White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack By: Peggy McIntosh

The author, Peggy McIntosh, argues that white privilege is an “invisible knapsack”. What she means by saying this is that white privilege is something that whites carry around every day, without it being of conscious or holding any burden. McIntosh states that she had been taught that racism is a term that puts a particular group at a disadvantage, without recognizing that it puts another group or groups at an advantage. This piece was very similar to the piece Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan G. Johnson in that both authors described that the change of social injustice must not just come from changing the way we think, but by breaking the silence. If you’re white, and you think that you’re not privileged, you’re wrong. In this piece, McIntosh “unpacks the invisible back pack of white privilege”; she lists day-to-day conditions that white people experience, and don’t even think twice about. For example, “6. When I am told about our national heritage or about “civilization”, I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.” Since the beginning of America’s history white people have been walking around like they own the place. Christopher Columbus gets his own holiday and all of the credit for “discovering America”, but no one ever really talks about how the Native American’s were here first. Maybe it’s not all conscious, maybe some are living blissfully unaware, but whatever it is, it needs to change. I think that most people today think that because blacks and whites are allowed to attend the same schools, and that our President is of color that social injustice does not exist. I’d like to think it was that way, but unfortunately that’s not the way it is.

McIntosh states, “Disapproving of the systems won’t be enough to change them. I was taught that racism could end if white individuals changed their attitudes…Individual acts can palliate, but cannot end, these problems. To redesign social systems we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen dimensions.” So, how do we do that? Where do we start? The Un-Fair Campaign is a campaign that was created to raise awareness about white privilege in our society, and to create a dialogue to discuss change towards racial injustice. This website offers a lot of resources to inform white people of how we can begin to make that change.