White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh
Quotations


"White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks" (McIntosh). 

             McIntosh describes white privilege as the "invisible knapsack" that clearly comes with some advantages.  She uses works like maps, passports, codebooks, etc all implying that there is something that white people have over others that seem to put them ahead. The key words she uses is that these are all"unearned assets" that are given to white people that seem to go unrecognized because of their oblivion to this advantage. She says that this privilege was "meant to remain oblivious" which I found interesting. She makes a great argument that when learning about racism, they view it " as something that puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage" (MacIntosh). This reminds me of Delpits' piece where she mentions that usually those with power are unaware that they have it, and those that do not have it, are more aware of the power; which is absolutely true. McIntosh is simply furthering that point that white people don't usually realize their advantages that they are guaranteed everyday over people of color. Being white gives them advantages in life like your career, education, home ownership, etc. White people have much wider opportunities lying in from of them that they can "cash in" each day versus someone of color. This yield a huge problem in our society that a persons race can boost their lives substantially more than someone of another race. This is where inequality is extremely vivid when discussing this "Invisible Knapsack".

"My schooling followed the pattern my colleague Elizabeth McIntosh has pointed out: whites are taught to think of their lives are morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will 'allow' them to be more like 'us'" (McIntosh).
           This quote I found very interesting because it brought up a great point that I had not realized before. Like SCWAAMP, there is an ideal image that our society cooks up that we believe is the "correct" or "normal way", which is what most people believe. Basically that if you are white, that you are living the ideal, normal and correct way of living and that everyone should follow suit. However, McIntosh's quote that, "this work will allow them to be more like 'us'" is shocking in my opinion, but not wrong. I think many people who do not see white privilege to be an advantage, will not realize this reality that they hold themselves to the SCWAAMP standard. I believe that McIntosh is right when she said that, "whites are taught to think of their lives morally neutral, normative and average, and also ideal..." simply from my own experience. Before this class, I never realized how obvious white privilege really is in our society today. Of course there is serious race issues that cause inequality in our society, however I never realized how much it had to do with specifically white privilege.

"Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence, which I was being subtly trained to visit, in turn, upon people of color" (McIntosh). 

         In this quote, McIntosh hits the nail right on the head when she says that, "whiteness protected me". That alone allows us to understand McIntosh's perspective that being white, or fall under the categories in SCWAAMP that you are protected from the hostility, distress and violence. She was protected from feeling the oppression from the dominant power, because she was a part of it. I love her choice of words specifically the word "protect". That's exactly what her whiteness does in our society. She is exempt from feeling the oppression and repercussions because of her affiliation with the oblivious dominant power. Then she goes onto the point that she was, "being subtly trained to visit, in turn, upon people of color" which is again absolutely true. It's almost as if we are exposed to something different or foreign from what we are used to, that we immediately view it as wrong or have a negative opinion about it because it's not "their way". Her messages throughout the piece basically want the reader to understand that white privilege is something that has been taught, and many are unaware of its existence.