Color-Blindness in America Growing up in America as a white woman I have never been a victim of racism. Racism is something that I always knew existed, at times believed was virtually overcome, and something that I knew caused discomfort for many others at times; but I have never stopped and thought about what it actually means to be white. In a world where I fit right in I have never noticed the color-blindness that makes me ignorant to the issues of other ethnicities. In this paper I am going to discuss the assumed invisibility of whiteness, the privileged effect that it has on white individuals, and most importantly the effect that it has on the “radicalized other.” Being white is something that has never made me feel different, yet at times made me feel guilty and I have never understood why. I did not understand why because I did not see the invisibility that my ethnicity had which enabled me to fit in so well in my own skin.
Everything seems to be contemporary, where gender issues would not be a problem, but when the viewer should peel back the layers of the show, it would not take long to see that Heroes relies on traditional stereotypes in terms of the gender lines of protection. Although it’s my opinion, and I am not the quintessential chauvinist in any way, I think that there are two sides to this matter. Those women who like the idea of being protected and those who want to stand up alone for themselves. Meaning, while the female and male characters may possess equal powers, but the
Before this year if you asked me if being white affected me growing up I would emphatically say no it did not, but after reading Peggy Macintosh’s White Privilege the invisible knapsack I now understand I have been greatly affected by my race, or group of people with inherited physical characteristics that distinguish it from other groups (Fall, 2011), I’ve just been affected positively not negatively. I had always attributed the word race to racism and to discrimination, but in actuality my race benefitted me greatly and allows me to not have to worry about many things in life. I never had to worry about being looked down as a minority or inferior. If I was black or Latino then a lot of my academic achievements growing up most likely would have been shocking and I might have been looked at as a credit to my race and praised more so than I was.
The more she tried to get the answer she expected them all to have, they gave her nothing but praise and good comments. It seemed she felt horrible about all she had said about her farm help, because in their opinion she was the nicest white woman they knew. They were sincere, when all she had done was be fake so they would work well for her and
After reading the article White Privilege by Peggy McIntosh I found myself agreeing with Ms. McIntosh on some levels. It is an invisible package of unearned assets that can be counted on and cashed in each day. I also agree that it is a knapsack of special provisions, maps passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks. However, I disagree with her in the since that she seems to think White Privilege an invisible package of unearned assets. Over the years different news reports have been done on discrimination or white privilege whatever they want to call it these days.
1. What does the author mean by the concept of “white privilege”? In the article “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, Peggy McIntosh refers to white privilege as advantages or privileges that white people enjoy that other groups of people do not. We take for granted or do not have a conscious knowledge that there are certain things we can do in all aspects of our lives, and do not have to worry about the implications concerning our race. 2.
Dear Dr. Martin Luther King When I first read your letter the one thing that surprised me was that you did not blame all of the white people, just the white moderate. Those are the people meant to protect you and your rights, yet did none of what they were expected. Through all of your metaphors and comparisons I truly have gotten an understanding of what took place during the times of segregation. Being placed in jail for speaking on your beliefs would make angry with anybody or anything that had to do with the problem, but you didn’t act out, you stood your ground. You even talked about one of your fellow clergymen, whom is white, as being your brother.
She speaks about everyday situations where white people are put in that they are comfortable and favorable. What surprises me the most in this list is: “I can be late to a meeting without the latest reflect on my race.” This is just way over kill on the topic in my opinion. I seriously doubt a single action of a person being irresponsible by being late to work will reflect on their race singly. I do not know any people that will be like, “oh, this person is late because they are black.” What does not surprise me the most in this list are: “I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.” I honestly do not feel that someone will have an easier time or not based on their race, it’s more on their behavior and appearance. If someone is acting suspicious or look nasty or thuggish, yes they are going to gain people’s attention.
There is clear evidence of the female chairs using the tactic of repressive humour as a mitigation strategy to attempt to gain the compliance of their subordinates, and this disproves the dominant stereotype that women lack a sense of humour in workplace interaction (cf. Holmes et al. 2001). However, there is no evidence of the male chairs adopting this strategy. Whilst this finding indicates evidence of gender patterning, this is not to suggest that the female chairs are being more linguistically polite than their male counterparts, as would be predicted by previous language and gender studies (Holmes 1995).
One of the key points in this stage that I look at is the idea of no conscious identification of being white or of the white race. In class, I was very confused by this, and took it the wrong way. Of course I know that I am white, but I don’t really think of myself as “a white person” when I go around in my everyday life. I have always tended to look at other people’s races as just being different from mine, but have never put the label on myself as “I am white”. I seem to look more at my own cultural group and the fact that I am the norm in the sense that I am part of the majority and I don’t face racial issues often or am rarely confronted by them.