Blog #6: McIntosh and Muwakkil

"White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack"
Peggy McIntosh

"Data show racial bias persists in America"
Salim Muwakkil

Authors' Arguments:
Peggy McIntosh is a woman, and thus admittedly outside of America's culture of power. While she is unable to draw direct comparison, in her piece she acknowledges that her own oppression by a male society allows her to relate to the opression that must present in black culture. She makes it a point to identify that she is not a part of the white/black separation, but can at least identify it's existence due to her inclusion in America's male/female separation. 

Salim Muwakkil's article was really jaw dropping to me as a white man. Sometimes, as Johnson would assert, racist divides can be kept in the shadows when people meet face to face. Sometimes it takes the objectiveness of statistics to make it truly known. It is easier to fall into oppressive privlege trends (which aren't necessarily youre fault, but rather a societal system) when you are dealing with a paper resume as a opposed to a living applicant. Muwakkil's uses these facts to show that racism may not manifest as segregated schools and restaurants anymore, but it still is alive and well (unwell I suppose) in American culture.

Passages of Interest:
1) I felt my privileged hackles raise a bit upon reading Peggy McIntosh's work. I understood what she was saying, but it seemed her valid points were delivered in a shout rather than an unbiased tone. Maybe I am just reading it this way as a man, but this passage kind of made me be think "Woah, hang on, I didn't do this", though I am willing to acknowledge that I may be being unconciously biased myself:

"I have often noticed men's unwillingness to grant that they are overprivileged, even though they may grant that women are disadvantaged. They may say they will work to women's status, in society, the university, or the curriculum, but they can't or won't support the idea of lessening men's"

While my gut response is of defense, maybe she is right. It is real easy in our lecture and this blog to be Mr. PC, but will I really carry these lessons over into action? I am not sure if I am strong enough to let go of my manliness. Stirrings of Goldberg kind of make me think it would mean giving up some of my identity. Just stream of thought stuff.

2) Johnson spoke of the obliviousness those within power are to their own positions. Delpit also wrote about codes of power those with privilege carry unknowingly with them. With these ideas in mind, the following passage from McIntosh leapt out at me as a further hammering in of this point:

"I have come to see white privlege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, code books, visas, clothes, tools and blank check."

3) As much as on the surface racism seems to be disappearing, and overtly is has to a major extent (segregated schools, widespread lynching, etc), it still exists in America. It is almost like weeds in a garden. The thorny, tangled leaves have been trimmed back a bit, but the nasty roots are still tangled up below the soil. This doesn't just make the weeds come back but also dictates how the rest of the garden will grow. The garden is growing very dishearteningly in this passage:

" The U.S. Bureau of Justice projects that 30 percent of black boys who turn 12 this year will spend time in jail if current incarceration rates stay constant."

That is nuts. How do we change this? Can we? Or is it too big. I guess if we all just keep trying to chip away it might change in someone's future lifetime.

Discussion:

Each one of these blogs makes me reflect a little differently, and I guess that is kind of the point. It seems strange, kind of like an old apartment being gutted. One article knocks down one section of the place, while another demolishes another portion. They really are opening up the place to some fresh air though.

These articles touched on old material, as well as some new. McIntosh really reinforced the idea of privilege, but I found her style a bit less objective than some of our past readings. She made points that seemed to relate to too narrow of a reference group. This made it feel somewhat impersonal. It reminded me of Dr. Bogad's us example, where one student felt excluded and turned off when "us" was used in lecture. McIntosh seemed to say us to me a little bit. 

Muwakkil's article was discouraging. It made me wonder if things will ever change. As much as we try to make America different, will racist roots still dictate our cultural development? I guess to give up would be to fall to the silence Johnson spoke of in our past readings though. I suppose though if we try to impart these ideas to our future students, and three of them get it, maybe they can each teach three more, then each of them three more. Maybe this is idealistic.