Question

Read "Activity 3.2. In many instances, members of the dominant group have invisible privileges. After completing the inventory, what are your overall thoughts about the situations listed? Did you find anything surprising? Do you feel as if anything is missing from the list? If yes, what?

Activity 3.2 Sample Privilege Inventory (adapted from McIntosh, 1998)

Following are some of the invisible privileges that members of various dominant groups carry. Compare your situation with those listed here. Place a check mark next to those that are accurate for you.— I can go into any home or building because I can be sure that it will be physically accessible to me. (I do not need ramps or lifts or wide doors.)— When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color (or gender) made it what it is. Almost all of our presidents have been my race and gender.— I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race (or gender). — I can walk on a public path alone and not be afraid that I might be sexually assaulted.— I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring mostly people of my own race or sexual orientation.— I can go home from most meetings of organizations to which I belong feeling somewhat connected rather than isolated, out of place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.— Most of the time, I can arrange to protect my children from people who might not like them. I did not need to teach my children about racism or heterosexism for their own daily protection.— If I need medical care, I have a range of facilities and physicians who will accept my insurance.

— If I want to marry someone I love, I can be sure that we are legally entitled to do so anywhere in the United States and that we will have all of the rights and protections afforded to married couples.— I can worship as I wish and help my faith community build a worship center anywhere we would like without fear or opposition from neighbors.— Those who have been able to afford the high costs of legal and/or medical training, those who are the CEOs of the largest companies and the presidents of universities, are usually people of my race.— When it comes to my native language, I can be almost positive people will understand me when I speak, forms and signs will use my language, and people won’t question whether I am in the United States legally.— If I am laughing with friends on a street at night, or talking loudly in a parking lot, it is not assumed that I am dangerous or a member of a gang.— I live in a home or apartment in a relatively safe neighborhood.— Poor race relations in the United States are not attributed to my race’s criminal behavior, despite a history of race-related breaking of laws by whites over the entire span of Anglo-European life on this continent.Now comment on what you thought, felt, and noticed as a result of this inventory.

Answer 1

White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"

I) Introduction : About the ‘Privilege Inventory’ - Mclntosh, 1988

The world of humans is full of variability. Religion, race, gender,status, economy and sexuality are some of the many variables that can give one person an advantage over another. Sometimes that means landing a good job because you’re a white man, sometimes that means being pulled over and perhaps shot by a police officer because you’re a black man.

Peggy McIntosh, now 81 years old, was teaching a seminar at Wellesley College in the late 1980s when she first cataloged some of the ways her skin color gave her an unearned advantage. “I wrote only from my own experience,” she said in an interview. Her list of 46 privileges was first published in 1988. Since then it has been a popular list for those looking to examine their own privileges.

White privilege “takes different forms in different lives,” so her list isn’t intended to apply to all white people, and McIntosh’s autobiographical framing “leaves everyone to make their own lists” of the ways they have benefitted from their skin color. By listing their own privileges, McIntosh hopes people will be able to see more clearly the systemic advantages that lift some up and push others down.McIntosh’s original list comprised of 46 privileges.

II) Answer :

Following are some of the invisible privileges that members of various dominant groups carry. Compare your situation with those listed here. Place a check mark next to those that are accurate for you.

1. — I can go into any home or building because I can be sure that it will be physically accessible to me. (I do not need ramps or lifts or wide doors.)
2. — When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color (or gender) made it what it is. Almost all of our presidents have been my race and gender.
3. — I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race (or gender).
4. — I can walk on a public path alone and not be afraid that I might be sexually assaulted
5. — I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring mostly people of my own race or sexual orientation
6. — I can go home from most meetings of organizations to which I belong feeling somewhat connected rather than isolated, out of place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.
7. — Most of the time, I can arrange to protect my children from people who might not like them. I did not need to teach my children about racism or heterosexism for their own daily protection
8. — If I need medical care, I have a range of facilities and physicians who will accept my insurance.
9. — If I want to marry someone I love, I can be sure that we are legally entitled to do so anywhere in the United States and that we will have all of the rights and protections afforded to married couples
10. — I can worship as I wish and help my faith community build a worship center anywhere we would like without fear or opposition from neighbors
11. — Those who have been able to afford the high costs of legal and/or medical training, those who are the CEOs of the largest companies and the presidents of universities, are usually people of my race
12. — When it comes to my native language, I can be almost positive people will understand me when I speak, forms and signs will use my language, and people won’t question whether I am in the United States legally
13. — If I am laughing with friends on a street at night, or talking loudly in a parking lot, it is not assumed that I am dangerous or a member of a gang.
14. — I live in a home or apartment in a relatively safe neighborhood
15. — Poor race relations in the United States are not attributed to my race’s criminal behavior, despite a history of race-related breaking of laws by whites over the entire span of Anglo-European life on this continent.

From the given inventory, Two situations may arise due to the subject either being a member of the dominant group or the other minority group.

If the subject belonged to the dominant group, they may have more accessibility to these invisible privileges that come their way even without knowing it.

If the subject belonged to the minority group , they may or may not have such given freedom or choices and may stand at a disadvantage compared to their dominant group counterparts.

Lets discuss the situation according to the imagined subjects group allotment.

SITUATION : Subject belonging to Dominant group (White privilege)

1. ?— I can go into any home or building because I can be sure that it will be physically accessible to me. (I do not need ramps or lifts or wide doors.)
2. ?— When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization,” I am shown that people of my color (or gender) made it what it is. Almost all of our presidents have been my race and gender.
3. ?— I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race (or gender).
4. — I can walk on a public path alone and not be afraid that I might be sexually assaulted
5. ?— I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring mostly people of my own race or sexual orientation
6. ?— I can go home from most meetings of organizations to which I belong feeling somewhat connected rather than isolated, out of place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.
7. ?— Most of the time, I can arrange to protect my children from people who might not like them. I did not need to teach my children about racism or heterosexism for their own daily protection
8. ?— If I need medical care, I have a range of facilities and physicians who will accept my insurance.
9. ?— If I want to marry someone I love, I can be sure that we are legally entitled to do so anywhere in the United States and that we will have all of the rights and protections afforded to married couples
10. ?— I can worship as I wish and help my faith community build a worship center anywhere we would like without fear or opposition from neighbors
11. ?— Those who have been able to afford the high costs of legal and/or medical training, those who are the CEOs of the largest companies and the presidents of universities, are usually people of my race
12. ?— When it comes to my native language, I can be almost positive people will understand me when I speak, forms and signs will use my language, and people won’t question whether I am in the United States legally
13. — If I am laughing with friends on a street at night, or talking loudly in a parking lot, it is not assumed that I am dangerous or a member of a gang.
14. ?— I live in a home or apartment in a relatively safe neighborhood
15. — Poor race relations in the United States are not attributed to my race’s criminal behavior, despite a history of race-related breaking of laws by whites over the entire span of Anglo-European life on this continent.

EXPLANATION:

If the subject belonged to the Dominant group, the following list of invisible privileges are easily accessible to them.

Each item contributes to the following invisible privileges:

Item 1. gives the member of the dominant group, the privilege of physical accessibility. The homes and buildings are ergonomically designed in favor of the dominant group members physique to suit their comforts and needs.

Item 2. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of political preference and dominance over the minority

Item 3. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privileges in the form of various oppurtunities to tackle hurdles.

Item 4. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of public security and protection.

Item 5. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of making stereotyped and fixated choices or preference of ones own race.

Item 6. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of social acceptance and recognizition.

Item 7. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of being safe in a naturallly protective environment.

Item 8. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege for first preference for medical health care and protection.

Item 9. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of legal protection, protects their basic rights and gives them control over their marital affairs.

Item 10. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege towards the freedom of selecting and practicing a religion in full freedom along with religious support from the society.

Item 11.gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege on an expansion of global oppurtunities, academic & educational qualification oppurtunities along with economic advantage in their favor.

Item 12. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of acceptance and recognition for their native language without the struggle to learn new languages to reach to other people.

Item 13 gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of the society having the perception that the individual has at all times, Culturally acceptable & safe behavior.

Item 14. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of economic security, permanent shelter protection and good quality of social life.

Item 15. gives the dominant group member, the invisible privilege of being protected against crimes/offences being committed by their race And not being held responsible for it.

Hence promoting dominance of white privilege protection.

OVER ALL THOUGHTS:

I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on the dominant group.I realized that, since hierarchies in our society are interlocking, there was most likely a phenomenon of white privilege that was similarly denied and protected. I realized we 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 whites at an advantage.

I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege,I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that one can count on cashing in each day, but about which one was “meant” to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.

whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when they work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow “others” to be more like “them”