White Privilege Pros And Cons

“As a white person, I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage” (McIntosh, p. 55). Growing up white, I was never taught or shown that being white had “advantages” over other races. However, I started to notice these advantages in middle school. My middle school, Arts Impact Middle School in downtown Columbus, was 76.8% black and 11.2% white. Because my school was predominately black, it opened my eyes to things my peers were going through that I might never go through. The first time I noticed that I had white privilege was when my best friend told me about his experiences in a convenient store. He told me that anytime he goes to the Speedway near his house, he would always notice that one of the clerks would follow him around the store. At first, I did not understand why they would follow him around the store, but he informed me that only the white store clerks that would follow him. Later that day, I decided to walk to the Speedway near me and see if the store …show more content…
“I understood that much of their oppressiveness was unconscious” (McIntosh, p. 55). McIntosh made White Privilege very easy to understand. However, I do believe that she could have done a better job describing how White privilege was like an invisible knapsack. McIntosh says that, “White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks” (p. 55). However, it was not really explained anymore after that. I am left questioning why McIntosh was trying to relate white privilege to an Invisible Knapsack. I understand the invisible part, but the knapsack was unclear. Are they trying to say it is something you carry with you? If so, it was very