Talking Points #1

Quotes: White Privilege 
Author: Peggy McIntosh


1. "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" (pg 4).


I thought this was a good quote to choose because it relates to me as a white person and I can understand where the author, Peggy McIntosh is coming from. I believe that many other white people feel the same way too. She is trying to say that because she is a white person, her "whiteness" protects her from certain things that people of other races might not be protected by. 


2. "The pressure to avoid it is great, for in facing it I must give up the myth of meritocracy. If these things are true, this is not such a free country; many doors open for certain people through no virtues of their own" (pg 4).


I believe that this quote means that white privilege is a touchy subject. Many people would rather avoid it than talk about it, which contradicts the saying of the United States being a free country. This is relevant to the rest of the text because the whole article is about white privilege and how it affects non-white people.


3. "In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth" (pg 5).


This quote is interesting to me. I feel like it is very true and false. I feel like the author is saying that she didn't think she was racist because she was taught that racism was only in "individual acts of meanness", not in racial dominance on her group from birth (white). I don't think that only white people can be racist. I feel like any race can be racist; it depends on how you look at other races and how you act towards them.


The point I would like to talk about the most is what I think the main point of this article is; what white privilege really is. Depending on your race, I feel like people will have different views on what "White Privilege" really means. In my opinion, I believe that it is something that sets white people away from all of the other races. Like the author stated, it is something that many people try to avoid talking about, which I believe is the wrong way to go about it.