Privilege

This image is of something that is with me whether or not I'm in my social location. It is a picture of my hand, and more specifically of the fact that I identify as a white individual.

This image is one that I feel represents not only the concept of privilege well, but also my awareness (or lack of) of the concept. At first when I had to think of an image for this term I had a hard time thinking of something in my social location that could stand for the idea of privilege. When McIntosh speaks of privilege, and in particular white privilege, she says that it is "an invisible package of unearned assets that [she] can count on cashing in each day, but about which [she] was "meant" to remain oblivious." (1) I personally can relate to this description of white privilege in my day-to-day life. Until I got to college, I was fairly oblivious to the ways in which being white impacts my daily experience. Through various classes I became more aware of what my whiteness was doing for me without me even knowing it was happening. Even now acknowledging and understanding white privilege is still something I have a hard time with. Coming back to my image I feel like it accurately shows the relationship I have with my white privilege - it's there every day no matter what I do, but I often don't even think about it. The very color of my skin imparts an unfair and unearned advantage that other individuals may or may not have, simply based on the color of their skin. Being aware of this unearned privilege forces one to think about the world around you in a whole new light due to the awareness you have gained. It is something that I must come to terms with seeing it is something that I carry with me every day, much like that invisible knapsack McIntosh references.