In Peggy's brilliant choice to point out something that not all people of her "race/color" so to speak to great or often about, she points out great points of oblivion that Whites have as well as the privileges that they not always consider or appreciate having. In her doing so she is not only asking herself what these privileges are but also the thousands of others to consider what options/things they don't realize they do take for granted. Not only does she allow others in her race to rectify and see there wrongs if any, but she also allows for herself to be put in other ethnic shoes. She allows herself to see and think what it would be like to be a Hispanic, Black , Indian, Asian etc. . She learns to see what it is like to be oppressed and look at her race comparatively and see what privileges she had over others. She breaks boundaries and speaks a truth in which other minorities for so long even to this day have been trying to riot and argue against. She promotes a hope for change in minorities as she may be one of the few thousands of White who will speak out and be courageous enough to feel strong and needed meaning in her unknowing "privileged and powerful White" words. Although many may not know when more in her race speak out against these ethnic injustices and inequalities they are helping and promoting change that has been and for years has been long needed. I feel as though it was personally important for her to create this inventory of unearned privileges because she poses the essential question; how exactly did we attain these rights, who granted them and why is it that only we can have these, what makes us so different and powerful from the rest of these humans that are no different than I am except only through skin? Why is it that when I am asked these questions that I feel that there is no need for me to answer them?
I love your take on the article! I agree that Peggy is one of the few thousands of Whites to speak about what White Privilege is and how different things really are between Whites and people of color. I also enjoyed her list of examples of every day white privilege. I feel like her list highlighted more commonly known advantages to being white as well as some advantages I failed to remember, like if you were a person of color moving into a nicer neighborhood and being judged and/or singled out. I too think that Peggy created her list of examples to pose the questions you listed. I also love the way you ended your summary with "Why is it that when I am asked these questions that I feel there is no need for me to answer them?" because it shows really the only answer I can think of to this question: because you're white. And I think that's the whole point of Peggy's list. She knows the only valid answer is "because you're white".
ReplyDeleteTo an extent, America can be obsessed with meritocracy because we put out the front that “hard work pays off”, but if you are a minority, even if you have adequate skills, you can still be systematically discriminated. I don’t think that she thinks that Americans are obsessed with meritocracy, because if that was the case, America wouldn’t be biased to race. Meritocracy is built of true ability, if you have the skills you get your credit, but our country has created a systemized type of racism that is, like she said, invisible. Unless Americans truly think minorities are just unskilled and not able to work as “hard” as whites, we do not run this country out of merits. By making that list of invisible white privileges she added a great deal to her article, because it allows her audience to truly understand this unearned power. she puts herself into the shoes of this minorities, looking from the outside in. By her making that list, it even showed her all the things that she, as a white woman, takes for granted. Until minorities can feel as if they belong, rather than being an outsider, along with whites realizing their privilege, change will be very hard to find.
ReplyDelete