When I was growing up I find that I was a privileged child. I was also not that kid that went around with five hundred dollars’ worth of clothes on or wiped their butt with twenty dollar bills. When I was born me, my mother, and father lived in a small home outside of Statesboro Georgia in the middle of nowhere. When I was born my mom was fresh out of college but had no job. My father who was working 10 hours a day just to make about 20,000 a year didn’t even have a crib put together for me when I came home from the hospital. We lived in a somewhat shack that was barely livable. Luckily that following school year my mom got a job and my dad went to college to further his education and to later graduate, get a promotion, and move us into a nice new house. Now onto this last summer before starting college where I went on a cruise, stayed at a lake house, and went to church camp. Did I earn it by doing well in school and graduating or did I not earn it because I am just expected to graduate? Was this an earned privilege or an unearned privilege? A couple of months before …show more content…
This camp is at a place called Awanita Valley and can be rented out. An evangelist named CT Townsend rents this place out every year and hundreds of teens from 6th grade all the way to college aged students meet. This camp has lots of fun things to do like a water slide and zip lining. Everyday you wake up and get breakfast at 8 and then go to morning service. After that you are free to do whatever you want until around 5. After that we go to a powerful evening service. These services can get extremely emotional. During these services your youth group gets together and we pray and this is when I realized even more how privileged I am. Privileged enough to have 250 dollars from working to pay to go to camp all by myself. But also privileged to have such an amazing youth group and for my
In conversations many people get defensive when someone says, “You have this because of your privilege” they feel as though that the person they are talking with doesn’t understand that they have worked hard for what they have, however that is not the point that anyone is trying to make. What someone in that position is saying is that although you have worked hard to get where you are your journey have been well furnished with privilege on account of your race. It is said to think about that you got somewhere in life due to the color of your skin, but it is also sadder to think that someone got declined a job, got stereotyped, or got overlooked because of their race or
Money is something that ties in with white privilege because they have access to better schooling which means better jobs and more money. A poor African American or a minority person who lives in an urban setting has to take what they get because they do not have the money or the resources to pick and choose which school they would like to attend, so they are already one step behind the privileged kids. In addition, Peggy McIntosh article “White Privilege: The Invisible Knapsack,” she states “As a white person, I realized I had taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspect, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage” (537) McIntosh is saying that throughout her youth she realizes with resources or not, the privilege is given unto her whether she earn it or not because of her race. What she means is that society’s look on race and not their background and think that white people gain more privilege than black people which is
When I read “Checking My Privilege” written by Tal Fortgang, a freshman at Princeton University, it made me stop and think. What does privilege mean, how should it be used and does it affect me and my life? Fortgang never really states the exact meaning of the word privilege but goes on to complain about the mistreatment of the word and how it is a form of reverse racism; could that be true, I wondered? However, he also claims that privileges do not exist based on race or gender, and that is something I do not agree with. I imagine many people will not agree with his stance on the word privilege or mine, as a matter of fact. Mainly because the word privilege has a different
Certainly, being born into a privileged family have their advantages. Unfortunately, for those who are born into poverty may struggle for their success, but it is not impossible. The podcast “Three Miles” is a great example of that. Comparatively, on the surface Melanie and Raquel are two individuals coming from the same unfortunate circumstances. Although, both girls were introduced to the same pen pal program their outcomes would travel different courses. Initially, the purpose of this program is to give students from poor neighborhoods a glimpse inside their wealthier counterpart’s lives, from another school. Raquel and Melanie’s backgrounds were similar, because they were afforded the same opportunities, but they turned out differently. Raquel was driven while Melanie is unambitious.
Privilege is a topic with, any definitions and many angles of interpretation. My definition describes privilege as a step-up or positive opportunity in a specific situation or circumstance that is not available to everyone. These privileges are sometimes earned while others are totally unwarranted by the recipient. An example of what I consider an unwarranted privilege would be a child living in a certain county and being able to attend a highly sought-after school strictly due to the way an area is zoned by the county. The privilege of a military veteran having his tuition paid for by the Government is a earned privilege by my beliefs. Privilege far extends far outside the boundaries of education. You will find privilege in virtually all facets
As a member of the dominant race in America, I know that I possess certain unearned privileges that allow me to be more successful overall. I was raised with the mindset that racism doesn't affect me because I am white. The U.S. education system taught me about my racial and ethnic history, but it is likely that my classmates of different races could not say the same. I learned about racism in school but not to view whites as privileged or degrading towards subordinate groups. My group was never seen at fault for oppression or took any responsibility for it. Myself, nor my peers, were ever seen or viewed as unfairly advantaged or privileged. I grew up under the impression that any person could achieve what they wanted if they simply worked hard
Privilege is a certain advantage given to one group of people to benefit them at the expense of the disadvantaged group. Popular examples include privileges regarding race, gender, sexual preference, class, and ability. McIntosh explains the concept of privilege as being in possession of an “invisible backpack of unearned assets” that one can “count on cashing in each day,” while remaining ignorant of having the backpack in the first place. While one person may carry around a backpack full of these tools, another person is walking around with nothing in their backpack. The tools provided by privilege are utilized every day to guide the advantaged group in their journey, but the advantaged group is not even aware of the backpack’s strength. On the contrary, the disadvantaged group without backpacks observe their advantaged counterparts skate through life with all these resources to aid them while they trek through the obstacles of life empty-handed.
The social location we grew up in is not what we wanted for our children this was decided when we got We receive privilege’s that others do not, because of race, social class, education, and gender, even age and the way we present ourselves. Also as a white, married, middle-class, mother, in my thirties, I get respect from a stranger, whether it be at the store, restaurant, or out at a movie theater. I 'm approachable, or non-threating look. My husband also gets these perks, and even more than me because he is a man.
Dear white people: when black people say you are “privileged”, they do not mean you were born rich nor do you not have to struggle to make a living. The privilege referred to is the privilege of having white skin, which immediately protects you from certain things in society. Privilege is an advantage available only to a particular person or group of people. Try to understand. White privilege is not something that white people purposefully create, do, or enjoy. White privilege is the term for societal privileges that benefits people whom society identifies as white, beyond what is considered a common experience by non-white people under the same circumstances. In the last few years, it has become impossible to deny the reality of discrimination that people of color are experiencing in the United States from power structures that, for the most part, remain in the power of white people. The concept of white privilege helps
Camp Barnabas is a program that enables children with mental disabilities to enjoy camping activities that they would not have the chance to
To start my claim to my entitlement, I am a hardworking young teen unlike most, I grew up around the farm cleaning cow pens and bailing hay, I am seventeen and a two sport athlete, holding down a steady job. I am in three 4-H clubs, this is my ninth year of showing lambs, sixth year showing chickens and my third year in competition shooting. I live a fast past life of work and helping my family where I can around the farm. This shows that I'm not a blow off kid that is begging for money that will just blow it away. I am going to college to create a steady revenue so I can assemble a prospering farm of my own.
What is privilege? What does it mean? Is privilege inherited or is it earned? As I have learned of this theme in Unit Two, privilege is something that is inherited and something you were born with rather than something you worked for. In other words, privilege is defined as a favor or right to some people, but not for everybody. The privilege I speak is that White privilege. In all the stories that I have read in this unit, the authors always emphasize that one race is in power because they see themselves as superior while the inferior race has to suffer. Oppression is something that points toward the social forces that press upon people and hold them back, thus blocking their pursuit of happiness.
Privileges are things that a person receives that gives them an advantage over most people (Merriam-Webster). These are benefits that only certain people receive for being in a certain group or discourse. Peggy McIntosh, director of the Wellesley College Center for Research on Women, wrote “White Privilege and Male Privilege” and states “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privileges, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege” (605). She argues that whites and males receive certain privileges, yet they do not even notice them. This shows that different races and women are still put at a disadvantage, but the people who receive the benefits are blind to the problem.
The benefits of privilege tend to be invisible, which is why it can be so difficult to acknowledge it or even realize you have it. Whither it is having a job handed to you, having a car or even not having an illness. Whatever the case may be everybody have some type of privileges.
I hailed from a family of hard working coal miners and or preachers; neither of which were well educated nor overly paid. In the early 1960’s, at the age of 16, my father dropped out of high school to go to work on a strip mine where he trained to become a heavy-duty mechanic. (A strip mine is where coal is mined from the top of the ground after the land has been stripped from trees and top soil. A heavy-duty mechanic works on the large equipment that strips the land and mines the coal). A couple of years later, he married my mother who subsequently quit school; and before long, they were parents to four lively children, of which I was the eldest. We were considered an average middle class family in our small, mountain town where my dad worked 40-75 hours a week providing for our family while our mother cared for us and our home. We always had everything we needed and never lacked for anything essential…..until it came time for college. I was an honor student, most of the time, and had dreams of going to college after high school. Unbeknownst to my parents, I even visited the college I wanted to go to and put in an application, all the while knowing they were unable to pay for me to go; and especially there, only an hour away but out-of ...