My reactions to white privilege

Here's what I wrote in 1996 to my friend in response to his providing me a copy of Peggy McIntosh's essay:

Thanks so much for the McIntosh paper. I was aware of her work and appreciated the opportunity to read her writing myself.

I must admit that I was initially slightly offended at what I perceived to be your assumption that I was oblivious to white privilege. I mean, I don’t know about other white women, but it was not possible for me to be involved with black men for the past fifteen years and not achieve some level of awareness of the everyday situations in which I benefitted because of the color of my skin.

On the flip side, because of the social situations I chose to place myself in, my skin color often became a detriment. But I do realize that this was my choice and that most blacks do not have a similar option. As Midge Wilson and Kathy Russell said in their book, Divided Sisters, “There is also a growing recognition that Whites are able to choose whether or not to have a racial identity. That is, for many Whites, RACE is something that only Blacks have.” (p. 42). For the most part, this describes how I grew up. Race was a total non-issue. It was not until I reached college and started crossing racial lines (by my choice) that race became something I had too. Now, of course, by virtue of my daughter (again my choice), race is something I will always have.

My initial reaction to your letter passed quickly as I realized that I always welcome the opportunity to broaden my perspective. In this case the idea of white privilege being damaging to whites was an idea I had not previously explored.

In my (white) naivete, I would prefer to see my skin color privilege as something to share; that the goal is not to remove any of my privilege but to make it more broadly available. The cynics among us (and perhaps the realists too) would probably see this as comical and farcical. But I guess my desire mirrors McIntosh’s statements about positive advantages or unearned entitlements. “We might at least start by distinguishing between positive advantages which we can work to spread, to the point where they are not advantages at all but simeply part of the normal civic and social fabric . . .”

The thorny issue of negative privilege or conferred dominance and how to combat it is much more difficult for me to visualize in concrete terms. McIntosh says, “To redesign social systems we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen dimension.” While I can conceive of and implement ways to facilitate this acknowledgement, it is the next step that stops me in my tracks. McIntosh poses the question, “What will we do with such knowledge?” I extend that to: How do I use my “arbitrarily-awarded power to try to reconstruct power systems on a broader base”? It is at this point that I begin to feel insignificant, to feel powerless. What difference can I as one individual make to the power system?