White Privilege

White privilege has been defined as unearned advantages of being White in a racially stratified society, and has been characterized as an expression of institutional power that is largely unacknowledged by most White individuals (Schaefer, 2012, p. 38). It seems that most white people do not think to describe themselves as "white" when listing descriptive terms about themselves, however people of color usually use racial or ethnic identity descriptors. I think this could be because the origins of our self are so similar with the dominant culture and are so normalized and reflected back that we are apt to take such traits for granted. White privilege becomes invisible.

I can say that I have never thought of white privilege in the context Ms. McIntosh presented. I agree with her thought when she stated, "whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege" (McIntosh, 1989, p. 1). Her examples did seem to be pretty realistic, especially, I believe in the more rural areas. I think there is a bit more diversity in the urban areas, and you may not see the privileges as much there. When she mentioned the "skin colored" Band-Aids, I thought to myself, wow, that's true I have never seen other skin colored Band-Aids available (McIntosh, 1989, p. 3)! Even though it is such a small thing, I can see where it is very unfair. Luckily most children want the themed ones, and would be unaware if they weren't available in their own skin color, but how hard would that be to explain to an unknowing child. I also related that to baby dolls and how rare it was to see them of other skin colors when I was growing up. Luckily that isn't very true nowadays. Companies have become aware of the market and have adapted by making them of many races.

I do not feel Blacks or Latinos have many privileges that are not given to other races already. With laws such as affirmative action, they may be able to fulfill certain job positions due to their race, to keep the company diverse. I think that both have to deal with a lot of mistreatment in our society because they are not the majority. They typically have segregated schools and neighborhoods (Schaefer, 2012, p. 209). Both Blacks and Latinos can even have similar health issues, such as hypertension, from the stress of racial tension they receive (Schaefer, 2012, p. 212).

As long as we have the same form of government as we do now everything should be "cool". If we don't then all bets are off. If there is a fascist state then any number of ethnic problems could arise. When one isolates the parts from the whole it typically results in failure. The reason the US is so successful is that most of us with any common sense and that understand the laws of the land will respect others diversity. That is a tremendous source of strength that everyone needs to support. If the other groups were spread