My freshman year at @TuftsUniversity, I took an American studies class titled Race in America.
Professor Jean Wu taught the course. She was like the cricket in Mulan, not in terms of the nervous energy, but certainly in the ways of her long, lithe, elegant body frame and her knowing ways. And yet, there was something scary about her. Although soft-spoken, a fire raged within her. As a freshman, I could tell she had seen some “stuff” and experienced some “stuff” that I didn’t dare to inquire about. Or perhaps at the time, didn’t have the bravery to excavate in myself and see.
One thing she shared with our class that semester was Peggy McIntosh’s article — The Invisible Knapsack. When she first introduced it, I visibly witnessed many students bristling. No one wants to believe they have anything they didn’t rightfully earn. And if you’re confronting White Privilege, or Privilege, in yourself and your family for the first time now, I deeply feel how foreign this concept must be, and I encourage you to reach out to me so we can have a conversation about it. I am here to learn alongside you.
Whenever I think about White privilege, I think of this Peggy McIntosh article. And I often reference it, as it puts into plain English what privilege is. It helped me understand it for myself, and recognize just how much privilege I have. It is a lot. I am very privileged.
As you read through, it’s hard to deny that we all have them. Today, I decided to do an inventory on the privileges I am afforded. I placed a check mark next to any example where I have benefited in the past, benefit today, or if I feel uncomfortable with it. Of the 40 examples of privilege that Peggy shares, I have 15 of them.
I would encourage you to do your own McIntosh inventory. And I would propose that the more privileges you can check off/circle, the more you need to be prepared to do, to build a more just and equitable world. We can do this, most especially if we find the strength in ourselves and one another — together. There is strength in numbers.
#LoveAlwaysWins #everybodyversusracism
