Bowman West

Was it Just Another Day Off...

or did you stop to think about what this day means? Do you think racism & injustice is gone?Or do you actively try to fight it? Last semester I taught a course called "Development in Cross Cultural Perspective." The aim of the course was to expose students to different cultures and issues of race, ethnicity, prejudice and discrimination. A few days ago I got my student evaluations back and they were very positive. However, several of the students noted that they didn't understand why they were required to take a "diversity" course when their major had "nothing to do with it." Wow. That's pretty sad. They enjoyed the class and thought it was interesting, yet they didn't understand the urgency and importance of the exposure they got. Anyway, I'm making this post because I live and breath this stuff. It's my life's passion and study. Below is part of an article that is well-known in my field. It is by white author Peggy McIntosh, and she explores the advantages that she receives daily in our society just because her skin is white. This article has made a big impact on me and it made a big impact on my students as well. So, I just ask that you read it with an open mind and resist the immediate urge to argue with it. Let it sit for a few days and I bet you'll start to realize the truth in it. If you can't understand it, that probably means that your world is pretty darn white and you need to seek exposure!


WHITE PRIVILEGE: UNPACKING THE INVISIBLE KNAPSACK
Peggy McIntosh

I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was "meant" to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks.

I decided to try to work on myself at least by identifying some of the daily effects of white privilege in my life. I have chosen those conditions that I think in my case attach somewhat more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location, though of course all these other factors are intricately intertwined. As far as I can tell, my African American coworkers, friends, and acquaintances with whom I come into daily or frequent contact in this particular time, place, and line of work cannot count on most of these conditions.
1. I can, if I wish, arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area that I can afford and in which I would want to live.
3. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
4. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
5. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
6. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
7. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.
8. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
9. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods that fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can deal with my hair.
10. Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
11. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
12. I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes, or not answer letters without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.
13. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
14. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
15. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
16. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color, who constitute the world's majority, without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
17. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider. 18. 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.
18. 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.
19. I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children's magazines featuring people of my race.
20. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in rather than isolated, out of place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.
21. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having coworkers on the job suspect that I got it because of race.
22. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.
23. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help my race will not work against me.
24. If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones.
25. I can choose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color that more or less match my skin.