Talking Point 1

In the article ‘White Privilege’ by Peggy McIntosh, it is described how many people are never really taught about white privilege and how it automatically comes with their race. Whites do not acknowledge that they have an advantage over other ethnicities, and many do not see how they are a part of what makes our society racist. White privilege is invisible to those of white decent because they are taught, or brought up, to look at life from a white point of view. The way we are taught helps us to become who we are and how we view the world. As stated on page 2: “… whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow ‘them’ to be more like ‘us’.”

1.) “The pressure to avoid it is great, for in facing it I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country; one’s life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own.” (4)
- I couldn’t agree with this quote more. We know that there is a situation, but we don’t try to solve the problem or find its origin. We basically look at it and hope that it solves itself. By pointing out that there is a problem of racism in the U.S., we are admitting that we are not who we present ourselves to be. We call ourselves the United Nations, and yet we discriminate and don’t offer equal opportunity to all human beings.

2.) “In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth.” (4)
- Our schools teach us the physical and verbal abuses of racism. The media is what teaches about stereotyping and how it affects our society, which eventually affects us as individuals.

3.) “…we need to do more work with identifying how they actually affect our daily lives.” (5)
- Many people feel as though racism does not exist in today’s society and that is mainly because they are blind to how it affects them on a day-to-day basis. Non-whites are the prey’s of racism. It sneaks up, violates, and eventually destroys our lives. Schools point out certain aspects which you, as a student, are brought to focus upon. Racism lessons at school, consists of its own history and the people that provide the actions of abuse. As the children of today, and future leaders of tomorrow, we need to know about how racism affects us in modern society. This is how come many are blind to racism and cultural power.

This video/audio basically talks about racism & white privilege:


Here are a few videos that give examples of racism...