Peggy McIntosh "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" Kevin Cordeiro
"I have often noticed men's unwillingness to grant that they are over privileged, even though they may grant that women are advantaged."
"...in facing it [white privilege] I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country."
"Power from unearned privilege can look like strength when it is in fact permission to escape or dominate."
"Disapproving of the systems won't be enough to change them."
McIntosh, as someone with a stated background in women's studies takes a wonderfully encompassing look at the issue of tunnel vision towards white privilege in our society. The emphasis on acknowledging that the reason why these privileges are in fact intended to be kept primarily in social subconscious was a wonderful point. Another point of great focus in the piece was the deduction that by discussing the various manners by which white privilege provides an unearned leap forward in society and using this to directly deconstruct the "myth of meritocracy." She does all of this with a tone in her writing that is far from both that of a preacher and a critic but more so like a scientist take a cold calculated look at the subject in-front of her.
I agree. I get the feeling that her writing has no emotion but is able to elicit the intended emotion in the reader without implimenting writer bias, a very difficult and effective tool.
ReplyDeleteI liked the tone she used in her writing also...it didn't necessarily place blame, but she did confront problems that we have to discuss and try to change!~
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