As I have delved head first into my education classes this semester, a lot of my thinking has been challenged as I begin to really get small tastes of this profession I have chosen. This week, the subject of my Schooling in the United States class is the matter of diversity in the classroom. I must admit that among my personal and intellectual challenges have been some realizations of my own biases, and I am ashamed to admit even instances of racism that I had not allowed myself to acknowledge before.

Our current reading assignment comes from Peace and Freedom, an article by Peggy McIntosh entitled: "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack," in which the article addresses areas where whites are given privilege within the system in ways that keep us from realizing our power over other races despite all sorts of lip service given to the recognition of the underprivileged. McIntosh outlines 26 points of white privilege that we as Caucasians overlook that people of other races live through each day. Take a listen to these:

1. I can if I wish to arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
2. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to life.
3. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location with be neutral or pleasnt to me.
4. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed of harassed.
5. I can turn on the television of open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.
6. When I told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.
7. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular material that testify to the existence of their race.
8. if I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
9. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the stable foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's show and find someone who can cut my hair.
10. Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.
11. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.
12. I can swear, or dress in second hand cloths, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race.
13. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
14. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
15. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
16. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of person of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.
17. I can criticize our government and talk about how mich I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.
18. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to "the person in charge," I will be facing a person of my race.
19. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.
20. I can easily buy poster, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children's magazines featuring people of my race.
21. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.
22. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having coworkers on the job suspect that I got it because of race.
23. I can choose public accommodations without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.
24. I can be sure than if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.
25. If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it has racial overtones.
26. I can choose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

Just reading through these items made me realize how many things other people deal with that are simply not a part of my range of vision-- they are not obstacles in my life. The question remains, "what is it that we ought to do about this?" Is awareness enough? I don't know. What is it that I can do? Will it be my role as a teacher to instill in my students the values in others. Maybe it just means for me a challenge to move out of my own comfort zone, to see my tendency to gravitate toward those who look like me-- to stop seeing people of other races as unintelligent or unsafe (if I am going to be really honest)-- and move toward a life of seeking the image of God in people all around me (or maybe not all around me).

If you would like to read the full article (which I would recommend), it can be found in the July/August 1989 Peace and Freedom. Again, it is titled, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" by Peggy McIntosh of Wellesley College Center for Reasearch on Woman.

A slightly different version of the article can also be found here