Advantages Of White Privilege

In her essay, titled "White Privilege and Male Privilege: A Personal Account of Coming to See Correspondences through Work in Women's Studies," Peggy McIntosh discusses her observations about the ‘invisible' privileges that white people take for granted on a regular basis. As a result of this, the author coins the term ‘white privilege,' which she compares to a "weightless knapsack" containing advantages and benefits that white people enjoy without realizing that they are the only ones who experience them. To validate her argument that white privilege exists and to show the various scenarios in which people of color are often mistreated and discriminated against, the author compiles a list of 46 situations and conditions that illustrate that …show more content…
There was a time in my life when I was troubled by the fact that my status in the United States was quite unstable. I was still only in my 20s, and it was due to my father, the only person that had the power to make me a legal resident became sick and passed away. Of course, I had the choice to go back to my home country, but since I had already lived here for some time, I decided to stay where I now considered being my home. Staying, however, had its drawbacks, especially at the time when immigration sweeps in Arizona became a regular occurrence. Hearing stories of people of color who became detained by immigration services after being pulled over for a cracked windshield was truly horrifying and created a vast amount of anxiety associated with encounters with police. Unfortunately, during that time, I did get stopped by the police a couple of times, which resulted in punishing my young wild self with speeding tickets. These encounters were petrifying and had me barely being able to hold on to a pen as I was signing my citations. However, as scary as they were, I could not help but wonder how I was able to get away with not being questioned about my immigration status despite my accent and having a driver's license from another state. At the time, I concluded that it was a matter of race; I realized that my light skin and blue eyes had surely something to do with it as I was aware that …show more content…
In a meritocratic society everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, should have a fair chance at succeeding based on their skills and efforts. However, as seen in the examples above, the systematic oppression of people of color in the United States grants that we stop calling ourselves a meritocracy and focus on learning how to treat each other with equal respect and dignity