Privilege is often invincible because people who are privileged tend to be a part of the majority. Using race as an example people who are black, or Hispanic tend to use their race as a defining role in whom they are. When asking a white person in our culture who they are, they are less likely to use their race to define themselves. In the same context if you were to ask a white person living in Jamaica, or even possibly in a black community, or anywhere where being white is not the majority; they would be more like to use their race as a role description.  In an article I read called White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack the author, Peggy McIntosh says  “ White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.”  A good example of this is in chapter 21 of the book Seeing Ourselves when the author discusses how Andrea does not realize that having only one light turned on , on a dark day doesn’t make sense.  She does not realize that having lights on and using electricity is a privilege and an expense.

Andrea was uncomfortable in Jewel’s home because she had never been exposed to a lifestyle so different from her own. I do believe that such differences can be overcome, but it takes a lot of work in order to do so, especially for a young child. The parents have to educate her in the fact that she is privileged and that her lifestyle is not how everyone else lives. It is very hard for an eight year old child to understand that people have different life styles than their own, but over all for society I believe it is beneficial to teach the younger population about such differences. If people were to understand early on in life that people live differently than they do, then maybe the world would be a better place. Those children would hopefully grow into adults who are more compassionate and accepting of other peoples’ ways. For Andrea it was a bit of culture shock and she experienced it in an ethnocentric way which                         is understood for an eight year old. I think that Andrea’s mother could have tried more to help her understand why Jewel’s house was so different from her own and maybe she did try her best. I do think that people can overcome such differences especially when the privileged party becomes aware of their privileges. “As a white person I realized I had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage” (McIntosh, 1989)

The public school system in our society is very much a topic of privilege. I went to Lenox High School and I had a friend much like Jewel, she also went to school using a relatives address and not her own.  I did not realize it as much when I was a child, but I realize now how privileged I was to have attended such a wealthy school system. I was shocked at first when I saw some other schools in the county and how little resources they had. The schools here in Berkshire County are still not a millionth as bad as some of the schools across the country are, especially in poor communities. It is a shame that education has to be that way.

Amy Trombley

Resource:

McIntosh Peggy. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.  Wellesly College Center for Research on Women. Wellesly, MA.  1989 p. 10-12