White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack Analysis

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My parents migrated to the United States in their mid-twenties. I was born and raised in Brownsville, Texas, where 91% of the population is Mexican, my teachers and friends were all Mexican. Due to this sort of environment, I was never exposed to other races and what their lives were like in comparison to mine. It wasn’t until the 2016 Presidential Elections where that finally happened. At the time, I had moved to Houston and the term “white privilege” was being thrown around. I understood the word by definition but perhaps I will never know what it is like to have actual white privilege. However, in the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” the author, Peggy McIntosh provides and detailed description on what it is like to be white in America and have white privilege. …show more content…

In this article, McIntosh explains how she was “taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage” but was not taught that her white privilege put her at an advantage, but she never noticed because whites are taught to not recognize their white privilege. She goes on to explain that even though she does not consider herself racist and has never directly been racist towards someone, she unconsciously enjoys her white privileges. In addition, McIntosh made a list of some of the white privileges that she has taken advantage of, such as her race not working against her when needing medical assistance, being able to criticize the government without being seen as a cultural outsider and being able to protect her children most of the time from people who may not like them. These are just some, out of a list of 26, white privileges that McIntosh was able to take advantage from. She never noticed them until she made it a point to recognize them, regardless, it still adds to the oppression

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