White Privilege Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack Analysis

In White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, Peggy McIntosh provides vivid examples on how "white privilege" is considered to be unapparent for many white individuals and negatively affects people of color. White privilege is an “unearned advantage” given to Caucasian individuals, as it “confers dominance” by establishing that the is white race is superior (McIntosh, 1990). With white privilege, white individuals are protected from the “hostility, distress, and violence,” which is often associated with individuals of color (McIntosh, p. 332). White privilege gives these individuals the opportunity to receive vital educational, political, and social resources that may possibly be inaccessible for people of color. By providing awareness on how white privilege works and how it can be detrimental in the attempt to gain racial equity for individuals of color, this concept can work to improve racial equity by establishing educational programs that inform individuals on white privilege and ending political policies that serve as a measure to oppress individuals of color. McIntosh (1990) asserts how many individuals of the white race an unaware that they attain “white privilege.” As white individuals are taught to not recognize their “conferred dominance,” many of these individuals believe that
This “privilege” is considered to be another form in which establishes superiority of the white race. As a people of color, we must inform the white population of these inequitable “advantages”, as this will lead to racial, social, political, and economic equity. If educational programs on the concept of white privilege have the ability to create awareness for many white individuals about the systematic issues that affect people of color, how can we implement these teachings into privileged, predominantly white school