The Importance Of White Skin

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I became aware of my racial difference at a young age. I do not remember this, but my parents would say that I only wanted black baby dolls. I remember wishing to be the black Barbie doll. I would throw pennies into wishing wells and make wishes on shooting stars that I would wake up as the black Barbie. It was then that I realized the difference of my white skin in comparison to my idol that had dark skin.

My mother taught at a title one elementary school, and I was enrolled in the head start next door. The majority of the children that were enrolled were Hispanic. I went from head start to fifth grade with mainly Hispanic friends. My hometown had three elementary schools, one middle school and one high school. When I started middle school,
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Peggy McIntosh describes different advantages based solely on the color of her skin and this is exactly what white privilege revers to. However, a large amount of Caucasian people, including myself, are oblivious of the privilege, but have no problem taking full advantage of the perks. For example, if I scroll down my Facebook Newsfeed I have friends of all different races and two distinct messages being conveyed. Half of the people are saying “black lives matter, we need to be equal,” and the other half is “all lives matter, just follow the rules and nothing will happen to you.” I do not think the white people on my Newsfeed are trying to be hateful or ignorant, but they are proving their ignorance to the fact that we are not equal, and just because they are not directly racist toward others does not mean that all lives are …show more content…
How is it that 28 years later I am just now in the past couple years reading her essay or hearing “white privilege” as a common phrase? Did it take 28 years for people to start understanding the white privilege? Or was I that ignorant to just not notice it.

“I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group” (McIntosh, 1988). I can relate to this quote as this is how I felt. I was born “white” and have the invisible knapsack of white privileges, but take them for granted and think since I do not act in racist ways or have racist actions that I am not participating in white privilege. However, I do take full advantage of the white privileges I have by default. The five I chose from Peggy McIntosh’s list and my personal experience with each are as follows:

“I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me” (McIntosh,

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