Key words: discrimination, white privilege, racism, minorities
Peggy McIntosh creates an interesting opinion on the …show more content…
So long as those who benefit from white privilege do not recognize it for what it is, a system of advantage and disadvantage given to people based solely on race, it will continue to reinforce all structures of culture and society. Due to its foundation as a basis for the society we live in, it will take a great force of awareness and comprehension of what it means to be privileged and how racism is more than “individual acts of meanness” (McIntosh). It will also require the willingness of the privileged to give up the privilege they have grown so accustomed to having, and accepting it for the unfair advantage it is. Only then we, as society, can truly begin to change the ways that our systems of culture and society work.
“The Myth of White Privilege”, written by Selwyn Duke was published in an online magazine “American Thinker” on July 28, 2011. Selwyn Duke, is a columnist, public speaker, and Internet entrepreneur whose work has been published widely online, and also in print. He was motivated to write this column by learning about “The White privilege conference” and their ideas such as “Whites are taught not to recognize White privilege” and “special freedom or immunity from some liabilities or burdens to which nonwhite persons are subject.” The column is appealing to people of all races …show more content…
Duke also refers to the essay written by Professor Louis Pojman, who cites a case in which the brilliant Ph.D. philosopher was not able to get a job at a particular University, because the opening legally belonged to a woman, specifically, a black woman. To further demonstrate how Selwyn Duke believes that, white privilege is in fact propaganda, he states that American Jews earn two times more than their compatriots who are not Jews, referring to the commentary about American Jews by Dr. Gerhard Falk. Explaining the case in which certain races or ethnic groups dominate within diverse fields is not just an American phenomenon, he cites Professor Walter Williams, who wrote about the privileges of Chinese minority in Malaysia. He also mentions the talk-show host Michael Savage who, after he earned his Ph.D., had trouble finding a job in his chosen field, and was told in so many words that "white men need not apply”