White Privilege Knapsack.
1. "White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks." (McIntosh).
I liked how she created a visual representation of what white privilege can be compared to. McIntosh is basically saying that though white privilege is invisible it is something that gives a person a much easier time getting through life, something that not everyone is given.
2. "In proportion my racial group was being made confident, comfortable, and oblivious, other groups were likely being made unconfident, uncomfortable, and alienated. Whiteness protected me from many kinds of hostility, distress, and violence, which I was being trained to visit, in turn, upon people of color." (McIntosh).
Now although it can be hard to admit this is what white privilege creates, a feeling of comfort to the white people and a feeling of discomfort to people of color. I feel like the second sentence of this quote relates to the second article I read "All Lives Matter". Because of my whiteness I have been able to avoid many issues that have been arising in society lately. White people don't fear for their lives nearly as much as people of color do and thats because we have this sense of comfort in our skin color alone.
3. "To redesign social systems we need to first acknowledge their colossal unseen dimensions. The silences and denials surrounding privilege are the key political surrounding privilege are they key political tool here. They keep the thinking about equality or equity incomplete, protecting unearned advantages and conferred dominance by making these subject taboo. Most talk by whites about equal opportunity seems to me now to be about equal opportunity to try to get into position of dominance while denying that systems of dominance exist." (McIntosh).
This seems like a good way to possibly end this unfair thing called white privilege. The biggest factor when changing something like this is knowing it exists. However many people turn away and choose to ignore this or say it doesn't exist because it is an uncomfortable topic to talk about. Like McIntosh stated it is a "taboo" subject. Nothing will get better if changes aren't made.
The second article "All Lives Matter" in my opinion was more interesting. It was an easier read and the content it provided was just as strong as the other articles. I agreed so much with the author of this article.
1. "The real issue is that, while strictly true, "All Lives Matter" is a tone-deaf slogan that distracts from the real problems black people in America face."
When people say "All Lives Matter", I can agree to that as a simple statement because yes, everyones life does in fact matter. But when people say black lives matter they are not saying that because they think no one else matters they are saying that because black lives are being taken away as if they don't matter. So when someone says all lives matter they are taking away from the important issue at hand which the author gets more into later in the article.
2. "But the result is that, societally, we don't pay as much attention to certain people's deaths as we do to others. So, currently, we don't treat all lives as though they matter equally."
Like I said above, not all lives are treated as though they matter.
3. "Just like asking dad for your fair share, the phrase "black lives matter" also has an implicit "too" at the end: it's saying that black lives should also matter. But responding to this by saying "all lives matter" is willfully going back to ignoring the problem."
This article summed up the meaning of the Black Lives Matter movement very good for someone who maybe misunderstood what the movement stood for. And hopefully it opened some peoples eyes and changed peoples minds. Because this is a very important topic for everyone to understand.
You chose some good quotes. I like how you used them to back up your thinking.
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