White Privilege by Peggy McIntosh- Connections

White Privilege by Peggy McIntosh and Land of Limitation by Kristof essentially, are replicas of each other. The difference between the two articles is that one focus on the advantage of being white and the other of being wealthy or in a higher social class. “A patter assumptions that were pass on to me as a white person” McIntosh talks about how he was born with these privileges, how none of it was earn but given on behalf of his skin color. On the other hand, Kristof talks about how wealthy people have the head start to progress and achieve better things in life because their ancestors did well in life so it just pass on to them. In class we also talked about “oppression” which McIntosh also mention it. He explains how white people are seen as oppressive but they don’t see how. He clarifies how they don’t know the existence of oppressions because of their skin color they never experienced certain preventions.

On the list that McIntosh provides I can easily relate to several of them. For example the one listed as number 4 “I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.” I’ve heard people before say “this is a white neighborhood I wouldn’t like to live around here” what this show is that the person is affair that his neighbors might look a him different or feel isolated from everyone else in his own house. I never really looked at situations from a white person point of view till now. Another topic brought up in class and also mentioned in this article from a white person perspective, “I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.” That’s the advantage of growing up without any threat of being physically hurt for the color of your skin. To conclude, ideologies are just building differences between groups and preventing everyone from having equal opportunities. “But a (white) skin in the United States opens many doors for whites whether or not we approve of the way dominance has been conferred on us. Individual acts can palliate but cannot end, these problems.” Like Dr. Bogad said “put a band aid on a broken leg, it would only stop the bleeding but the leg would still be broken.”