“But because of affirmative action or minority something—she is not sure what they are calling it these days and weren’t they supposed to get rid of it?,” writes Claudia Rankine in her critically acclaimed American book, Citizen. Within this quote, Rankine begins to showcase the narrative of a black women in a society that strives to be color blind. Affirmative action has caused controversy as it threatens white supremacy since it favors diversity. The bitter attitude towards affirmative action expressed by whites, causes people of color to feel apologetic for their achievements and opportunities. Claudia Rankine reveals how white supremacist attitudes trigger people of color to live their life in an apologetic nature through the short stories of the cafeteria, the neighbor calling the police, and the Serena William’s celebratory dance. From the very beginning, the narrator points out that she is visiting the white woman’s campus even though it is also her alma mater. The narrator demonstrates an understanding that the white woman probably does not recognize that this is a shared space. The white woman’s expressed hostility towards the narrator when she discovers that she attends the school where her son was rejected. By accusing affirmative action as the reason for her son being rejected, it reinforces the idea that the narrator is less qualified than the white woman’s son and that her admittance was only granted to contribute to the diversification of the campus. The white
The reading this week brought to my attention that historic events have a way of repeating themselves. In Folklore of the Freeway, Eric Avila explains that during the “Freeway Revolt” there were different ways that communities organized and the types of issues they were fighting against. These issues and organization structures mirror current day protests. Likewise, the connections between how women were treated with respect to protests during the “Freeway Revolt” and the recent Women's match are astounding. In the context of these two events, white women are seen as saints for fighting a fight that doesn’t affect them, while women of color as ridiculed for making a big deal out of nothing.
In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, written by Peggy McIntosh, suggest a list of invisible privileges, which she is immune towards due to her ethical background. McIntosh names the numerous ways and examples of privileges she obtained from her white heritage. Which most other ethical race would have to think twice before attempting. People of the white heritage in the United States, are not stereotyped or live in fear of being a victim of racism like many other race. McIntosh provides a solid point; in addition she supports her arguments through observations and examples of her personal life.
It is the 1960’s and racism is still a major problem in the United States; however, there were those such as Martin Luther King and Flannery O’Connor who use speeches and stories to fight the ever growing problem of discrimination. As read in O’Connor’s short story “Revelation” , Mrs. Turpin is a prejudiced woman who believes she is better than African-Americans and “white thrash”. She even states at one time, “You can’t get the white folks to pick it and now you can’t get the blacks because they got to be right up there with the white folks (O’Connor 9).” She says this while she waits in a waiting room of a doctor’s office to a nice lady of her status.
Peggy McIntosh’s essay was the first to enlighten us on white privilege but many still have defined white privilege differently in the post-McIntosh era. White privilege in pre-1980’s is different than post-1980’s because of the foundation America was made on. In pre-1980’s white privilege was expected because African Americans were seen as 3/5 of a person when it came to voting and other categories. Being white in this time you were guaranteed citizenship, rights to vote, to own property and usually to have education. The post-1980’s time, McIntosh talks about how our hierarchies in society are interlocking and although some deny the truth of white privilege, it is alive.
It might not be seen but still operating. White privilege, is often rendered invisible but is one of the most common forms of racism and racialism. Most successful businesses and companies are often (96%) run by men (Power, SWLF-3446-FA501_2015 (Women and Social Welfare ( BRACE )), 2015). After analyzing Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” I realize how many of these quotes and statements that I did not realize as a white female I either felt or was surprised people have to deal with. For example “I can chose blemish cover or bandages in flesh color that more or less matches my skin.”
White Privilege in America Recently in America racial tension has increased because events that’s have been occurring across the country. Across the United States (U.S.) black men have been killed by law enforcement and this has sparked protest in its aftermath. The media has started to give more time to these problems so more Americans have learned about them. This has started a conversation on different social issues that include the dominant culture, social privilege in the U.S. As a young black man this has affected me directly.
Over the past decade the term white privilege has emerged in our American history. White privilege is the concept that one particular group is benefited which is typically identified as white people. Most of the victims experiencing harsh conditions are non-white people under the same social, political, or economic circumstances of mistreatment. A conversation took place with a few people about white privilege whose race is identified as white. An interviewer started that “the belief that being white comes with unearned advantages and everyday perks”.
According to George Herbert Mead, “Society is Unity in diversity”, but throughout the readings of Anna J Cooper and Claudia Rankine one notices that society has not been unified due to the underlying theme of racism, which connects the microaggressions that causes racial prejudices Rankine discusses in Citizen: An American Lyric. Also, in A Voice from the South, scholar Anna J Cooper recognizes the incorrect representation of black people and she examines different authors’ representation of African-Americans. She concludes that an accurate depiction of African Americans has yet been depicted and goes on to state, “What I hope to see before I die is a black man honestly and appreciatively portraying both the Negro as he is, and the white man, occasionally, as seen from the Negro 's standpoint."
Like the women represented in George and Rashidi’s article, racism and oppression are easily ignored in the public. Like the forgotten history in Pon et al. (2011) article, racism and oppression are publicly visible but easily ignored. When institutions do nothing about it, the issue becomes systemic.
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.
In this book Glory is overwhelmed with how her town is handling people who are different than they are. She realizes that her favorite local pool is closing down so colored people can’t swim with the whites. Glory becomes an activist herself and writes a letter to the newspaper lining which makes her preacher father proud. Therefore, the theme of this book is to treat everyone equally, such as when Glory’s friend Frankie from Ohio drinks out of the “colored fountain”. Also, when Glory’s sisters boyfriend that he was arrested for sitting with a “colored friend” at the white table.
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.
Affirmative action has become obsolete in today’s society. Affirmative action is an active effort to improve the employment or educational opportunities of members of minority groups and women; also: a similar effort to promote the rights or progress of other disadvantaged persons (Merriam-Webster, 2011). Today’s affirmative action will demoralize the very concepts that the policy was implemented to uphold: those of equality for all people regardless of color and discrimination. This policy supports racial multiplicity at the price of distinction, impartiality and experience; it also follows the line of reverse discrimination and sexual bias against white men (Reyna, Tucker, Korfmacher, & Henry, 2005).
Kareen Harboyan English 1C Professor Supekar March 15, 2018 Word Count: Crenshaw’s Mapping the Margins: The Marginalization of Women of Color Analyzed Through Generalization and A Feminist Lens Crenshaw's Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color expands on the multifaceted struggles of women of color and the generalizations ingrained in society that limit women of color and keep them in a box. In this text, Crenshaw builds on the concept of intersectionality which proposes that social categorizations such as gender and race are intertwined and have great influence on one another.
Most cases around the world have eliminated racial discrimination, although it still occurs. To elaborate on racial discrimination between coloured women and white women, Frankenberg’s article and hooks’ article focuses a lot around coloured women. To illustrate, in the same lecture as the previous reason it talks about second wave black feminism, which included coloured women being racially oppressed by the white culture. Whether it involved jobs, political position, or civil rights, the coloured women were always racially oppressed.