McIntosh- Argument post

Throughout her piece, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack", Peggy McIntosh argues hat those with white privilege are often oblivious to the fact that they have it and therefore also oblivious to the unconscious racism which they commit. And with this obliviousness, they are unable to make progress. 

McIntosh begins by comparing the obliviousness of those with white privilege to that of men and male privilege. By having this privilege, one does not notice it and sees it as something they believe to be normal for everyone, that they would not think that someone else may not have. Allan Johnson also described this in his piece Privilege, Power, and Difference discussing how privilege can be defined by not knowing you have privilege. McIntosh describes white privilege as "an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was "meant" to remain oblivious". Once white privilege is known, it no longer remains unconscious and something needs to be done about it. 

The first step is to examine the ways in which white privilege unconsciously exists as actions of everyday life which often go unnoticed or things which you would think should be basic rights for any human, regardless of race, gender, economic class, sexuality, etc. Many also seem to go beyond just a person and be a systematic issue. One which is passed down and is intertwined with all other forms of privilege and oppression. 

With all of these different types of privilege and oppression being intertwined and brought up, it brings about a feeling of needing to change it, so as to keep a clean moral state. Yet oftentimes, when someone has privilege they do not want to have to give it up, and McIntosh states that because of that, systematically in the United States, the obliviousness to white privilege, as well as to male privilege, is consistently reinforced in our culture. It allows those with that privilege to believe in a country of equal opportunity and the American Dream, even though it is not actually a reality. 

Class Comment:

I felt This piece was written in a very confusing manner which left me unsure of whether or not I was properly interpreting parts of it. But I did feel as though much of it connected to both Johnson and Kristof very well. While Kristof wrote specifically on the topic of economic stagnancy, they both connected with the way they discussed the necessity of breaking through the myth of meritocracy in the United States.