Race and Ethnicity Essay Example for Free

Race and Ethnicity Essay What it means to be white can have so many definitions and/or variations. What it means to be white is to be above the rest [blacks]. Whites are taught to think they are better than blacks; more privileged than one another. But what they failed to realize is how privileged they actually are. Author Peggy McIntosh takes viewers on an in depth voyage on what it means to be white, what whiteness is, and how privileged they are. White privilege refers to the set of social privileges that white people are argued to benefit afar from commonly experienced people of color in the same social, political, or economic setting. Whiteness represents both noticeable as well as less noticeable unspoken advantages that white individuals may not recognize they have. The notion of white privilege just as male privilege implies that whites assumingly has the right to be considered as normal no matter how culturally bias this problem may seem. McIntosh explains that as a white person, she realizes she had been taught about racism as something that puts others at a disadvantage. Students need to explore what it means to be white because they have become wrapped in what it is like to be black, meaning blacks being stereotyped as poor and disadvantaged. As McIntosh puts it being white is considered to be more privileged. In my opinion, to be white is to be as ordinary as any other person. Not looking at the fact that racism is still on the rise everywhere I go, to be white simply means to be more privileged than the lower working class. Nevertheless, whiteness and white privilege affects both whites as well as blacks. In my own experiences whiteness has affected me in my school as well as personal life. White privilege reminds me of time when there was segregation present. Cases of whiteness has taken away from many opportunities for blacks. Although it may seem biased it’s true. McIntosh explains that as she grew older she was trained to be white. Her whiteness taught her what it was like to be racist and to feel like she was free from all the hostility and distress that blacks experienced. Many, perhaps most, of our white students in the United States think that racism doesn’t affect them because they are not people of color; they do not see whiteness as a racial identity. Whiteness and white privilege is also on the rise in the United States. It seems as though it has become the new American Dream. Whether a person is taught to be white or it is learn throughout one’s life span there is no end to it. Peggy McIntosh also gives many examples on how whites can level the issue of whites being over-privileged. White individuals need to seek to change their attitudes says, McIntosh. Consequently, the American Dream is different for everyone no matter what our race, ethnicity, age, or social competency may be. Just as men feel they have to always take an extra step to be noticed, women, black or white must do the same too. Peggy McIntosh released a lot of information that should be vital to students everywhere. Knowing how they can be affected by white privilege can be very important to students everywhere, not to mention English language learners as well. The effects of white privilege may have a greater effect in them seeing as they are just learning the English language and they may grasp the wrong customs.