Talking Points 1-McIntosh

White Privilege By: Peggy McIntosh

Quotes:
1) "I was taught to see myself as an individual whose moral state depended on her individual moral will." (Page 2, 2nd paragraph)
This quote says how we don't see ourselves being raised as 'privileged.' Also we don't look at different races and religions as reasons why people do not get jobs. Well, we do now but not when we were younger. This contributes to the text because it is basically the central part of this article. I have never noticed race as being such a big deal until taking this course.

2) "I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes or not answer letters without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race."
This confuses me because even if you are white and dress in second-hand clothes people will see you as living in poverty, no matter what race you are. Also, no matter what race you are and you swear in public people will automatically look down on you and think you have bad morals. So, I do not think that this particular quote has to do with the article and it has no reason to be in there.

3) "Individuals acts can palliate but can not end these problems."
This is very important because it is extremely true. An individual can not change all the racism in the world. They might be able to slow it down but they will not be able to end it. People will always have different opinions and you can't make people think the same.

Comments:
I found this article interesting although it reminds me a lot of things we have already read in class. Like Delpit's article it is about racism and how different races have different privileges. The list that McIntosh introduces is true but all the things are apart of everyday life so we don't notice it. All these privileges that we have are things we take for granted. This was a good read and it pointed out a lot of things I used to take for granted, but I am very thankful for the things I can do.