History of Privilege

First off, the video I loved; it put a lot of sensitive subjects (for some) into perspective, and even for me, a person of color, who was taught to approach such subjects a certain way, realized how messed up and direct the settlers and White Amerikkka were to the minority population. In school, I was taught that Christopher Columbus was a savior for the Americas and without him there would be no United States of America. I was taught that white men accomplished all the greatest successes throughout history with virtually no help. I was taught that racism does not continue to exist in society; that it only happened in history and now it should all be forgotten. Little did I know that much of history was hidden under the wraps.  

In White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knacksap, by Peggy McIntosh, she heavily mentions the differences that set her apart from the minorities, specifically focusing on her differences with Black people, all the while comparing it to male privilege as well. It gave me insight from another perspective I would not have thought about, but probably because white women had not faced the oppositions Black people have before, although she did make the point of how race and sex are key factors to giving the system an advantage (McIntosh, 1989); arguably, she CAN compare to a certain extent. McIntosh noted that her skin color “was an asset for any move [she] was educated to want to make” and it is such a true statement. The fairer the skin, the greater chance one has at life. My mom came to the US when she was fourteen, and my dad arrived when he was nineteen; they each had SOME type of advantage that still managed to hold them back making them work twice as hard versus their white counterpart. My mom is a somewhat fair skinned immigrant with a heavy accent who, at the time, was undocumented; my dad is a brown immigrant with a Spanish accent noted in his English who simply was in the country because of a visa. They lived in a small, lightly-populated city in Arkansas, and they did not have any background education useful for the workforce. They knew of many white families that were able to advance in their life with ease while they were over here being constantly declined for loans, treated unfairly in work, and continuously discriminated against in public. Even though they had the two slight advantages – my mom being slightly fair skinned and my dad being a man – it still was not enough.

I remember when the Black Lives Matter movement started, and I began following the hashtag on Twitter until I became informed enough to be am ally. Once news about Ferguson hit mainstream media – months after it really began – many false stories surfaced that were quickly proved wrong.  I really liked how the editors incorporated the survivors of Katrina into the movement. Although it was a natural disaster that happened years ago, it is something that affected thousands of people that to THIS DAY it continues to impact them; those in power turn a blind eye to the survivors without even thinking twice.