Where one lives determines what kind of school their children will attend, whether they’re going to be close to transportation, and whether you’re going to live next to a toxic dump site or a convenient store. Today, we have the same practice without the explicit language, and those practices are largely inscribed in geography. The segregation of blacks and whites in terms of neighborhoods, cities and suburbs maintained that distance between the two races. It had religious connotations it had class connotations it had connotations of where you could live, who you could marry, where you could be buried, and how you were educated.Īfter World War II, spatial distance was created between people of color and people who were white. Back in the days, to be an American meant to be white. In America, race has been important in terms of constructing identity. It categorizes people based on physical characteristics and shapes the way we see ourselves and others. Race is a social construction that has real consequences and effects. There are a number people who are aware of this and some who are not. Additionally, our daily lives are affected by race. For instance, the ideology that men are more interested in performing physically tough activities while women perform tasks like raising children, cooking, embroidery and so on. The roles and behaviors give rise to gender inequalities. Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behavior, and activities that the society considers appropriate for men and women. She states that in order to change that, whites need to acknowledge their unearned power and be willing to give it up so other minority groups can enjoy the same freedom. Furthermore, she states that due to the idea that America was founded on a system of earned power, and due to the fact that whites have conferred privilege, other groups in this country are not free. McIntosh points out that whites enjoy conferred privilege but refuse to acknowledge it. The distinction was clear conferred privilege is only available to certain groups while everyone has an equal shot at earned power.

She provides a distinction between earned power and conferred privilege. McIntosh then offers her solution to this unequal distribution of privileges. Her examples include privileges relating to education, careers, entertainment, child care, confrontations, physical appearance, and public life. McIntosh lists some daily white privileges a variety of daily instances where white dominance is clear. Her basic idea was to inform the readers that whites are taught to ignore the fact that they enjoy social privileges that people of color do not because we live in a society of white dominance.

In the article, “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, Peggy McIntosh talks about the various privileges white people receive.

Unpacking surprise