As I read through "White Privilege" by Peggy McIntosh, race was the main theme that stuck with me the whole time that I was reading it. While reading through this piece, I found it very interesting when McIntosh focused on the daily effects of white privilege in her life. Unfortunately, a lot of the effects that she focused on were things that you see in society today. For example, McIntosh states "I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed." This is something that we see in today's world. If someone of color walks into a store, they are more likely to be followed and be portrayed as suspicious rather than someone who has "white privilege". Another aspect that McIntosh focuses on is discrimination. She basically tells us that she does not know what it feels like to be discriminated against because she is not black. She is white so therefore, most of us can relate to this because we don't know what it feels like to be alienated because of our skin color.
I definitely enjoyed McIntosh's reading much more than Delpit's reading. I feel like it was easier to understand and people could relate to it more, especially with McIntosh focusing on daily effects in her life. A question that I have for everyone is can you think of an example for each one of McIntosh's daily effects? Some are easier to comprehend like the example I described. However, some are a little more difficult. But if someone in this society can relate to all of these, other people might be able to as well. I also think that its very interesting how she ties her everyday life into this piece. As you read through her piece, she mostly talks about people of color being discriminated against. But as I looked through everyone else's blog, I noticed Kerri put up a question asking if anyone who is white has ever felt discriminated. I thought her question was interesting and I never would have thought of that!
No comments:
Post a Comment