"White Privilege" by McIntosh / "Data Show Racial Bias" by Muwakkil

Muwakkil's argument is that a person of color will have a much harder time in life than that of a white person. I am a true believer of this...I was one of 5 manager's at Dicks Sporting Goods..I was in charge of interviewing and hiring sales associates for the store. I personally gave everyone the same interview..the questions and time were always consistant. However, in my absence, one of my co-workers decided to turn the system around and what I mean by that was he hired only white females....not African American or Spanish ones....he was a totaly racist. I was appauled by this and confronted the District Manager, needless to say he was terminated by the end of the month. Muwakkil states "But a number of recent studies say that overt racial discrimination is still easy to find - if you know where to look. I truly believe that if you look for something to go wrong, you will find something wrong.

"The study found that applicants with white-sounding names were 50 percent more likely to get called for an initial interview than applicants with black-sounding ones." What do I think about this statement??? I have to agree with him on this, though I hate to think this is still the case in 2008. Everyone should have equal opportunity, isn't that the American way?? Land of opportunity....or did we forget about that. It shouldn't be about a black or white sounding names, it should be about the individual....their skills they bring to an employer. My brother's name is Wadiha, which in English means William....he never uses his Arabic name for the sake of being looked at funny. I consider him to be of white privilege...scwaamp.

"Where blacks were jailed for selling or using drugs at 57 times the rate of whites. The report also found that blacks comprise 90 percent of the inmates imprisoned for drugs." Okay well this study only focuses on Illinois....what about the rest of the country?? If a predominantly white neighborhood had a huge crime rate than the whites would be held accountable for the rise. Only surveying black neighborhoods doesn't give us the whole picture....crime doesn't come in colors, it happens to everyone, black, white or hispanic. These types of studies do not make clear that racial biases persist. I believe that racism exists....how can we as individuals make it stop??



"White Privilege"

Peggy McIntosh argues that "whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege." The invisible knapsack is just that...we cannot see what is not in clear sight....

The article pointed out a lot of things that I don't think about often. For example, take quote 20 "I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children's magazines featuring people of my race." Why is that..could it be because our society from the start has been predominatly white and Christian? I noticed my daughter's teen magazines and I must say that every person in that magazine was white....are there no black child actors or recording artists....is the publisher discriminating against the other ethnic cultures???

Quote 9 "I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods that fit my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can deal with my hair." It is true, you will find all these things that are available for your race because unfortunately that is who is buying the merchandise. I do admit that there is an unfair representation of whites in the media and merchandise....but the bottom line is the company wants to profit from the sales and to them this is the best way to do it. While the problem should be solved, the company is only looking out for itself and it's investors.

Quote 2 "If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area that I can afford and in which I would want to live." I think many white people cannot afford to buy a house in an area they would like to live....they would have to buy where they can afford it. I believe that it is not related to race as much as it is more of a financial issue. On the other side of the coin, many non white people can afford now buying housing where white people cannot not.

"White Privileges" are applied to some situations, but in my opinion, we cannot consider them being true for everyone. To look at the issue of racism from this point of view and the assigned privileges of different groups is something we need to stop and think about....all races have some privileges and rights that others don't have and vice versa. A more positive atmosphere will be created if people stop thinking about "white privileges" and start treating everyone equally.