...In McIntosh’s profound essay’ “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, she states “I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege” (78). McIntosh characterizes the many allowances whites are allowed to enjoy without any questionable justification of consequence. Individually, being a person of color, it is easy for me to identify with these statements; growing up as and African American I was constantly justifying the way I live my own life in the strict confinements of having an exponentially higher melanin content. However, for Caucasians they are never questioned or confronted regarding “certain stereotypes”. How many times have you ever heard a white person have to defend “why do all white people shoot up schools or do crack?” but you can’t go five minutes on CNN without hearing people of color having to defend against why “all African Americans live in huts, why all black people do drugs and live in the hood, why all black people don’t go to school and sag their pants”. This also goes for achievements and positive recognition; their accomplishments never are undermined to correlation of race. White people are allowed to excel and even fail miserably; there is no limitation in the ability to express oneself, they are free to have erratic or even rude inappropriate behavior and moreover their expressibility is never accursed to race....
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...There are many people in the world that are being judged based on race. People are being discriminated based a on their skin color. This means parents would have to talk to their children about their skin color. Also on how they're not gonna be treated the same because of racism. It gives parents a hard time because they don't know exactly how to tell them or the reaction their children will have. People get beat up and insulted because of their skin tone. For example, they would called them the “n” word just because they weren't considered americans since they were not white. The article “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” talks about societies different privileges. It mostly talks about white privileges and male privileges. On how they...
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...find it difficult to notice modern racism, either because they believe it is an obsolete issue or because they take for granted what advantages their skin color awards them as a given for all when it is not. These advantages drawn from a white skin tone is generally addressed as white privilege which most whites would deny having or are oblivious to. Since white privilege serves as an invisible shield of protection and favor, white society is likely to have more advantages over non-whites, especially...
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...This article examines different ways that people experience the world based on privileges gained at birth such as race, gender identity, class, citizenship, and ability. The author shows that these factors can lead to inequality or privileges. The author examines Peggy McIntosh’s 1988 piece, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” in which she claims that being born white in America provides individuals with privileges that other races are denied. The author claims that although there are privileges associated with being born white, his skin color did not prevent his suffering from poverty. This author claims that race is just one factor that could lend to privileges at birth. Intersectionality is the concept that “recognizes...
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...In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack,” Peggy McIntosh describes the conditions that her white privilege provides for her on a daily basis. McIntosh explains white privilege as a transparent backpack of sorts, full of objects that would make life somewhat easier, such as maps, passports, and blank checks. She lists fifty items that she could often find true in her own life, but not true for African Americans she knew in the 1980s. These fifty things are powerful and most whites, such as myself, never even sat down and thought about how many advantages their skin color gets them, let alone wrote them down on paper. McIntosh notes that on multiple occasions she forgot the points on her list until she began to write them all down. The advantages of white people are oblivious to white people, and that is what shocked me the most. Knowing that this paper was written in relation to McIntosh and...
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...The identity of a person must be developed within oneself while acknowledging the external pressures that attempt to force the definition of individual character and purpose. Whiteness has been taught to be the norm, a standard of American lifestyle, while being invisible to those who possess the privileges and benefits of meeting its requirements. Communication must be done with a level sense of purpose and reason; conversely, the mindset of Blacks and Whites is not necessarily “Black and White”. a) In Peggy McIntosh’s work “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, she emphasizes the effort Whites must take to simply comprehend and acknowledge that their lives, in general, are not the same as those of color. (McIntosh, YEAR???) The article continues to express White privilege as a force of supremacy and dominance that is underlined by a large array of benefits and favors packaged together in an “invisible knapsack”. Much like male privilege, rather than release some of the power of being White, the actions taken are often to raise the glass ceiling of non-Whites to a higher level. What this does, consequently, is maintain the White superiority and...
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...Minority groups in America have experienced discrimination and limited opportunities for decades and even to this day, but to a lesser extent. The tragic situations that minorities experience is seen by white people, but what white people do not see is how they are less likely to experience the same inequalities. When the idea of white privilege is brought up to white people, they often come off as defensive and contend that “you people” are the ones bringing it upon yourselves. The system is set up to empower white people since they are the majority and the ones holding most of the power. Peggy McIntosh’s article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, exposes the problematic issue of white privilege, the daily struggles minority groups face, and how the United States must fix the system to truly bring equality for all....
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...White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack “I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can cut my hair,” is the twelfth item on a list written by Peggy McIntosh who is caucasian. She wrote this list to show some of the daily effects of white privilege in her life. This example that was used in her list can still be seen in today's society with how people act. Even though it is very wrong and racist, some people can do it unknowingly by appropriating culture. There are some racist people in this world that to this day still take from other cultures to try to make it their...
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...After reading “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh, I experienced pangs of shame about the underserved benefits that I have received my whole life just for being white. Although I consider myself to be a culturally aware student and am extremely aware of active racism, I have not only failed to recognize passive racism but have adamantly denied that it is the norm in American society. This article effectively conveyed to me how blind I have been to the biased societal system that affects every individual’s daily life. The white as normative concept especially hit home because I realize how often I act as if white people are the rule and all others are the exceptions which is a divisive and harmful way of thinking....
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...Nobody really likes to talk about racism, oppression, and privilege. The article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh, introduced the concept of privilege. Most white people don’t consciously intend to behave in ways that can be experienced by their students or colleagues of color as racist; they simply go along with a system that is already biased in their favor, thus they do not notice the privileges built into their daily lives. For example, in “The Promise” video, when the woman gives an advice to her black waitress, only to realize the waitress cannot relate because the advice is subject to whites. She did not understand the pain that the black lady was going through at first with her son having to grow...
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...In the excerpt, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh, the author commences the paper with her current work on women’s studies. McIntosh enlightens us on her findings on how men are over privileged and are reluctant to admit so. They are aware of their current advantage over women, but rather than acknowledging they are privileged, men simply indicate their support towards fighting for a better-quality status for women. Yet, they will never support the reduction of their standing. This incident approached McIntosh’s awareness to a similar occurrence with the idea of white privilege. She began to realize that just as men acknowledge their advantage over women, whites acknowledge their benefits over people of...
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...The narrator is the key and main character in Ralph Ellison’s eloquent novel, Invisible Man. Mr. Ellison’s portrayal of the narrator is colorful, meaningful, one that can withstand time and identifiable for all. This portrayal transcends all color barriers as well as any socioeconomic background. It was masterful of Mr. Ellison to highlight a young man in his prime and build a story around his coming of age. Any one of us can relate to how it is to be away from home for the first time in your life and you feel you are an adult, a person that can make their own decisions, be accountable, responsible, and trustworthy all on the premise of who you are, yourself. For some of us it begins with the experience of college, some it may happen a little sooner or perhaps a little later. For me, it was later. I had just recently completed a college program in downtown Chicago and landed my first real job. It was acquired not through any linkage to any work study program from school or helping out friends of relatives or anyone I personally knew. This was the real deal. I was working for a huge international insurance company by the name of INA. They were known for their property and casualty underwriting business. Soon after I came on board, INA was merged to form a new and bigger company, CIGNA. I had hit the big time! I was hired to assist a gentleman by the name of John Anderson who lived in Elmhurst, Illinois. I bonded with him immediately upon interviewing with him, and I was...
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...Alabama, where he studied music with his eye on becoming a symphony composer. In 1936, Ellison went to New York over the summer with the intent of earning enough money to pay for his college expenses, but ended up relocating. He started to work as a researcher and writer for the New York Federal Writers Program, and was befriended by writers Richard Wright, Langston Hughes and Alan Locke, who all mentored the fledgling scribe. During this period, Ellison began to publish some of his essays and short stories, and worked as managing editor for The Negro Quarterly. Writing `Invisible` Man` Ellison started writing what would become “The invisible Man” while at a friend’s farm in Vermont. The existential novel, published in1952, focused on an African- American civil rights worker from the south who, upon his move to New York, becomes increasingly alienated due to the racism he encounters. Upon its release, Invisible Man became a runway hit, remaining on bestseller lists for weeks and winning the National Book Award the following year. With millions of copies eventually...
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...Both Griffin of Invisible Man and Victor of Frankenstein are what we might classify as mad scientists. They have a need to create something never before done, against the persecution of the unbelieving science community. Although they differ in what they create, they both become successful in their quest towards a larger understanding of the scientific unknown. But the two end their tales in different states of mind, to which one might derive a certain sense of judgment in each. Of the two mad scientists one would most likely point towards Griffin as the less likable. His breakthrough was not to benefit the world or for the scientific community; it was simply for his personal gain. One might argue the same against Victor but he had very little gain from his creation His was rather to prove a human could create life from an unanimated body, in which he was going to show to the rest of the world. Griffin does not share his secret with anyone, he even has a coded journal where he keeps his formulas and notes. Victor does not share his secret either but he believes his creation is a menace and a monster and therefore should never be repeated. Griffin is a static character; he never changes throughout his tale, nor does he learn his lesson. He is greedy, selfish, uncaring and arrogant. He steals money from his father which becomes the cause of his death and never sheds a tear. He creates the invisibility potion for personal gain and even after creating it he says “all this isn’t...
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...Patrick Shaw analyzes the historical and chronological order of events in Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Developing an accurate order is critical to ensuring the flow of the “Prologue-Body-Epilogue” style, according to Shaw. Although no clear dates are made during the novel (if so, only a few), the reader must use their own knowledge of slavery and prominent racial justice movements. The beginning of the book, for example, describes the Invisible Man’s grandparents to have been enslaved approximately 85 years prior to the current setting and when the reader uses basic knowledge of the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), one can associate the present date with 1948. When the narrator takes the reader back to when he was young, it is then inferred...
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