I agree with Vanessa Lopez’s post. All over the world male and females from other nations get treated differently based on their race and color, society doesn’t get to know the real them, people just make assumptions based on the color of their skin and where they come from. I read this article by  Anna Deavere Smith “We will all be caught up in this cycle of genocidal, violence that, um, is at the origins of our culture.”  I agree with this quotation that not everyone is born racist, however, the ones who are taught racism, make it difficult for people of different races and backgrounds to feel safe anywhere we go, whether it’s at home, at school, at work, or just in public. In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” Peggy McIntosh stated, “ I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me”. Most black people live on the darker side of a neighborhood because the higher neighborhood is too expensive and the mortgages are too high, which makes it hard for some black to afford, even living on the darker side rent is still expensive, some people have to get 2 jobs or a side job to pay for living. Being black in this society is honestly so scary, we live in fear and that shouldn’t be happening, we never know if we’re gonna die or not when we get pulled over by cops, we can’t even walk around with hoodies on our heads or hands in our pockets without someone thinking we’re up to no good. Society tends to label black people, as criminals, drug dealers,  being a different color means not having the same rights as a white person, and that most people live on edge based on the fact that they don’t know if they will leave another because of the colored And they always have to pretend to be something they are not to be able to survive. Society has labeled black men, women should be scared of being alone with them. This also is since women are taught to not go out at night because of their gender and are subject to violent actions since they are considered the weaker sex. All in all, it is since society negatively perceives and labels black men as dangerous, they tend to face these kinds of challenges. Stereotypes have led to unwanted, detrimental, and harmful emotions against the communities that help build this country. Black people have to prove themselves and act tough because of their fear to show their true selves to the world, and some because of how the world treats them differently because of their differences from others, which can lead to death or prison. When a black person tries to show that they are like everyone else, they are labeled as “whitewash”. They are not acting stereotypical as people who live in poverty, “the ghetto”, a black person can’t have money or a nice purchase, they are called thieves, drug dealers.  

I think Junie Vallon snapshot captures very well how society privileges white people. Something as simple as a movie or tv show the main characters are typically white color people we don’t get see many people of color being the main character. Growing up as a kid I took dance classes all the girls in my class were mostly white it was just me and one more girl of color. At that moment I didn’t realized till years later, that I was never in the front of any of the shows or the roles I played were never the main ones but the extras and it wasn’t because I was not good they just gave more privilege to white girls after all the school was full with white people mainly. 

As I was reading Peggy McIntosh list one of them said “ I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of finical reliability” this reminded when I accompany my friend Lexi who is a white girl, to go apartment hunting. We started in Lower east and end up in West Village  because the real estate agent insisted it was a great apartment for her and she look like she could afford it. I really doubt that someone with a darker skin color would have had the same treatment my friend had. 

Rayomah’s artwork was chosen for this response because I felt it best related to Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. A quote that stood out to me was “Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence, which I was being subtly trained to visit in turn upon people of color.” This quote and illustration demonstrate that we should all be treated equally, rather than one race having more privileges than the other. We are all humans, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, or religion, and everyone deserves basic human rights.

Many people of color are unlikely to have experienced what McIntosh has. We don’t have the same advantages as most white people, such as not having to worry about our safety because of the police, not being judged based on our physical appearance, being able to find representation in literature or media, not being subjected to racial bias, being able to avoid racial stereotypes, and so on.

It is not racist, however, to acknowledge one’s white privilege. White privilege continues as a result of long-standing racism and prejudice.

In the black community, the majority of us grew up viewing police officers as a source of danger rather than a source of protection, especially in light of recent events. Personally, I’ve never thought of them as a threat, although I have had “the talk” previously. 

Despite the fact that I have never been in danger as a result of my race, I have been treated differently in public because of it. When I went into a beauty supply store, I was followed by someone who worked there, which made me feel uneasy. I also overheard them talking about me as if they were checking to see whether I was stealing or not. It got to the point where I was so fed up that I walked out of the store and never returned. On another occasion, I went thrift shopping with my black cousin and friend, and not only were we followed by the employees but we were also accused of stealing because we had our own bags. This led me to believe in our appearance. We are seen as thieves or as a threat to other people since we are often judged on our appearance. 

What we can do as a society is respect one another and recognize that one set of people should not have more privilege than another because, regardless of who we are, we are all human beings with rights.

The snapshot I am responding to is Hillary’s. This snapshot really represented the theme portrayed in the article about white privilege. I had a similar post to Hillary that spoke upon the idea that white privilege is an advantage to certain resources or even the smallest things because of their skin complexion.

Lately, the topics of these articles have caused me to think about shows or movies I’ve watched. Many shows and movies nowadays present the reality that we face every day. One of the shows that relate to this topic of white privilege is called “Degrassi.” I remember this one episode where one of the character’s names was Shay, who has this goal of getting scouted at her high school because she loves volleyball. Still, she consistently feels she has to work twice as hard as anyone because she feels disadvantaged because of her complexion even though her parents work good jobs and have good resources. There is this scene, I believe, in the show, where she’s working out after volleyball practice, and her friend Frankie comes to her saying that she is overworking the team and herself and needs to relax. Shay kind of burst out all of her true feelings towards Frankie about how she has a better opportunity of getting scholarships and scouts to check her out than she does, especially because her parents can afford her greater resources, and it’s just easier for her. Frankie is ignorant for a couple of episodes about the privileges she has compared to people with darker complexions than her, and that doesn’t mean Frankie doesn’t struggle in her own way. Still, her daily privileges she always took for granted. Frankie didn’t understand the idea of her being able to walk somewhere and not have people stare at her because she would harm them or steal from them in any way because of her complexion. She didn’t understand what white privilege meant until she didn’t get the benefit of the doubt over a racist prank she made towards a volleyball team of color that caused her to lose everything. Her prank was basically a poster she had created and hanged it in front of the school of the opposing volleyball team of what they looked like. They were called the “zoo,” and it wasn’t because of their skin complexion. It was because they were a low-income school. Frankie had assumed the team was called the “zoo” because they acted wild like monkeys, so that’s why she had created that poster of all the players looking like monkeys and gorillas.

I believe a big issue of white privilege is that people don’t fully understand the term. It isn’t easy to understand because of so many things that go into it because of our own assumptions and experiences. We can become very biased upon the word. Sometimes we don’t educate ourselves, and if we are privileged, we don’t use to speak for those who aren’t. According to McIntosh “After I realized the extent to which men work from a base of unacknowledged privilege, I understood that much of their oppressiveness was unconscious.” (McIntosh)

Allison Williams

9/20/21

GWS 100

Section 170W

Introduction of my response to Keona Malcolm’s snapshot

I believe that Keona Malcolm is right because the snapshot depicts two different races with the white man being given respect while the black man being denied his rights. The article called “White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack” describes how white men in general refused to acknowledge white privilege. The two men are basically shown in the same suit, and it appears that the author made both of them apply for the same job. They received letters in which the white man is happy because they accepted him as an employee and the black man was upset because they refused to accept him. The author Peggy McIntosh mentions about how some races going through tough times just because they are not white, and how they are more likely to be stalked or harassed in public due to racism. Another example is that she mentions that they have to watch their skin color since other people might be mean to them because of the way they look. I do want to express my thoughts and experiences about privilege. For example, a month ago online I saw a video about an African tourist who was being attacked by a Chinese mob in the street because he looked different than them and the Chinese government blamed Africans as the cause of the corona virus. It made me disappointed in people, that they could be so cruel and racist. They were abusing other human beings.

Another obvious thing in the snapshot is there a white sun and a black cloud over the guys’ heads. Both of these symbols express the mood of each man. The black cloud represented emotional darkness for the man who was denied the job while the sun basically represents happiness for the other man who was given the job. In the second article “Oppression“, author Marilyn Frye talks about the consequences of people opposing others and the situation of white privilege itself and how it is oppressive. Another thing I found interesting in the article “Oppression” was the idea that men can be oppressed like women. For example the author states, “The statement that women are opposed is frequently met with the claim that men are oppressed too. We hear that oppressing is oppressive to those who oppress as well as to those they oppress. Some men cite as evidence of their oppression their much-advertised inability to cry.” Here we are reminded that oppression happens because of gender in addition to race. Men seem to be oppressed emotionally sometimes. I feel terrible about men not having the ability to express their emotions. I never thought about that before. This article made see how we oppress so many groups. We base the oppression on race and gender and other things too I’m sure. I am so fortunate to never have been oppressed before like that. I am glad as a female I am able to cry and express myself. Every person should be able to do that. That is a right we have as people.

I really appreciate the explanation of the difference between oppression and the daily and regular troubles of the human condition. Even though this article on oppression was written 21 years ago, the same incorrect feelings about what oppression is and how it looks and feels are still pretty much commonplace. I’ve heard too many white people over the course of my life that believe that they are oppressed and a recipient of racism. Even more ironic is that most of those people were men, men who were well on their way to inheriting fortunes and being handed a career and life by the men who raised them whether they claimed to dislike it or not, and even men who already owned and operated a business of their own however small, that enjoyed the benefit of selling out of stock for long stretches of time. A majority of the people who enjoy the freedom of living their lives without the fear of the accompaniments of doing that living under an oppressive system still either deny the existence of it, minimize its effects and consequences, enjoy it because it clearly benefits them, or simply don’t believe in it altogether. And even in the people that I believe don’t fall into this category there is an incredibly slim portion of them that actively want to and try to do something to change it, or even provide help to those people it oppresses day in and day out. 

One thing that I saw both articles touch on is the way that white people and men in regards to a patriarchal society live and operate behind a kind of veil that keeps them from seeing clearly what is being done on the other side of that veil. And I pick the word “veil” intentionally, because to me there is no possibility that those things are ever completely blocked from view or consciousness. It is there, and on the other side of it are people constantly lifting that veil, shouting from the other side, telling them that the veil exists and what is happening behind it, all to very, very little real progress in anything but appearances of how much work has been done and what times we now live in and a cry of how hard it is to live their lives having to think about other people that are not on the inside of the veil.

I loved the artwork posted by Junie Vallon. The picture shows just how much society is catered to white people. Growing up everything was geared to white people and it was all we (as a person of color) had to look up to and follow. It was what we were supposed to strive for. Now the younger generation is changing that narrative and many non-ally white people don’t like it. White privilege isn’t spoken enough about. The actual meaning of White privilege is “a concept that highlights the unfair societal advantages that white people have over non-white people.” As said by Arlin Cuncic in her article “What is white privilege?” This is supported by Peggy McIntosh in her article White Privilage: Unpacking the invisible knapsack, she discovered many ways her skin color has given her the advantage in her life and she decided to identify the ways for example “I can turn on the television or open the front page of the paperand see people of my race widely represented. I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring people of my race.” This shows just how represented others have always been. The picture mentioned before shows this very well.The white privileged is shown here by the signs behind the two people, it shows just how much is catered to them yet the man is yelling and angry for not being seen as ‘special’. That picture perfectly shows what Marilyn Frye was speaking about in her essay Oppression, she wrote “For example, It is often a requirement upon oppressed people that we smile and be cheerful…On the other hand, anything but the sunniest countenance exposes us to being perceived as mean, bitter, angry, or dangerous.” People of color are seen as being ‘ungrateful when they are shown a sliver of representation. whether it be a single dark shade in a makeup line or a token black best friend in a tv show or movie, but it’s never enough because it’s not made for us. That makeup line wasn’t made for people of color it was made for white people but they throw in that shade to get the customer to buy it, that movie wasn’t made for a POC audience but they throw in someone of color to get the views. So to combat this many people of color have been showing their own black pride. Like Sharon Chuter that made her own beauty line called uomabeauty for persons like her with her skin tone. Or Tyler Perry who famously makes movies with an all black or people of colored cast for the views who would also be POC. Now that there are non white business owners making/selling specialized products for people like themselves many white customers get angry because these black beauty owners aren’t selling things they can use. Many people don’t see the irony in this and those who do are called out for ‘making something about race when it isn’t about it’ when they can’t see their own white privilege.

Looking at the titles of these two articles will make people mistakenly think they are talking about skin discrimination. Whites are supreme, and then blacks are inferior to whites. But if you read it carefully, you will find that they are actually talking about the privileges between men and women. Some men are not as schismatic as we think, and they have the right to speak in everything. The authors of these two articles are feminists, and one of them is a lesbian writer. In the current patriarchal society, women can still call the shots and the fact that men and women are more or less equal.

I like the picture you use keona, to me I think it’s telling me that all people in this world should be treated equally. Something that stood out to me when looking at the image was the papers having a check mark and an x marked on the paper. When I was reading both articles “White privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack” by Peggy McIntosh and “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye, I notice that both articles mentioned oppression and privilege which are both important because they go more in detail about gender. According to the article “Oppression” by Marilyn Frye on page one it states, “We need to think clearly about oppression and there is much that migrates against this.” Therefore there saying that that they want to have a clear understanding about that specific term. To me privilege means a right that other many people may not have. Also both article’s are telling me that there is inequality, which is racism something we are keep dealing with today. In the article, ‘White privilege: unpacking the invisible knapsack’ by Peggy Mclntosh it states , ” 1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.” This is telling us that she/he can be in a company of their own race, meaning she has the right to do that if they chose too.