“A good man is hard to find”: and the “White Privilege System”
Flannery O’Connor’s A good man is hard to find describes the end of the Bailey’s family (the author did not mention their last name) that was caused by the meeting with the escaped prisoner Misfit and the Grandmother’s behavior. Arguments of this short story both agree and disagree with the article White privilege: Unpacking the invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh. O’Connor demonstrated people believe in a privilege of skin color (and the social status in this case) that was given to them “as a default”. The author also showed individuals should reconsider this confidence in the privileges’ presence. This is about the “agreement” point. Disagreement appeared in authors’ explanations.
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McIntosh created a list of advantages of the white race in the USA that included such points as “I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.” (2). The author showed white people achieve “default” privileges, and argued they should rethink their presence and benefits. However, McIntosh covered a topic from the philosophical or sociological point of view. It is possible to say she thought the belief in this “privilege” created an additional discrimination in relation to minorities. O’Connor demonstrated the problem from the practical point of view. He showed a direct situation where this race or social privileges proved their delusiveness. The Grandmother believed in her “invincibility” because she was a representative of the Southern aristocracy. O’Connor did not mention it, but it is possible her family had their own “believed privileges” too. It was a white family from the upper (or an upper-middle) class with three underage children; one of them was an infant. These features created an “aura” that should help to avoid unpleasant moments. Such family was able to have an accident, but it was impossible for them to be killed by accidental criminals. However, they finished exactly this way. So, while McIntosh argued the belief in race (sex) privileges is bad for other social groups, O’Connor demonstrated it also can be a wrong strategy for white people
Gina Crosley-Corcoran, author of Explaining White Privilege to a Broke White Person, informs her readers about her misinterpretation of white privilege. After being called out for her unknowing use of white privilege, Gina begins to plead her case. Beginning with her childhood, Gina explains how she grew up “on the go”. Travelling from place to place, Gina lived in a rundown trailer and her family obtained little to no money, had no access to hot water, survived on cheap, malnourished foods, and dealt with a bad home life. After evaluating her history when placed at the end of life’s spectrum, Gina finds it hard to pick out white privilege in her life and therefore argues she has none. Later, Gina is introduced to a woman named Peggy McIntosh
“I repeatedly forgot each of the realizations on this list until I wrote it down. For me, white privilege has turned out to be an elusive and fugitive subject. The pressure to avoid it is great, for in facing it I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country; one’s life is not what one makes it; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own.”
Through words such as “plain” (Cary 15) and “concealed” (Cary 29), Cary draws on the audience’s beliefs of holding themselves on a higher platform and stresses that by doing so, the nation should feel ashamed that they are neglecting the existence of others. Essentially, the audience feels obligated in questioning whether the issue of slavery goes against the virtues of human nature because despite the Constitution stating that everyone is of equal standing, there are exceptions. The writer emphasizes how society views the abolitionists and fugitives in “cold contempt” (Cary 43) and draws a connection between their sense of arrogance and the effects it has on those who do not share the same beliefs. Furthermore, not a single newspaper was printed that “… represented the intelligence of colored Canadians…” (Cary 30-31) and taking advantage of this statement, Cary demonstrates that the antislavery cause should be promoted in order to destroy the preconceived ideas that those who are not white are deemed as lowly
The famous anti-racism activist Tim Wise once said “The irony of American history is the tendency of good white Americans to presume racial innocence. Ignorance of how we are shaped racially is the first sign of privilege. In other words. It is a privilege to ignore the consequences of race in America.” White Privilege is commonly defined as “a set of advantages and/or immunities that white people benefit from on a daily basis beyond those common to all others.” (What) As White americans living in the United States, you never really pay any attention to the fact that there is a racial “smog” (Marks) living among us in everyday life and you really never realize how it affects the people on the other end who don’t receive this ‘privilege’. White privilege shapes the world we live in by how we go about and interact
Peggy McIntosh wrote this article to identify how her white privilege effects her life. Each statement is written as a privilege that Ms. McIntosh does not need to consider or fear as a white woman. From financial credibility to national heritage, this article makes a valid point regarding the way white people can be arrogant and naïve when the same treatment is not being given to their neighbors, coworkers, and peers. There can be two responses when reading this. The first would be a person of color. They will appreciate the attempt at realization of what white people take for granted. The second would be the reality that smacks the white people in the face when they realize how true all 50 statements are. Once this begins to sink in, many will start to broaden their competence realizing the unfair treatment of the people in this world. Moving down the timeline, we can see how the acknowledgement can mend broken relationships. Owning the reality and doing something to change it can give the people of different races the treatment they deserve (McIntosh,
Dr. Peggy McIntosh looks at white privilege, by “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” She describes white privilege as almost a special check or coin that she gets to cash in on. Dr. McIntosh tells that white privilege has been a taboo and repressed subject – and that many white people are taught not to see or recognize it. However, she is granted privileges (McIntosh 30). Dr. McIntosh goes on to describe twenty-six ways in which her skin-color grants her certain privileges. In example twenty, she describes how she can buy “…posters, postcards, picture books…” and other items that “…feature people of my race” (32). Additionally, in her first example, she talks about being able to be in the “company of people of my race most of the time” (McIntosh 31). Instances in which a privilege person would not even recognize unless they were looking, show evidence for white privilege. People take these advantages for granted because they simply expect them. Due to the lack of melatonin in her skin, she was granted privileges and her skin served as an asset to her. Dr. McIntosh conveys how her privilege is not only a “favored state,” but also a power over other
During the twentieth century, people of color and women, suffered from various inequalities. W.E.B. Du Bois’ and Charlotte Perkins Gilman (formerly known as Charlotte Perkins Stetson), mention some of the concepts that illustrate the gender and racial divide during this time. In their books, The Soul of Black Folk and The Yellow Wallpaper, Du Bois’ and Gilman illustrate and explain issues of oppression, dismissal, and duality that are relevant to issues of race and gender.
This chapter discusses when Bryan met Walter McMillian, a hardworking but undereducated man who became romantically and sexually involved with a white woman, named Karen. Interracial relations were illegal all the way up to the mid-1900s, while the law attempted to justify this injustice with “separate but equal” rhetoric. Once the woman’s husband found out, the incident was taken to court where Walter was also present and thus ostracised by the community. The judge for Walter’s case even personally called Bryan and threatened him in hopes he would quit the case, however Bryan was up for the challenge, no matter how hard the judge made it for him. The woman also started using drugs, and started hanging out with a troubled man named Ralph Meyers, and were even suspected to be involved in a murder of a lower class woman named Vickie Pittman.
The two articles that had a profound impact to my understanding of race, class and gender in the United States was White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh and Imagine a Country by Holly Sklar. McIntosh explains the keys aspects of unearned advantage (a privilege that one group hold over another) as well as conferred dominance (the act of voluntarily giving another group power) and the relationship that these factors hold when determine power of a social group. Additionally, the purpose of McIntosh’s article was to demonstrate the privilege that certain individuals carry and how that translates to the social structures of our society. Furthermore, conferred dominance also contributes to the power of the dominant group
With all of these facts, the author tries to prove that racial differences and privileges appear exaggerated and unrealistic. The privileged and less privileged exist at all levels of society. Duke wants white people to understand that they are in the same position as all other races. The awareness of “white privilege” is only a fallacy that causes feel of guilt without foundation.
The way Staples structures this essay emphasizes his awareness of the problem he faces. The essay’s framework consists mostly of Staples informing the reader of a scenario in which he was discriminated against and then following it with a discussion or elaboration on the situation. This follow-up information is often an expression stating comprehension of his problem and than subtitle, logical criticisms toward it. For example, Staples describes women “fearing the worst of him” on the streets of Brooklyn. He then proceeds to declare that he understands that “women are particularly vulnerable to street violence, and young black males are drastically overrepresented among the perpetrators of that violence.” Staples supports this statement with information about how he had witnessed gang violence in Chester, Pennsylvania and saw countless black youths locked away, however, Staples pronounces that this is no excuse for holding every young black man accountable, because he was an example of a black man who “grew up one of the good boys” coming “to doubt the virtues of intimidation early on.” This narrative structure highlights that Staples is not a hypocrite because he is not show ignorance toward the problem he is addressing unlik...
In the Women’s Rights Convention of 1851, Truth repeatedly equates her worth to that of a man by her physical and intellectual abilities. Some of Truth’s statements at this convention include: “I have as much muscle as any man, and can do as much work as any man. I can carry as much as any mean, and I can eat as much too”. These statements highlight the fact that women were thought to have less physical and intellectual ability than men, and as such were afforded fewer rights. By recurrently equating herself to men in all of these arenas, Truth displayed the commonalities between men and women. Furthermore, Truth’s views came from the stance of a former African American slave, who were not. In this speech, Truth paralleled herself, a black woman, to have the same abilities as a white man, thereby attempting to change her audience’s view of the current existing American capitalist patriarchal structure that put white men at the top and women of color at the bottom of the
In the novel, the author proposes that the African American female slave’s need to overcome three obstacles was what unavoidably separated her from the rest of society; she was black, female, and a slave, in a white male dominating society. The novel “locates black women at the intersection of racial and sexual ideologies and politics (12).” White begins by illustrating the Europeans’ two major stereotypes o...
The main point that McIntosh is pushing forward is that both whites and males have certain advantages. McIntosh says that “white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets” (605). White privilege are these advantages that white people receive just for being white. They didn’t earn any of the privilege other than being born with the right skin tone. She also recognizes them as being “invisible”. They don’t realize that they have this advantage over everyone else.
During this essay, Theroux provides a correlative and valid point for the struggles of men and women. Nevertheless, the ending misses a crucial aspect: White men have always been at the top of the societal food chain. I find it offensive for the author