Something to Consider
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack
by Peggy McIntosh
[A larger excerpt from her working paper is here:
http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/~mcisaac/emc598ge/Unpacking.html]
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 time 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. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.
3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.
4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.
6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.
9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.
11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.
12. 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 which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.
13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.
16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.
17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.
18. 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.
19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
22. 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.
23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.
24. 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.
25. 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.
26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.
27. 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.
28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.
29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.
30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.
31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.
32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.
33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.
34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.
35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.
36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.
37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.
38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.
39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.
40. 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.
41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.
42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.
43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.
44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.
45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.
46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.
47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.
48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.
49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.
50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.
Number 50 in particular is what a friend and I discussed today. What exactly is this "normal" feeling and is anyone really aware of feeling "normal" when they experience it? Can I, as a black female, ever feel "normal"? Better yet: Do I truly want to feel "normal"? Isn't "normal" really a codeword for privileged? I think I just answered my first question.
Would I be willing to give up feeling "normal" if it meant that I had to make an effort to convince people like me to also give up their sense of normalcy so that others, who are not like me, would no longer be left to feel abnormal?
My friend also sent me the following quote.
"You do not wipe away the scars of centuries by saying: 'now, you are free to go where you want, do as you desire, and choose the leaders you please.' You do not take a man who for years has been hobbled by chains, liberate him, bring him to the starting line of a race, saying, 'you are free to compete with all the others,' and still justly believe you have been completely fair . . . This is the next and more profound stage of the battle for civil rights. We seek not just freedom but opportunity—not just legal equity but human ability—not just equality as a right and a theory, but equality as a fact and as a result."
- Former President L.B. Johnson
edit: 11-16-06 10AMI have not taken the time to verify that the quote is actually from Mr. Truman The quote, initially attributed to Mr. Harry S. Truman, has, after a simple fact-checking of sources, yielded results for former US president Lyndon B. Johnson. Regardless of which president said it, I think it's amazingly well put and really reaches to the root of the problems inherent in 'leveling the playing field' for anything. Then I wondered what our current president has to say. I glanced over at my co-worker's desktop calendar entitled "George W. Bushisms" where each day features a quote from the U.S. President. There's absolutely no comparison, at least, not in that publication. At best, none of those quotes actually make sense. So, moving on. After chatting a little more about what it means to be considered culturally normal in America in an extremely broad context (as in, simply being a twin can make you a minority) we parted company with a shared feeling that we'd understood the other.
Any thoughts?
Comments
In first grade I made a B on a test. My first grade teacher (named Mrs. Shearhouse if you are out there) told me that this was very very good for a “black boy.” WTF!!! Here is my take on this issue. White privilege is a collection of stereotypes, perceptions, and assumptions about minorities that are true until proven otherwise. And when a minority individual performs above and beyond the stereotype, perception, or assumption then white privilege now holds that person in a higher regard as a credit to his/her race or an example for others of his/her race to follow. And therein lays the problem. The stereotype, perception, or assumption is never invalidated. There is now an exception to the rule but in general the stereotype, perception, or assumption still stands solid. I have never felt that I have been held back or denied an opportunity because I my race. I do not play the race card. But I will never know the full comfort of just being ME because somehow there is always someone who acts or reacts in a way to remind me that white privilege does exist, that I am a minority, and that everything I do, succeed or fail, I am representing not just me but my entire race.
To start with, I don't deny that racism is alive and well in our society, in many ways. After all, we're only 40-50 years removed from the civil rights movement, and change takes time. Beyond that, to not be a racist is very difficult because it runs contrary to human nature. Human intelligence is, at its most basic level, about pattern recognition. Ever take an IQ test? All pattern recognition. So if we see three white people, or three African-Americans, or three Mexicans, and they all do the same thing, it is our nature to perceive a pattern. And we have to work very hard not to be guided by that perception, by what we would call--in the case of race--a stereotype. So I an in agreement with her point in a general sense. That said, I find this piece to be very unhelpful. I find it to be reactionary and manipulative, and not a constructive contribution to the debate on race. It comes off as an attack on white people, and that is no way to open eyes that are closed.
There are a lot of specific recurring problems I see with the various items on the list, and I will point out some of them, with examples.
The author writes, "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 think this demonstrates hypocrisy on the part of the author. She says in one item that it's racist to believe that one person's experiences represent the experience of a whole race, and yet she then presumes with her whole list--and this item in particular--that her experiences are representative of white people. Speaking for myself, I have two jobs. At one, the "person in charge" is half-Japanese, half-African American. And at the other, the "person in charge" is Latino. I know many, many Latinos, African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and other minority group members in positions of authority. Just because she hasn't seen it doesn't mean I have.
The author writes, "I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color." This is one of many examples that I find to be outright bizarre. Does ANYONE ever attribute talking with one's mouth full to the perpetrator's race? They attribute it to bad manners. I mean, there are certainly some negative stereotypes associated with various races. But is eating with one's mouth full--or bad table manners in general--really one of them?
The author writes, "Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability." This is one of MANY examples on the list that I find to be anachronistic. No doubt, 40 years ago, someone might get their check or credit card rejected because of race. But does this EVER happen today? I just don't see how it could, even if business owners had the inclination. To begin with, these decisions are usually made by cashiers, aka peons who don't give a damn if the business loses money on a bad transaction. Second, the system is currently built to make fraud almost impossible. If you can do the minimum necessary to, say, write a check--basically show ID--is any value judgment ever made? Does anyone ever say, yeah, you showed your ID, but I don't trust you? There is no need to make such judgments--the system provides the necessary protection. I just can't imagine it these days.
The author writes, "I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented..." This is one of many examples that is simply inaccurate. Has this person EVER been to a music store? I don't think I've ever been in a music store that did not have rap music by African American artists, and Stevie Wonder, and Richie Valens, and Motown music, and Jimi Hendrix, and Salsa music, and so forth. Is there ANY music store that only sells stuff by white artists? In fact, rap is the best-selling genre in American music today. And most rappers are African-Americans.
The author writes, "When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is." I find this personally offensive. I am a history teacher, and I can assure you that I--and every other modern-day history teacher out there--find plenty of time for minority contributions to American civilization. Yes, I talk about Roosevelt, and Patton, and Edison. But I also talk about NWA, and Martin Luther King, Jr., and Cesar Chavez, and Fred Korematsu, and Jane Addams, and other people who are not white males.
It is possible that this author could have used her approach to make a valuable point. But by tinging her analysis with such a negative tone, she turns people off. And by making statements that are simply ridiculous--like the one about the music stores--she undermines confidence in the rest of her assertions, which leaves me disinclined to consider them carefully.
Oh, and let me say one more thing. I have been in many situations where I was the minority--in terms of race, class, religion, gender--and I sometimes felt uncomfortable. So a lot of the things she speaks of are not just limited to people of color.
@ ms. bunburyist
I agree that racism/white privilege is a difficult thing to deal with because it is so immersed in our culture. It's unrealistic to expect inequalities to completely go away in the near future by it happening cold turkey, by expecting one entire race of people to become altruistic, or another to singlehandedly bootstrap themselves into equality. That's not the way the world works these days. It's mainly why I included the second quote. It's something everyone has to work together to improve. I wish everyone could be proactive as you by examining assumptions.
@Blackhawk
Yes! No one really wants to be that racial pioneer one who's constantly inducing 'a ha, so it is true about *insert group here*', 'that's very good for a *insert group here*', or, 'So, '*insert group here* people are not like that after all!' epiphanies about their race simply trying to live day to day. How draining is that? Some people deal with this either by being a superachiever (hence inducing the credit for their race comments) or they such say screw it I'm just going to act the stereotype since it's how society expects me to be anyway. Good point.
@ romi:
I hear you.
@ floydpink
From my friend (who doesn't have a Vox of his own):
"The writer is basing her observations on her own life and does not speak for everyone, only herself. However that does not mean that her ideas do not apply to others. As for you, Sir, you seem to be an exception to the rule. You shouldn't be arguing that these statements do not apply to you, you should be asking yourself why there are not more folk like you."
From me: Sadly, I had a dearth of non-European history in school while growing up, until high school. I feel like that sort of public school history education is typical for people in their late 20s and older, and not just me slipping through the cracks. People like you and your colleagues should have been my teachers.