Talking Points #1: McIntosh

1. "As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism 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"

I thought this was a very interesting statement. In school we are taught about racism, as McIntosh says, only through the ways it puts minority races at a disadvantage but never in my years in school was I made to realize that with this disadvantage comes advantages for a different group. In fact I don't think the term "white privilege" was ever mentioned in any of my classes. It is as if, as Johnson talks about in his piece, that we are afraid to admit through one groups suffering comes another groups gain. This statement was a great opening to this piece because it makes the reader realize that there are two sides to racism and names the topics and problems that will be reflected upon later in the article.


2. " I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothing or not answer letters without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race"

At first when I read this statement I did not completely agree with it, but now that I have considered the point McIntosh is trying to make even more I realize that this statement is actually true. When a person of color acts a certain way, speaks differently, or wears second-hand clothing, as McIntosh says, their behavior is attributed to their race as a whole. A racist person, for example, may see a young black man wearing baggy clothing, swearing, and listening to rap music and make the false assumption that this young man is dressed this way and listening to this type of music because this is the way ALL black people dress and act. When the situation is reversed however, the outcome is much different. Let's say a white person was dressed in trashy clothing and was screaming profanities, this person may receive a label of "white trash". Rather than being a representative of how the entire white race acts and dresses this person is instead placed into a sub-category of white people, and no judgement is placed on the race this person represents as a whole.

3. "I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear it's policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider"

This particular statement really struck me. We are supposed to be able to to enjoy freedom in America. Our nation was built on the idea of being able to speak our mind about how our government is ruling us, we are after all a democracy. It is then ironic and a shame that not every citizen of our country is able to enjoy this basic right. It wasn't until reading this statement that I realized how much I take this freedom for granted; I wouldn't think twice about speaking my mind about how I feel about our government and yet for a person of color this is not the case. A person of color must first consider what speaking their opinion will do for their race, as for what they say reflects not only upon themselves but on their race as a whole. They must also consider the fact that what they say will also affect them on an individual level; their disagreement with the government would be assumed to be because they are "an outsider" not simply because they are a person with a differing opinion as a white person would be viewed.


I found Peggy McIntosh's article to be a very easy read. Although she states things simply, the importance of what she is says is not lost. I found her piece to be much like Johnson's except it is written in the point of view of a white woman, thus allowing me to relate more to what she is saying better. I also liked the fact that though she talked about many of the same topics as the other articles we've read in class I did not feel as if I was being blamed for the problems that McIntosh names. This article was also interesting because McIntosh herself did not fully realize the extent of the problems that exist with race until she noticed men's unwillingness to admit to the fact that with their advantages, comes women's disadvantages and then realized the same fact is true for the advantages and disadvantages that come with race.

This article made me realize that though we have made great steps towards solving the problems of racism, evidence of racism can still be found all around us. Now that we have read multiple articles that discuss the issues of racism and how deeply they are rooted in our thinking and culture the question I pose is how are we to erase them? How can we change the way people think about themselves and others? We all know that is wrong to make assumptions about people based on race and yet so many of us are, often unknowingly, continue to do it. How do we change all of the things in McIntosh's list so that we all enjoy the same privileges.