White Privilege: Essential Readings on the Other Side of Racism is a book of articles compiled by Paula Rothenberg. The book consists of nineteen articles by twenty-three different authors and is broken up into four different parts. The book deals with white privilege and how white people do not recognize that they have it or do anything about it, specifically anything against it. Part one is titled “Whiteness: The Power of Invisibility.” This section introduces the idea that people with white skin do not have to think about the fact that they are white. Whites simply see themselves as normal. They do not have to think of themselves in terms of a race because it is never brought up. Whereas people with colored skin have to constantly think
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This section handles the concept of what being white has meant throughout history. Beginning with the first appearances of classification because of race in the 18th and 19th centuries. Science started to divide humans into physical and biological differences. The races evolved through history, some becoming more specific, and some getting lumped together. Jewish people have become associated with being white, along with many European immigrants (Irish, Polish, Italian, English, etc.) Along with this, Mexican Americans were put into a different group other than whites, known commonly as Hispanic. The Hispanic label included those from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and any other group from Latin America. “Hispanic identity implies a kind of ‘separate but equal’ whiteness.” (p. 55) People are getting divided into groups and those groups are competing to be the whitest. This section also talks about how banks and government policies and investment bankers have increased the probability of people with colored skin becoming unsuccessful. It started with simple things like land ownership and has continued into today’s society with house mortgage approvals. White supremacy has spanned more than just the United States. It has taken form in all corners of the globe, at first this is a hard fact to grasp, but when you account for the United States being one of the biggest world powers, it is not so …show more content…
Again, the fact that whites have completely forgot that they are white is prevalent. And because there is a privileged group, there is an oppressed group. This does not necessarily mean that any privileged person acts in an oppressive way; just that there is always another side to privilege. Peggy McIntosh lists several things that white people can do that they take for granted that would be extremely unlikely for a person with colored skin to count on. “I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.” (p. 124) “Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.” (p. 125) McIntosh goes through a list of twenty-six different circumstances where white privilege is just accepted and not even thought
This section handles the concept of what being white has meant throughout history. Beginning with the first appearances of classification because of race in the 18th and 19th centuries. Science started to divide humans into physical and biological differences. The races evolved through history, some becoming more specific, and some getting lumped together. Jewish people have become associated with being white, along with many European immigrants (Irish, Polish, Italian, English, etc.) Along with this, Mexican Americans were put into a different group other than whites, known commonly as Hispanic. The Hispanic label included those from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and any other group from Latin America. “Hispanic identity implies a kind of ‘separate but equal’ whiteness.” (p. 55) People are getting divided into groups and those groups are competing to be the whitest. This section also talks about how banks and government policies and investment bankers have increased the probability of people with colored skin becoming unsuccessful. It started with simple things like land ownership and has continued into today’s society with house mortgage approvals. White supremacy has spanned more than just the United States. It has taken form in all corners of the globe, at first this is a hard fact to grasp, but when you account for the United States being one of the biggest world powers, it is not so …show more content…
Again, the fact that whites have completely forgot that they are white is prevalent. And because there is a privileged group, there is an oppressed group. This does not necessarily mean that any privileged person acts in an oppressive way; just that there is always another side to privilege. Peggy McIntosh lists several things that white people can do that they take for granted that would be extremely unlikely for a person with colored skin to count on. “I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.” (p. 124) “Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.” (p. 125) McIntosh goes through a list of twenty-six different circumstances where white privilege is just accepted and not even thought