Verified Document

White Privilege Understanding And Acknowledging Thesis

One of Peggy McIntosh's most profound observations is that the white privileged class, though it can choose to engage with, learn from, and attempt to understand developments in minority writing, music, arts, and culture, it is essentially insulated from any of the possible negative reflections of these developments (McIntosh). That is, though I might personally enjoy listening to rap music, I do not need to worry about what the music says regarding my culture's views on women or violence, whereas an African-American who might detest rap purely on the basis of its sound as well as its messages will nevertheless be identified with the more negative connotations of misogyny and violent tempers that have become inherent to most rap music. McIntosh's logic can be taken to even more insidious and harmful conclusions, as well. I attended a private Catholic school in New Jersey that was very expensive -- as pricey as many colleges -- and had very few minority students. Five to be exact. These students were bussed to the private school from the inner city in order to provide them with educational opportunities that matched their abilities, and that they would not have been able to have access to in their own schools and living situations. My attendance at the school was not merely evidence of my white privilege, but also my economic privilege (or more correctly, my parents' economic privilege). By the same token, the presence of the minority students was not actually an indicator of equality or of an evening-out of the privileges and biases that exist in this country, but ironically served as a reminder of the severe gap that existed between their level of privilege and that of the average -- i.e. white and rich -- student at the school.

Nothing was done at the school with the...

First, the fact there were only five students in the entire school whose skin tone was different than everyone else's made the distinction visually clear, whether it mattered on a deeper level or not. Then, there was the knowledge of the circumstances that brought these students to this particular school -- they were marked out as intelligent, which is not necessarily a negative thing but is still a differentiator, and they were also known to be severely underprivileged both in terms of their financial situation at home and the opportunities available to them in their communities. Not only did the general population of white and (over-) privileged students know these things about the minority students automatically, but the minority students were undoubtedly even more sharply aware of these differences, and thus took sharper notice of their relative disadvantages.
Even in trying to bridge the privilege gap that exists between people of different ethnicities and colors in America, then, the immediate result is simply a greater clarity of the existent divide. This is the problem with such imbalances; once they exist, they are incredibly difficult -- perhaps even impossible -- to truly eradicate. Obama's election as the nation's first African-American President is itself evidence of this, as it only serves to highlight the lack of African-American government officials in our history and even serving in office today. The fact that his election is an achievement that needed to happen does not signal an end to the white privilege in this country, but merely shows that it is possible to succeed despite the disadvantages. There's still no level playing field, though.

Cite this Document:
Copy Bibliography Citation

Related Documents

White Privilege Social Injustice Encompasses All Evils,
Words: 2662 Length: 9 Document Type: Essay

White Privilege Social injustice encompasses all evils, which may include discrimination, gender bias, racial profiling, and many others. Social injustice, which comes in many forms, is a global problem (Stewart et al., 2012). Based on discrimination; this involves the favoritism of a given group over another. Racial profiling is self-explanatory, and it involves separating people owing to their skin color. This is prevalent in the developed countries, and this helps in

Prejudice / Discrimination White Privilege
Words: 997 Length: 3 Document Type: Term Paper

Additional (86-87) explanations for racism / discrimination: a) the socialization process (if the parents are racists, the child growing up learns to hate certain racial groups); b) economic competition (when security is threatened, prejudice can come into play; Blacks and Czechs in some instances were biased against Vietnamese immigrants because the Vietnamese were supposedly taking jobs away from those already here in the U.S. And in Czechoslovakia). Ossman presents a

White Normativity
Words: 4900 Length: 16 Document Type: Term Paper

The Problem of White Normativity In a multi-racial world, defining anyone as “black” or “white” makes as much sense as believing that all issues are “black” and “white” and that there are no shades of gray to anything. Almost everyone will certainly agree that from politics to economics to religion to any subject under the sun, there is a great deal of leeway to be given because to rigidly peg something

White Supremacists
Words: 1506 Length: 5 Document Type: Term Paper

Aryan Nations -- sociological context Aryan Nations is an extremist community in the U.S. that uses Christian religious ideology and neo-Nazi types of thinking in an attempt to influence the masses. The group is based on the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, which is itself a branch of the Christian Identity Movement. The group has been reported to engage in a series of illegal activities including acts of terrorism meant to

Casey, Patrick White, and Eleanor
Words: 2501 Length: 7 Document Type: Book Report

"White's canonization is part of a larger cultural shift, which saw the development of many kinds of institutions and critiques aimed at making Australia culturally richer and more autonomous" (During, 1996). Therefore, the changing way that he portrayed women in his work may have signaled an awareness of the fact that women's roles were changing in Australian society as whole. Therefore, in the Tree of Man, White's approach to

Examine What the Security Manager Can Do to Prevent White Collar...
Words: 3613 Length: 13 Document Type: Essay

security manager can do to prevent white collar crime. White collar crime and its prevention The masses are often inclined to associate criminal behaviors with individuals who are socially and economically disadvantaged. However, individuals who are part of privileged socioeconomic communities are also likely to engage in criminal activities. "The types of crime may differ from those of the lower classes, such as lawyers helping criminal clients launder their money, executives

Sign Up for Unlimited Study Help

Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.

Get Started Now