White Privilege... Thoughts on Peggy McIntosh and Others...

On Peggy McIntosh's "White Privilege Knapsack":

I first wanted to say that I found McIntosh’s piece on white privilege very thought provoking. I like that in her text, she lists ways in which someone can recognize white privilege; giving examples to an idea that may seem foreign idea to most.

The first thing I enjoyed about McIntosh’s piece was her correlation of male privilege to white privilege. I think explaining some difficulties that women (as a whole & as a movement) have gone through to make men aware of their male privileged status in society was great. I thought her quote, “…whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege” (McIntosh 1). Pointing out some of the issues women face with men denying their societal power was a great way to introduce the idea of white privilege; since almost everyone is quite conscious of the Women’s Movement.

I also found McIntosh’s list of “daily effects of white privilege” mostly spot on. I do think that this may seem more relevant to me, because I’m of mixed ethnic background, and it is easier to see where I may become an outsider of the “normal” group. For instance, McIntosh lists a few things that I feel my white peers my take for grante

5. “I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented”

20. “I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children’s magazines featuring people of my race”

            For me, this is false. Sometimes I can watch television for an hour, and count on my hand how many times I see people who represent my culture on TV. The big screen is worst, there are definitely not many summer blockbusters that have a largely ethnic cast, or lead roles, for that matter, without being categorized as a “black film” (i.e. Medea movies). Most picture books I buy for my son feature all white families. The few books that do have multicultural protagonists were bought at Barnes&Nobles… After black history month… They of course were on sale.

And finally… I just wanted to say that I loved Pat Parker’s poem, “For the White Person Who Wants to be My Friend”. I actually laughed aloud. It was so true... For so many, it seems a precarious thing to have a black friend. What to say? And How to say it without being labeled as an “ignorant racist”. Well, to all my dear white friends, please read “For the White Person Who Wants to be My Friend”. Your other black friends, and I, will thank you! 

Watch Peggy MctIntosh speak about white privilege! 

Learn more about Pat Parker!

"Amazing Grace" Jonathan Kozol

South Bronx, 1980

After reading the excerpt from Jonathan Kozol’s “Amazing Grace,” I began to immediately make some connections with the prior texts read in class. The community members that Kozol visit in his text are extremely destitute and reside in Bronx, New York. One woman in particular, Alice Washington, paints an unfortunate look of her neighborhood and its inhabitants through interviews with Kozol. Many of those living in the community have contracted the AIDS virus, while several use intravenous drugs, twenty-seven people in Washington’s building alone (Kozol 13). The picture Mrs. Washington paints is altogether grim, leaving the reader to feel as if their neighbor had been forgotten, or thought of as unimportant, by those in power who could help.

The first text I connected Kozol’s text to was Johnson’s text Privilege, Power, and Difference. There Johnson lists and comments on different instances of “what privilege looks like in everyday life”. One of the bulleted ideas is, “Most whites are not segregated into communities that isolate them from the best job opportunities, schools, and community services” (Johnson 29). It seems as if Alice Washington’s community is just that, isolated from the people and services that can help. On Kozol’s journey to meet Mrs. Washington and others, he notes that, first, many taxicabs refuse to take him to the part of town he needed to go. Secondly, when he travels via train, he notices by the time he reaches near the end of the line, and Kozol’s own destination, there are fewer and fewer white riders. Kozol makes sure to comment that the train that he rides to meet his interviewees goes from “the seventh richest congressional district in the nation” at the start of the line to the poorest all in a “18-minute ride” (Kozol 3).

 Washington recounts a story in which she tells Kozol how difficult it is to obtain help from government programs like supplements for food stamps or SSI. In her sickened condition, she must travel across town to different government offices. Washington often wonders “…how sick you have to be to qualify for SSI” (especially after being denied SSI when she was living with cervical and uterine cancer). In addition to that, Washington’s community has become a dumping ground for other communities. Even after oppositions from community members, an incinerator was installed that burns “red-bag products”, some of it containing “amputated limbs and fetal tissue” and medical waste from 14 different New York City hospitals (Kozol 7). It is worth noting that parents and families who lived in Manhattan, an economically better area, were successfully able to keep the incinerator from being built in their community.

 It is here that I made a connection to another one of the class reading, this time from Lisa Delpit’s “The Silenced Dialogue”. The parents, who live in Manhattan, as Kozol has already pointed out, are among the richest in the nation; and they, as Delpit would say, are a part of the culture of power. Due to their inclusion of this group, the parents were successfully able to ban the construction of the waste burning center citing cancer risks to children (Kozol 7). Unfortunately, for people like Cliffie and Alice Washington, who are located firmly out of the culture of power, such demands cannot be made to those in power.

Washington’s son tells Kozol, “Most of the addicts and prostitutes are black. Some are Hispanic. But they’re all people of color. It made me feel frightened for my race” (Kozol 23). The similarities and correlations between power, ethnicity, and economic class are clear.

Here's a somewhat time relevant article on racism and classism in the neighborhoods of The Bronx and Manhattan these days, here.

A Little Something About Me..

Hello All!

My name is Tora-Yoshida Chanel Jones. Since people butcher my first name, I generally go by my middle name, Chanel. I'm currently a junior here at Rhode Island College; majoring in Secondary Education as a full-time student. I have also been thinking about picking up Creative Writing as a minor. I transferred here from the Community College of Rhode Island last semester, and I'm quite happy with that decision so far. 

I'm currently taking this class because it is needed to get into the Feinstein School of Education. 

Besides going to school, my time is spent between being a mom and working two part-time jobs. My son Kegan is six years old, and has just entered the first grade (which he was totally excited for). Although, Kegan is my only human child, I also have a few four-legged children. Bark Lee, my super cute puppy who is almost a year old, as well as Leopard Spotted geckos, Buddy and Spicy.

Over the summer I spent my time working at my two part-time jobs. During the days, I worked at Ryan Family Amusements, which is an arcade. I absolutely love this job because I work with some of my best friends, and the company itself, is absolutely fabulous to their employees. During the evenings, I could be found at my night job, Bridge Liquors. I have been at both companies for over five years, and they have been very accommodating with me about with the hectic schedules motherhood and education bring. 

When I'm not in class, or at work, I love spending time with Kegan. I'm a big supporter of DIY projects, so Kegan and I will often make fun crafts together (homemade playdough, making figurines, paper mache... etc). There is also nothing better than going on hikes and walks with our pup. On rainy days, and the days I feel too lazy to go out, are often spent reading, playing video games, or watching TV.