Men and Women Vs. Black and White

Reflection:

Peggy McIntosh's White Privilege was a great article! It is all about how black people are less privileged than white and she compares the races to men being more privileged than women. McIntosh explains to us that privileged doesn't necessarily mean being "favored", but it means that some things are better than others. I do not look at myself or my family as privileged, until after I read this article, that is. I am not wealthy and I do not have many expensive possessions. After reading this article, I learned that there are more things that can make a person privileged, such as being able to walk into a hair salon and knowing someone can take care of my hair.

My roommate last year was black. She came from Jamaica and she had many cultural differences; more differences than I thought two people could have. Sometimes, when we were going to bed (if we happened to go to bed at the same time, which was rare) I would ask her about her culture, her hair routines, even why she was always late. We would joke about our conversations but I learned so much about how she did things. For example, her hair was a whole day procedure! Who knew. I wash my hair every day but she could only do it certain days and with certain shampoos. Unbelievable!

There is more to just shampooing in life, though. On a more serious note, McIntosh really caught my eye  when she described being able to criticize her own culture because it was the dominant one. I think about when two black people sometimes address each other with the N-word. Only black people can say it to each other and they are fine with it but once a white person says it then all hell breaks loose. I was walking to class one afternoon and I walked by three black guys. I know one of them and he is very nice. But as I walked by, I heard one of them say that word. I felt rather uncomfortable and I'm not sure why. I was always told never to use horrid language such as that, but it's ok for them to say it? Double standards I think.

This article was so engaging with all the points that McIntosh made that when she brought up Combahee River Collective's "Black Feminist Statement of 1977", I decided to do a little research. I found this very interesting about how this group is trying to defeat all of the less privileged groups of people, such as racism and sexuality. It is quite a tough world, and I am only starting to see a small part of it. I never realized how privileged I actually am, when I always thought otherwise! This is a hot topic to discuss because I wonder if I am the only one who feels this way. Am I really that naive?