After viewing Jane Elliot and her blue eyed/brown eyed simulation in a "Class Divided", we briefly spoke about the privilege that Mrs. Elliot created for her students (like extra recess time, second helpings at lunch. . . ).
For homework tonight, I would like you to spend some time reading the article, "The Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy Macintosh to explore the intersection of race and privilege in the adult word.
Please pay special attention to McIntosh's checklist (1-50) and to use the checklist as self-reflection, asking "Can you count on this?" A "yes" answer scores 1 point. For a "no," subtract 1 point. Score nothing for "does not apply to me." The higher the score, the greater the degree of privilege one has in the context of living in the United States today.
When finished, please post your reflections in the comments section.
Were you surprised by your score, or did it confirm what you already knew? Why is privilege normally invisible and what does it feel like to make it visible?
Your comments are due by class on MONDAY!
Let me know if you have questions.
When reading through the list I was suprised originally at the number of adversities and the small amount which applied to me, though I should not have been. The list is a list of potential trials which I had never fully considered. It caused me to think of walking in another's shoes-the shoes of one who has to deal with certain aspects of the list. As a white male, I am basically free of those travails and the concept of them rarely crosses my mind, unfortuneatly. I do not have to think about restricted priveleges based on race and so it does not appear in my life. But to be forced to deal with those trials is an experience that I can never fully comprehend. The checklist unfortunatley represents the restrictions and adversities programmed into certain areas of society. It seems like those it does not effect, do not register it; those who are on the losing end, are near powerless to stop it; and those who make the items of the checklist true are resistive to change. Any future resolution will be brought about only through extended labors and long perseverence.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the "Invisible Knapsack" I was surprised by my score. I expected more to apply to me than what did. I found that the few that did apply to me, were because I am a woman, not because of my skin color. I think that white is the race that is considered to have the most privilege, males and females. Reading the list made me think about what someone of a different race's score might be and how it would differ from mine. When privilege becomes visible, it only adds to discrimination among races, ethnic groups, religions, genders, etc. Trying to make them invisible, or more so, will only help make people be represented as who they are on the inside instead of being judged by the outside.
ReplyDeleteAs I was going through the checklist, I was reminded of the things I take for granted daily. For example, I feel confident that I will not be harassed because of my race when out in public. However I feel that some of the questions were written specifically with blacks in mind in America's predominantly white society. The privileges were not necessarily meaning of an advantage or higher assumed status, but were how blacks may feel in America's modern society. In other words, I feel as though Peggy Macintosh thought "how are blacks discriminated against?" and then put these as factors in being underprivileged. This is a good starting point for people to understand their privileges, however not the best means for the ends she is seeking. She just needs to edit some of the questions, because as I mentioned above, many of them do allow me to realize the privileges I have. Now that I have been exposed to some of the privileges I have, I am able to be careful to recognize them, be thankful for them, and try to do all I can to equalize everyone of any race.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading "Invisible Knapsack" I was not surprised by my score because it confirmed what I already know, that people of color have no privileges and/or are below privileges. Since I was young and learned about my heritage I learned that people of color do not have privileges in society. Even though we are in a time where racism is not so prevalent and people of color were given the same rights as others we still do not have the same privileges as whites. Privileges are normally invisible because if they were not it will go against the Amendments of the United States. People believe that racism and the idea of privileges does not exist because people of color now have their rights and segregation does not exist. However, it still does exist. To make these privileges visible it kinds of hurts being a person of color because I feel like I will never have this privileges. Even though we have come along way and now have an black president I still do not think that these privileges will be available to me. However, I am happy that I can avoid most the discrimination due to Black own businesses, schools, and predominately black neighborhoods. Although, I wish this privileges were available to all people of different races.
ReplyDelete-CANDiCE
I was actually pretty surprised with my score, since I got a 25. Admittedly, I scored myself on all but the one about publishing, since I could imagine how things would go in most situations. I would have gotten a much higher score based on only my race, but since I'm antisocial, dress odly, and am not rich, I still managed to get a 'no' answer for most of the questions where "race" wasn't specifically mentioned.
ReplyDeleteSome of hte questions really got me to think, though, about my state of being. It's just about as good as being a different race to dress differently, as everyone treats you like you've got some sort of problem, and thus discriminates. Also, the questions about neighborhoods showed me that most of the options open to someone with so little money are normally reserved for minority groups. (Question one got me to realize that I only have one good friend of the same race as me, too... That's odd...)
I was suprised by my score since I was expecting at least five points higher than a 30. Since I feel pretty welcomed here in America. However, as a Chinese American, I know that there will be some differences between Chinese and White, however, I still know that the differences are lessening and people of all different race are welcomed and much less discriminated.
ReplyDeleteHowever, to most Americans, especially white Americans, do not notice these special privileges. I believe it's because for so many years, the white has considered themselves to be the 'better' race and they take that advantage for granted, therefore it seems less noticable to them. However, for Chinese Americans, I believe that we notice a slight less privilages than the white people, yet, I don't feel like there's a lot since we are very privilaged as well. And like the "A Class Divided," the times that people notices others are privilaged when they themselves are not.
I was not really surprised by my score. I guess somewhere far in the back of my mind I subcounsiously knew about these 'advantages' and 'privileges' but never took much notice to them until now. Now that I can see these 'privileges' more clearly I can't help but feel frustrated that people of other races are given less 'privileges' than whites just based on their skin color. And what's worse is that many people do not realize this, or if they do it can be a cause that adds to racism. I think people do not see these 'privileges' because they don't want to see them. They don't want to acknowledge that they are there. These privileges may not be as visible as they used to be, but they are still there, and maybe always will be.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading through the checklist and adding up my score, I wasn't really that surprised with my results. I had a feeling it would turn out that way but what really made me think was what I take for granted everyday. It also gave me great perspective on what it could be like for those who don't get such privileges. Privilege is invisible so many because we are so used to what comes to us typically. However when it comes into the light, discrimination and the feeling of being downsized comes into play. If it's possible to make it invisible though, people of every race could be equally represented. Although it's very frustrating and unfortunate that people of different races have less privileges than others because of their skin color, we are starting to see progress in our world today and hopefully that will continue to happen.
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t surprised by my high score. It just confirmed how privileged I am and how little I have to worry about my race affecting my everyday life. I had never really thought about the topic of privilege and race before, because for me, as a white woman, its really not something that affects me in a negative way. I’ll never have to worry about someone judging me on my race or being discriminated against because of it. I feel that privilege is normally invisible because it is something that has just been assumed by people for so long, that it is sort of ingrained into society. I don’t think that people try to consciously ignore these advantages and pretend that they don’t exist, but that people really just don’t notice them when they have those privileges. It is a bit of a shock to make these advantages visible, because although I was aware of a most of the things on the list, I never really thought about them before, let alone thought of them as advantages over other people.
ReplyDeleteI was not really suprised by my score. I was suprised by some of the privlages that, I think, most people take advantage of . I don't think some people understand how difficult living is when you might not be considered part of the majority. I don't think this just applies to race. A lot of the checklist statements would affect a person if they were not part of the so called norm in our country. Our society has created "a perfect person" who is allowed the most freedom and recieves all of the privlages. There are very few people who actually fit the norm because everyone is unique. There are many differences that take away privlages from people. Living in a town were most people are fairly similar I think most of us forget how many privlages we actually have. Even though people want to fit in everyone has their own difference whether it is skin color, clothing, hiar color, personality, physical, or lifestyle. All of these differences someway or another affect a persons privlages even if it is not noticable.
ReplyDeleteI was not surprised by the high score that I got in this exercise. I often feel that I have a different perspective on some issues and stereotypes because I am biracial, but since my race does not affect my appearance, I do not actually have to deal with the baggage that comes with not being 100% white.
ReplyDeleteI think that privilege is usually invisible because disadvantages are invisible – those who are not privileged aren't openly disadvantaged. Most of the examples on the list are not open acts of discrimination, but a feeling or possibility of disadvantage based on race. That is not to say that those disadvantages aren't real, but they are not openly expressed, so, in the same way, privilege is not openly expressed. Stating these invisible privileges is very uncomfortable, because it makes us think about how we might feel if we were not privileged. Furthermore, having those privileges when others do not feels wrong, like I have taken those things away from them (does that sort of make sense?). However, I think that it is important for these differences to be visible. If privileges remain invisible, the privileged can remain oblivious to the consequences of their attitudes and actions towards people of different races. Even if it is painful to see privilege and disadvantage, you can only work to improve something that you can see.
I wasn't all that surprised by my score. I'm of the majority race, and it's evident that white culture is what's emphasized and catered to in America. Is it wrong? Yes. But it's here. I don't think enough attention is called to the issue of white priveledge. In all honesty, the level of racial acceptance/comfort I experience in my everyday life is something that hardly crosses my mind. I've gone to quite a few job interviews, and not once have i even thought about whether my race would affect my chances of getting the job. It's things like this that need to be brought to the forefront. I'm glad I've become more aware of this, because it needs to be dealt with. I'm just sorry that I've been more or less oblivious to this aspect of racial divide up until now. I realize that i have no idea what it is like to walk in someone else's shoes, and i have great respect for those who are up against discrimination, yet fight it and stand proud. That takes strength; more than anyone should have to need just to get through each day.
ReplyDeleteI was not very surprised by my score of 43 points after reading the article by Peggy McIntosh. I do agree with her that whites are quite oblivious to certain priveledges they have. For example, while taking the survey I realized a lot of the statements, I did agree with, but was not necessarily aware of before reading them. I also agree with the fact that when we learn about racism, at least as a white, as i am, we almost disregard the big idea that whites have all of these priveledges they are quite oblivious too. We learn that racism is bad, and hurtful, but we seem to veer away from the fact that it isn't fair for whites to have all of these priveledges just because of their color. Besides the fact that having them is bad, I think it's also disturbing how many white people don't actually realize what they have, which is probably the majority of them. I think that the video we watched on A Class Divided, is a great example of being able to see what it's like to live in someone's shoes, and it would actually be interesting to do it today, and see if it has as much of an affect on people, because although racism isn't as big of a part of our lives as it was, it's still here, and although I don't know as much what it feels like, I don't think there is any way to feel that other than actually stepping into someone else's shoes. I think that this article has a lot of good points about white priveledge and gender priveledge. I agree that men will work to improve women's rights but they also do not support lessening their own power. It would be quite unorthadox for someone to want to lessen a power they have, however similar to whites not knowing what it is like to live in a colored persons shoes, in some situations men will never know what it is like to be treated lesser because of their gender. A lot of quotes in this article are actually quite disturbing, and of course i will not name them all, but to paraphrase, when McIntosh talked about Whites being the "normal" she said they are taught to see themselves as "normal" "average" and that others who are not white should strive to be this way. Just reading this article has had an affect on me, and has been a huge realization to me, however I know I will never feel the same discrimination that people who are discriminated against does, and I give them a lot of credit, for how strong they are.
ReplyDeleteI was only slightly surprised by my score. The major reason some issues did not apply to me was because I am a woman, not because I am white. I thought the article was interesting, especially the thought of how people focus on so much on what others don't have that they can take away from what they do have. In other words, by focusing on people who are struggling or are dealing with unfairness for some reason somewhat distracts from those who have the upper hand. Like a quote from the article says, "I have often noticed men's unwillingness to grant that they are overprivileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged." I have never really realized that idea before, that we focused on the hurt more than they privilege's of those hurting. Or just because some people don't have as much, it isn't anyone who has privileges fault. And the thought that people want to help without losing their rights or powers. It is kind-of double edged and unfair, you have to give a little to help others, that is the whole point. However, many people do not want to do that at all. They want to help without giving anything up.I also thought the last sentence was interesting. It had the notion that white people learn from a young age that their type of life is the "normal" life, and whites work to help others in actuality they are just working to make them more like themselves. This article definitely helped me realize things in life i never really saw before, and things/ideas I want to look for in the future.
ReplyDeleteWhile going through the list, I realized how privileged I actually am. It's not a secret that Caucasian, middle class male would have a lot more privileges than most other races, but when I saw actually how many I have, it was a bit unsettling. It is an issue that is put to the back burner of our society -- it is often thought that race is not a big issue today, but as we can see by the list, it still affects everyone. Is it an inherent quality in those of different races and genders, or is it something that society has created? The answer could be a combination of both; we as a society often impose handicaps on those who are different from us, but it is also human nature to create those handicaps subconsciously. It is not exactly an issue of race and gender as it is an issue of empathy and acceptance. I'm not sure if everyone will ever truly be equal, but I think progress is being made. Using this list, we can track our progress and even remind ourselves that no matter how many privileges we have, there are others with far fewer.
ReplyDeleteI was not surprised by my score of 41 on this exercise. I think it confirms how privileged we are to live in Lexington. We are very lucky to live in such a rich, diverse town like Lexington and I think many people, including myself take that for granted. Going to school with Asian-Americans, Caucasians, and African-Americans makes school diverse and makes us oblivious to the racial divide until we step back and look at the cliques and which type of people are friends. People of similar race and backgrounds tend to be friends and though there is some mixing, we take that for granted. Being white, a majority, almost guarrantees that I will be better off in life, but as I mature I am learning that it is not always the case. Last spring, when I went for a job interview for a summer job, the interviewer outright told me at the end of the interview that there was a Caucasian male with more lifeguarding experience than me and that he would most likely get the job, but that I could get a different position. This hurt because a more "priveleged" person was going to get a job that I wanted. However, many times privilege is invisible and making it visible hurts one or more groups of people.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised by my privilege score. I’m ashamed to say that I had never thought about racism in this way either – that it has just as much to do with the advantages of a certain race as the disadvantages of other races. I tried to answer each question based solely on my race, and it’s amazing how many of these invisible advantages white people like me take for granted every day.
ReplyDeleteI thought that the most interesting question was #31: I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking. It is an awful fact that a person who says that their race is being discriminated against is seen to have a lot less credibility than a white person who says that that race is being discriminated against. This reminds me of an episode described in "Confederates in the Attic". White, northern people complained about the fact that the Confederate flag was flying in a southern town. The black people who lived there had tried to complain about it before, but it was never taken down until the white people complained about it. The white people then left, congratulating themselves and telling themselves that they had done their duty by taking down the confederate flag, completely ignoring the fact that black students were being murdered because of their actions. It is awful that white people who try to help disadvantaged races are often seen as great people because they fight for others, and those who try to draw attention to the fact that their race is being disadvantaged are seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
My score didn’t really surprise me. I didn't score incredibly high but i am white, witch unfairly gives me a some what high score. It was surprising though that most of the questions were examples of daly life that i never even considered because I never had any trouble with them.
ReplyDeleteThese issues should not be kept invisible. But is difficult because each one is so subtile. It could also be possible that people try to ignore privilege in hopes that it will disappear. this is easy for the privileged to do, but not so easy for the unprivileged. For the privileged, ignoring the issue, or pretending it not there is the easiest solution to not feeling guilt. This just makes the problem worse. If we can make it visible long enough to fix the problem, this type of privilege will go away once and for all. No one will have to ignore it and no one will have to feel guilty or lower than others. Bringing this issue to the surface will be god for all unprivileged and privileged.
I was not surprised with my low score, because I know that my race and gender both determine a lot of the privileges and lack of privilege that I have in my personal life. Many of the questions regarding skin color or religion especially decreased my score, because being a Muslim especially after 9/11, it's difficult to say whether I would be looked down upon or not. Living in a diverse town like Lexington makes it somewhat easier, but in the grand scheme of things, if I were living almost anywhere else, I would probably face a lot more scrutiny than I do here. Furthermore, I think that living here in Lexington allows us to take diversity for granted, and to some extent, we assume that what we experience here will be the same when we leave for college, or move out when we're older.
ReplyDeleteAlso, many of the questions asking if neighbors would be neutral or kind towards you made me think more about my race as well, because when I first thought about it, I thought that there would be no reason to be hostile towards me because I respect people. However, then I put the question in the context of my race and appearance, and realized that will be what will determine a first impression, rather than who you are on the inside, because quite frankly, human nature just works that way.
Taking this survey opened my eyes to just how much race and gender determine your place in society, and how they can give you or take away privileges that most of us take for granted.
I was not surprised by my score. I generally feel very privileged living in America, while I know that there are many people much more privileged living around me. More questions then I expected applied to me only because I'm a women not due to my race. I think privilege is usually invisible, because people do not like to admit to having it. Since you are born into privilege people do not like the idea that they are unfairly above other people. Another reason it is invisible, is because if people admit to privileges, then the right thing would be to try and change their unfair status and improve the way the system works. Many people would not want to go through all that trouble, so instead they just chose to ignore it.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the "invisible Knapsack", I wasn't really surprised at what my score was. Since we live in lexington, we live in a very diverse and privilaged town and we're lucky for it. But the problem with that luck is that it blinds us from the, as Amy S. put it, "racial divide". We think that since we have many different races going to LHS that that makes it this diverse place. But really, if you look at the commons during lunch, you'll see how the 'cliques' of our school are the different races. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, so there is some mixing but, not a lot. We take for granted the privilages we are born into by being part of Lexington. Those privilages are ignored and made invisible because people in Lexington don't want to think that they don't exist outside of the bubble of protection and ignorance that Lexington citizens have created. But on the other hand, by making these 'white privilages' known can create a bunch of hurt and bitter feelings.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started this assignment (at least the part where we counted our score), I was confused as to what my answers should be. I am half Chinese, and my other half is made up of English, French, German, Irish, and Native American. So when the statement reads "I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time" am I looking for people who are Chinese/English/French/German/Irish/Native American? Obviously not. I was not all that surprised by my low score. I do not usually feel discriminated against but I have always known that there are biases that are embedded into people's minds at birth, stereotypes that often trump experience. Also, it is hard to determine how people would react to things I do in other places. In Lexington, I feel like people are mostly accepting of differences, LHS being considered so liberal. But I know people who do not accept as easily as my friends. For example, a friend from Walpole stopped talking to me and claimed to have lost respect for me because I dated a black guy. I told her I didn't actually realize that people were still racist. Making privilege visible, or even the prospect of it, is probably terrifying to some people because it would be such a change. Most people learn to ignore our differences in privilege simply because it is easier to not deal with something than to have the courage to. Privilege is normally invisible because people don't like to think they have these large advantages going for them in life. Like in sexual orientation, I never noticed I was privileged for being straight. But I'm sure there are tons of things that hurt people who aren't straight, like when my friends use "gay" as a synonym for "dumb". It's just easier for the dominant group to overlook things and not to worry about change.
ReplyDeleteWhile reading the checklist in "Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack", I was somewhat surprised at my score. First of all, it made me realize how much I truly take for granted, because my race seems to have the upper hand in most situations. I think it surprised me that I had forgotten to recognize most of these privileges, beacuse I have simply grown up with them and are used to them. I did not have to work at all to get these advantages, I was just born with them. But I was also somewhat not surprised at my score. I already knew that my race has the advantage in many parts of life, I just did not realize how extreme those advantages were. I think that privilege is normally invisible because it is just one of those subjects that can become very uncomfortable. If someone brags about their privileges, they often come off as arrogant, and the people who have less privileges could be ashamed of how little power they have, so most people just choose to ignore and let it be an unspoken part of society.
ReplyDeleteI got 34 points. In the beginning i expected to get more points, but then i realized that sometimes things just don't apply to me. But still, the checklist made me think: Obviously is the whole western world modified, and perfected for the white race. Why is it like that? i think, the white race, on one hand does not really try to even out the differences of the races, just like the author said, because we do not even see it. I did not realize that i have so many advantages just because i was born white.
ReplyDeletewhat comes now might sound strange. but when i was young (like elementary/middle school), in austria, i wanted to be black. out of different reasons, i thought its cool to be different, to be special without doing anything but being born. i used to play basketball, and although this might sound kind like a prejudice, i always thought african americans play better basketball. and i love the most of the hair styles, voices, and.. yeah, i dont know. i couldnt imagine why being black would have any disadvantage. but since i am in america, i think to have seen that it is usually much easier to survive if you are white. there are so many prejudices and racial problems in america, which i dont get. it just generally seems to me taht it is easier to make a living without having to face racism and problems i just have because of my color. i still dont want to believe it, but there are so many disadvantages in the western world, if u are colored. i mean, the first thing that i recognized when i moved here, to lexington, in august, was, that there is hardly any african american living here. i was totally shocked. i was like, hey, i tohught america is a country where it is easy to get accpeted, "american dream" and stuff like that. but i was wrong. i still feel a racism in america, and that shocked me, somehow. I think this should be changed as soon as possible, but how?
dou know the answer? maybe education, but i think the root of racism lies deeper in our collective consiousness, maybe it goes back to the mindsets of the people who colonialized the world... but i really dont know...
benni
I scored a 5. I wasnt really sure what to expect, but i knew my score wouldnt be high because the lessons on white privledge. I do know people of my race that would answer no to most of the questions but i think living in lexington which is such a diverse community with a great education system gives me a much greater chance of succeeding. I havent really experienced outright racism at LHS, just people always assume i have an attitude problem, which may or may not be true :)
ReplyDeleteand i now realize everyones comments are ten times longer then mine so in further reflection, when i was little i was trained to call peach colored pencils "skin color" and band-aids have never really blended in on my body. I also cant get my hair done anywhere in lexington for under 300 dollars because i have what they call "difficult hair". I also never pull the "race card" unless im sure that i am truly being discriminated against for my race. It really bothers me when people throw that around as an excuse for not doing well when really race has nothing to do with their lack of success when their problem is more their work ethic.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't surprised by my relatively low score. I was very confused by some of the questions because I am biracial, and really don't know how to classify myself racially. My family hasn't traced our exact heritage, but as far as I know I'm Italian, African American, Native American, Irish, and definitely more. I definitely don't know who to consider "people of my kind". In fact, I haven't really met anyone with the exact same nationalities as me. At first glance, most people don't know what race I identify with. Some consider me white and some see me as mixed. I was born with medium skin and "difficult hair" as Jackie said. I definitely try to acknowledge all of my nationalities, and not just one. To forget one, it feels as if I'm leaving a part of me behind.
ReplyDeleteI think because I live in Lexington, a pretty well-to-do town, I've received enough privileges and have a good chance at succeeding. Since I've lived here most of my life, I feel as if the privileges have become invisible as we've all adjusted to our surroundings. Many of us don't realize how our privileges compare to others. Due to this, when our privileges become visible we realize how the world can sometimes be divided.
I was not very surprised with my score based on the checklist from the article. I scored in the high 30's and definitely feel it is because of white privileges that are constantly overlooked in society. i don't think that they are visible to those who don't intend to notice them. Similarly to some other students, while reading the items on the list, many of them were things I had never considered to have an advantage in. My race is definitely dominant in my everyday life, however, I never really feel that there is direct racism around me. I believe once you see the privileges that are invisible for most of us, you realize how people that are minorities are. Whether it be sexual orientation, gender, race, ethnicity, or religion, I think it is important to acknowledge that there is always one group that has more power and is known to have greater advantages over the other.
ReplyDeleteI was not surprised that I had more privilege than others but I was surprised by what items were considered privilege.
ReplyDeleteI think the thing that shows my privilege most is that before reading this I didn't realize that I had this much privilege. I knew that that being Caucasian was an advantage for me, but I had no idea all the things that I take for granted. It's one thing to have an inequality of privilege, but it's much worse to have people take it for granted. It would be impossible get rid of privilege without everyone being fully aware of their privileges in everyday life.
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ReplyDeleteAs many of my other classmates said, I wasn't surprised by my results. I also never considered being able to see someone with the same colour skin on a poster a privilege.
ReplyDeleteI remember living in PA, I went to a preschool/daycare in center city Philadelphia and I was one of two Caucasian kids. As cliché as it sounds my parents really raised me to believe there's no difference between people because of their race, so I didn't feel out of place or not accepted. At such a young age, the other children just saw me as another kid to finger paint with. So when we moved to the burbs and I went to elementary school, I instantly noticed that there I was part of a majority. But even so I had friends of all races because the colour of your skin doesnt matter when you're playing on the playground.
I firmly believe that teaching a child at a young age will stick with them. But I am speaking as a caucasian high schooler. So hey what do I know.
-Lyd
After going through and marking what I agreed with, and sometimes disagreed with, I came up with, what I felt was a moderately high result of 26/50 (+ 59%). This didn't surprise me a whole lot, but I did expect that I would actually score higher, because I exclusively identify myself as a White, who comes from a White background, whose heritage could only be identified as White, and who understands what a great degree of privilege he has.
ReplyDeleteAs I went through though, I felt that many of these questions were not appropriate for most high schoolers, particularly those questions about one's children or one's career life. This list seems the list written from the eyes of a white mother, many of whose questions were annoyingly inapplicable to me. When I recounted and exempted those particular questions (about 1/5 for the total questions) that don't make sense to ask a high school male, regardless of his race, I scored accordingly higher: 28/42 (+ 66%).
But still, this seemed lower that what I expected. I think that this is because I answered these questions not only as a White in the company of minorities, but also as a white in the company of Whites.
Whether they realize it or not, Whites do often take on superior stances against other whites. In this sort of a situation, if I chewed with my mouth open, acted uncleanly, dressed poorly, or acted irresponsibly, I'm sure that many Whites would disclaim me as "White Trash", an identity that superior Whites view an inferior group. Here's a case where those who are part of a majority group could still be alienated from work or places of acceptance because of stereotypes and prejudice (of course to a much less degree than situations of direct racial prejudice). At any rate, I thought it was an interesting idea, and it lead me to mark several answers as "no" or "does not apply" where I felt that race wouldn't back up my behavior. I'd relate this and the previously topic of my perspective vs. the author's perspective as the reasons why I don't score as high as I'd expect. If we made a list of 50 racial-privilege questions by high-schoolers-for-high-schoolers, I'm sure that I'd score very far on the privileged side regardless of whether or not those are privileges I use to my advantage.
Not to repeat what others have said, but I was not at all surprised that there weren't many questions that didn't apply to me. Reading the checklist it almost made me feel as if I should be personally blamed for this injustice. But remembering back, many of the questions did apply, but it doesn't mean that I think about life, racism and gender in those terms. for example on number 24 it said, "I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race." I said yes to this one, but whether I expect it to be true every time or that i am disappointed when the person in charge isn't white isn't true. I just don't think about those things. I think that Peggy McIntosh really puts things into perspective for everyone to at least reconsider the way they think/act, but I'm not entirely sure that this applies to everyone just like it didn't to me.
ReplyDeletePrivilege is really invisible, because its just expected. Its passed down from generation to generation. I think the things that make it become visible are people who are fed up with the way the world is run and put something out to try and get people to reconsider. Without having read the text I probably wouldn't have thought about privilege had I not gotten upset about something racially.
After reading this, I was not surprised by my score. Having learned so much about the history of my race and the history of people of other races, I sort of expected my score to prove the idea of White privilege- as wrong as that may sound. While I was answering the questions, I also tried to put myself in the place of someone who is not White. Doing this made me uncover how much I often take for granted everyday when it comes down to race. I noticed how I took Lexington as a whole for granted, because as I looked through the checklist, it seemed that a lot of what I thought could be answered 'yes' for many races may have been true in Lexington and other towns like Lexington, but not in lots of other cities and towns all over the country. I feel like where we live we are exposed to so many different races that white privilege is dimmed.
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ReplyDeleteGoing into this, I wasn't expecting a high score (yay, underachieving tendencies!), but I was a bit surprised that I didn't even manage to get into the double digits. After thinking it over for a moment, however, I shouldn't have been surprised: I've lived in areas of the US with high Asian-American populations for most of my life, and have never really known the feeling of isolation that comes with being set apart as the only one of a certain race.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting thing that I noted, though, was that, for many of the privileges on that list, lacking them didn't really concern me. For instance, it doesn't bother me that "flesh" colored cover-up/foundation/what-have-you doesn't always match my skin; it bothers me more that women are expected to wear this stuff and somehow look superhuman-ly perfect.
But as for the knapsack's being unseen/unnoticed, I think it's a selective invisibility. In my experience, non-white residents of the U.S. tend to be much more aware of racial nuances in everyday life, if only because they tend to take the brunt of it. Take fashion for a very shallow example: a white kid who isn't up to date with current styles is "conservative" or a bit weird. An Asian kid who wears old-fashioned clothing is immediately stamped as a F.O.B. -- fresh off the boat.
In history books and contemporary society, the role models available to young people tend to be overwhelmingly white. The colored figures of American history are generally held as exceptions, not the rule. Textbooks and advertisement make an impressive effort of being "diverse" and "inclusive", but one only needs to turn to the authorship/credits page, and I'll bet you a Canadian quarter that the guy (yup, male) there is some shade of white.
This discussion isn't comfortable for any of the parties involved -- uncomfortable for the privileged because they're put on the defensive, and uncomfortable for the oppressed because all the ugly reality of their existence is hung out on the line. But I believe it's a discussion that we need to have before we can truly move forward, and we need to have it without any of the wishy-washy political correctness that's had everyone walking on eggshells (while ignoring the real issues) for far too long.
(As a side note, I am now very interested in seeing what Ms. McIntosh has to say about the "invisible knapsack" of males; many of these questions felt like they would apply squarely in the context of gender studies.)
I was not surprised by my score. I know that I am privileged, although I do not think about that privilege on a routine basis. I think that "white privilege" is invisible most of the time because many people are unaware of the prejudices that others face. People are acutely aware of their own hardships, but it can sometimes be difficult to realize those of others. I thought that it was interesting how, in the beginning of the article, McIntosh describes her observation that men realize that women have less privileges than them yet still do not understand that they are overprivileged. I think a similar thing happens with race. It is well understood by most people that some races have more difficulty in everyday life than others. However, those that have "white privilege" view what they have not as privilege, but as their right. It can sometimes be awkward and difficult to recognize that many people have carry an "invisible knapsack" full of things that they take completely for granted.
ReplyDeleteI am not surprised with my score mainly because I am black and all my life, I have learned that black people as a group have been under privileged. living both in the city and in the suburbs sort of gave me two different perspectives. for example the question about finding someone in charge, if i go to new York fried chicken (lol), or the local corner store more the 75% of the time ill get a black manager. in Lexington Rancs, star bucks, the running store would all have a white person in charge. i feel like the privileged don’t know how much privilege they have. until i experience what it feels to be privileged i can only speak for myself...the question about getting a haircut, very true in Lexington. a lot of the black kids go to Cambridge or Somerville to get a haircut. JP cuts my hair
ReplyDeleteI wasn't sure what to expect for my score when I took this survey. I had lived either in Korea or in Massachusetts all my life, so I have not yet experienced much racism or discrimination here as I could have elsewhere. I think my score is 'rigged' because I live in such a diverse place as Lexington. Lexington is, looking at America as a whole, is very diverse and mixed. I have more privileges here at LHS, than I would in other schools in other states. A lot of the questions in the survey were hard to answer. For the ones that talked about finance and jobs, those didn't apply to be, for I have no idea about discrimination related to those areas. However, when it talked about my worries for children, I took the liberty to apply it to myself. I took into consideration what my parents would worry about and what I experienced at school. Lexington, I think, is particularly concerned with fair representation of race through out the school.
ReplyDeleteAs I was taking the survey, some of the things didn't really apply to me. Then I started to wonder who McIntosh intended the survey for. As I've said before, I think some of the survey was not applicable to me because I was not old enough. Others might have because I haven't really experienced discrimination because I have lived in places with a high density of Asians.
After finding out my score, i wasn't surprised at all about my score. even though we have "equality" it is no hidden secret that the white people have more privilege then other races of color. They can get better jobs and high positions and lots of things are handed to them. Living in mostly white neighborhoods all my life, i kind of got used to being looked at differently then the other kids and seeing other kids get different privileges then i did. i feel that the color you are determines how you will be treated in this world and how you will be looked at, which i thought wasn't what america was supposed to be about!
ReplyDeletePrivilege is not just an advantage granted to whites and men. It differs all over the world. One country's minority is another country's majority. This phenomenon is interesting because based on this idea, (prejudice/discrimination varying in different regions) it seems that no one is welcome anywhere but their own country. Yet how do we define where someone is from? I am born in America but my ethnicity lies in Europe. So where do I belong? If someone is Chinese but was born in America, are they accepted in America without prejudice or discrimination? The answer to this question is probably no. Despite their life in America, society still judges them based on what they see on the outside.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading, i was surprised by my score, idid not think that my score would be that high. it just shows that she is very right about the unborn privledges people have. even though our country keeps pushing the idea of equality, when it comes down to it, whites still have a lot more privledge, and equality doesn't actually exist, which completly destroys the basis of what america stands on
ReplyDeleteAfter finding out my score I was not really surprised. Growing up in Lexington I know that I have a privileged life. I think that sometimes I take this for granted because I do not have to deal with the prejudices that other people face in their daily lives. I think that many people are aware of the prejudices that happen in other people’s lives but they do not do a lot to stop it. Throughout my life I knew that being white was considered a “privilege” but I was always taught that there is no race that is better than another. Sometimes it is hard to imagine myself in someone else's shoes but if I did get that experience I think that it would definitely be a culture shock for me.
ReplyDeleteafter watching the film, and hearing the kids call each other names. it shows how offensive little words can be. moving to lexington i was suprised that race wasn't really an issue here. where back home it was harder because where i grew up, it was a very racist place. i was happy to see that at the end of the film the children she had once tought. they all seemed to grow up with out that white black divison.
ReplyDeletegoing threw the list i realized the level that i am privilidged. I have a family that is still together and i go to a great school and i always have food to eat and all of that. There are some poeple in this world that have to worry day to day if they are going to eat. There are some children that grew up missing one or both parents and have to have that impact on their lives. Considering that some children are forced to go into the army to kill for a cuase they dont even know i feel very prividlidged
ReplyDeleteMcKintosh's checklist illuminated and clarified the priviledges I experience and take for granted as a white British straight woman. It made me realise that it's easier for me to achieve my goals.
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