Critical Reflection #3

Peggy McIntosh introduces us to the idea of white privilege. how was white privilege impacted your life or or those around you?
     I think this article was very upfront, but truthful and something that not many people talk about or maybe even are aware of. Since I am white, I can relate to a lot of the conditions McIntosh talks about. I haven't really ever felt judged or criticized for the way I look. I feel that it is a mostly "white dominated world, which is unfortunate but reality. I have 2 brother;s, one looks similar to myself, very dark features and in the summer our skin can get a dark tan, my other brother has the dark hair but lighter eyes and skin. My mom tells me stories about when i was younger playing and someone said to her "she looks like she should be playing outside of a pizza shop". I'm not sure what ethnicity the person was referring I looked like and since I was so young I don't know how I felt about the comment. I often get asked what my background is but never have I been discriminated against. A few summers ago my brother (who looks similar to me) had to get a criminal record check for a job he was applying for. On one of the applications it was asking hair, eye colour, etc. One question said something like is you skin white, brown, black. My brother, bring white circled that word. When giving it to the police officer to look over the cop looked at him and erased what he had circled for skin colour, and circled brown giving my brother a "look". My brother thought this was hilarious but said he felt a little strange at the same time. I'm sure most of the people in my family haven't really thought about "white privilege" before, or they've never mentioned it anyway. Although my family hasn't really ever talked about race or differences between races but I'm sure they've seen the differences in everyday life.
     My group of friends growing up consisted of different cultures and no one ever noticed when we were younger or said anything  but as we got older it was definitely more talked about. A lot of my girlfriends were black and they would often talk about how hard it was to deal with their hair; using different products, or when it was breaking all off and most of them wouldn't let a white hairdresser touch their hair. I think my guy friends who were black got discriminated against a lot mote then my black girlfriends. They would tell stories of how they got followed in the mall by security or how people gave them dirty looks if there was 3 or more of them together in public, which I saw first hand a couple of times. A lot of my friends who were black felt uncomfortable going to white people's houses, if they weren't very close with the family or if they didn't have another black friend with them. I can completely understand it but at the same time I was always saying things like "don't be scared or nervous! who cares?" But I probably didn't and don't understand the real effect or feeling they get when put into a situation like that. My boyfriend is black and at the beginning of our relationship walking in a mall or somewhere public, sometimes we would get horrible looks from people (usually elderly). I knew that there were prejudice people out there but I never experienced it first hand like that. Or some people at school would say "oh my gosh, what did your parents say about you dating him?" This was a stupid question to me because my parents would never say anything or never judge, which I'm thankful to have parents like that. At first it was very frustrating to me why people cared but now I'm pretty much over it.
     In class we talked about the "race card" and I was surprised that no one in class thought it ever applied to white people. I've been in groups where i was the only white person and I would say something and everyone would say "oh ok Alana your pulling the race card", but in a joking way. After reading McIntosh's article i realize that most of the things my friends would say that applied to the race card (for white people) are the conditions Peggy McIntosh listed.
     it was and still is extremely hard for me to even understand the thought of racism or how people can be so judgemental against other races. No one chooses what they are going to look like when they were born or what family they would be born into. I know racism has come a long way but i still feel there is too much going on for today's day and age, which McIntosh I think clearly points out by her list of conditions.