the labels above each aisle of a store, race influences the social hierarchy of our world, conferring power and privilege to select groups while simultaneously denying unalienable rights to others. Ethnicity, on the other hand, is synonymous to the varieties of culinary cuisine accessible at restaurants all over the world, American, Italian, Chinese, Mexican, African, Jamaican, Cuban, Mediterranean,

White privilege is something I didn’t have much knowledge on until this year because it was starting hit social media and I realized it affected me aswell. In this article it gave a lot of example of how white privilege is very much around still in 2015. The author of this article took a step back and was aware of their surrounding and how they do in fact get treated differently than those of colors. There are many whites now a days that don’t understand that white privilege does indeed still exist. She mentioned important examples in which I can relate to, for example when buying postcards or toys there is almost never some one of my race.

Patricia Collins tries to expose her readers to the term oppression and the different types of oppression that human beings can be subjected to or rather the different disparities that cause human oppression including gender and race among others. Collins (74) in her attempt to expound on the issue of oppression and dichotomous thinking argues that "one side of the dichotomy is typically labeled dominant and the other subordinate" which forms the basis of the definition of the term as being a way of thinking in which an individual is convinced that they are subject to being the dominant or the subordinate on the basis of different issues including race where the white male perceives himself as the dominant while the black male becomes the subordinate. The

The “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” McIntosh begins her essay portraying the unwillingness of men to admit that they are over privileged. Even those who are willing to admit that women are at a disadvantage have a problem admitting their privilege. McIntosh realizes that this denial of privilege does not only apply to gender but to race as well. She realizes that white people including herself are thought to view racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage but have never had to considered an aspect of racism that befits them; white privilege. Although being a woman puts McIntosh at a disadvantage she realizes that by not acknowledging her privilege she is unintentionally oppressing others as well.

Research has shown that our gender and race are two factors that heavily shape our lives. While many people in our society tend to ignore how these two factors play a role in their life, I will be further exploring how they have impacted my life personally. With that said I will incorporate how gender norms and gender socialization have shaped my life and identity as a woman, as well as how my race of being a white person has shaped my life chances and opportunities. Gender norms and socialization structured many aspects of my life and allowed myself to have the gender identity of a woman. Over the past 19 years, I have followed certain gender norms that are commonly associated with identifying as a woman.

Intersectionality is a framework designed to acknowledge and investigate the dynamic between various identities and their connected systems of oppression. As someone who struggles to understand the purpose of labels, as they give name to their co-existing stigma and predispositions, it intrigued me when I first began the paper, writing: “As a white male…”. In a society where identities are necessary to express oneself, everyone is susceptible to the oppression and benefits of these systems, and the goal of this paper is to simply explore how I, Nolan Cobb, was, and am affected by the stigma attached to the various labels of which I choose to identify. It is, however, noteworthy to mention that I will be greatly condensing my experiences throughout

In the McIntosh article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” my overview of this article for the reading assignment is that “white privilege,” as McIntosh states, is “an invisible package of unearned assets which I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was meant to remain oblivious.” This revelation came as she was writing an observation article on white male privilege in America. Her reviews in this area began in her discoveries of men’s unwillingness to recognize their over-advantage status, however they would concede the impediment condition of women. These denials protected male privilege from being acknowledged, diminished, or abridged. Her findings concerning unattended white privilege may be key to bigotry.

Racial issues and injustices in the United States are examined in both of Oden’s anthologies, “California Politics” and “Rivers of Struggle and Resistance.” The introduction in “California Politics” mainly discusses current political issues and how they have influenced the underrepresented ethnic minorities in California. On the other hand, “Rivers of Struggle and Resistance” focuses on the history of discrimination and oppression that haunt the African American society for several decades. Although both anthologies explores and examine similar themes, the introduction in “Rivers of Struggle and Resistance” related more to Michael Goldfield’s “The Color of Politics” excerpt.