In this text, McIntosh explains how White Privilege has been apparent in her life and how she had been taught not to acknowledge white privilege in her life but to treat herself as “morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal” so as to seem as the good race when influencing them to be more them and they believe they will benefit others.
In some of the daily effects of White Privilege, I related to some of them but they were not just isolated to “White” privilege but to privilege in general. What is privilege? In this article, the audience looks at those with privilege as those whose were once where or are the dominant party. This may be in terms of wealth, social status, level of authority or level of oppression. In the effects, McIntosh believes that they “work systematically to over empower certain groups.” In this case, privilege is in terms of level of authority or of oppression and further deals with who are the minorities too.
In terms of White Privilege compared to Black people, we can look at history, which shows colonization of Black people in the form of occupation of their land, abduction and resettlement through the Slave Trade and overall lack of civil rights. Although these practices have been abolished, they have left a irremovable stain on the societies of the world and echo privilege to White people who, in McIntosh’s article, seem to avoid acknowledging it as a subconscious way to forget mistakes of the past. As a Black women, I am deemed as the most unprivileged through society as the world has been infamously been patriarchal and caucasian – influenced throughout history and as I stated earlier, I could relate to the effects of White Privilege but the effects listed in the article could be used for anyone who is the minority in any situation.
Privilege is something that can affect everyone of races and background and can be earned or not or presumed but we must not just accept the privilege and stay silent if we can see it. We must learn to discuss it.
Nyasha C Makoni 