Response to the article by Peggy McIntosh, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Napsack"

I think the article by McIntosh pointed out a lot of things that I don’t think about very often. She’s right when she says there is such a thing as unearned privilege, and I have heard/thought about that before, but what I haven’t thought about is the extent to which I benefit from my skin color, gender, and the society I was born in. Being a white male from an affluent community it would appear I’ve pretty much hit the trifecta for unearned privileges. I’ve had everything from simply getting credit for my achievements without considering my skin color to having an outstanding community to live in where I can get healthcare and an education among other things. Therefore, I would be the first to concede that there are a lot of groups which receive a lot of unearned privileges, some good and some bad. So I recognize the fact that I am one of the extremely benefited, but just to play the devil’s advocate my question for McIntosh is: where do you draw the line between what represents society and what is an undeserved privilege? I realize that this only applies to a few privileges on her list, but take for example #20, “I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children's magazines featuring people of my race.” Might this be because our society from the start has been predominantly white and Christian? Or another one, #9, says “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 with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can deal with my hair.” Of course you will find that all these things are available for your race because that’s the main portion of who’s coming in to buy them! I admit that there is an unfair representation of whites in the media, merchandise, etc., but the goal of a company is to profit, and this is their best bet to do that. While the problem should be solved and others should definitely be given a larger slice of the pie, a company will always do whatever it needs to produce a return for its investors.

Image Reaction

The image I chose was of Jackie Chan in Rush Hour 2. It is a comedy, and the image is funny because Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker are standing in a fighting pose, but wearing bathrobes. This image, taken in context, is amusing because it makes fun of the whole idea of tough, serious fighting. It is very typical for Asian men on film to be seen as masters of hand to hand combat, and this film is no exception: Jackie Chan, the Asian police detective, is of course shown as a master of the fighting arts, while Chris Tucker is his goofy American companion who tags along, stumbling upon every find in his investigation. Often Jackie Chan manages to fight off all of the “bad guys” single-handedly while his counterpart is off somewhere else. But I don’t think that this film portrays either side negatively, instead it helps to create comedy as the pair has a crazy adventure together in Hong Kong. It may even show Asian Americans in a positive light because when paired with Chris Tucker, who is shown as one who is ignorantly jumping into conflict, Jackie Chan can be seen as someone who sizes up the situation accurately. Or it may offend Asian Americans because in the image Jackie Chan looks afraid while Chris Tucker appears battle ready. But I think Jackie’s got the right idea, since in the film a bunch of intruders have just made their way into the room and it’s time to leave.

The picture for this reaction can be found at http://movies.ign.com/articles/301/301986p1.html

Race Article Reaction

At first I was reluctant to approach the article about race because I always hear so much about dealing with race. I think it’s weird: although I hear a lot about dealing with race issues properly, I hardly ever witness racism. Don’t get me wrong, I’d be the first to acknowledge that there is a problem with racism in our society. But I think it’s because I grew up in an affluent white community that I never really witnessed it firsthand. I can see what Tatum meant about how we are never really forced to confront the issue if there is no catalyst to make us. Back home, when I hang out with my friends, it’s not like we choose to not hang out with people of color; it’s just that there are hardly any. Therefore, I feel as if I’m at the beginning stage of race identification because I’ve never been confronted with the problem. Maybe now that I am in college hopefully it will be easier to learn about these issues. I kind of think it’s ironic that I came from the community I did to Tufts, a university which makes a point of celebrating diversity.

I also feel like taking a class that deals with race issues might be a good idea. There are certain things that I feel guilty about, like a lot of people listed in the article, that I would like to talk about. I don’t know if I feel comfortable discussing them here, because we don’t have the set of ground rules in place that the class does. But I feel like there’s so much before this that has gone unnoticed by me because it’s just how I grew up. For example, the “zaps” that she talks about, or jokes meant to ignore the issues or lessen the intensity of the situation, I feel like I’ve seen/heard a lot of those and laughed along with everybody else. I feel like I’ve been taught that it’s okay to laugh about it and somehow this helps the situation, but really it just ignores the problem. Clearly there are a lot of issues that I need to deal with one way or another