My Definition of White Privilege
Everything isn’t always black and white
Since this is my blog, it should be up to me to define my idea of what is, or is not, white privilege.
The concept of privilege came into its own in the eighties, when the women’s-studies scholar Peggy McIntosh started writing about it.
In her writings she describes her vision of who gets what based on their particular race.
She lists 26 points that she uses to determine if you’re privileged — or not privileged.
Privilege in the 60s
When I went to college in the 1960s in Texas, gas stations had four restrooms, and two water fountains. (The photo above is accurate)
At the theater blacks sat upstairs and got soda and candy only after the last white customer had been served.
At the drive-in, blacks parked in the back — whites in the front. There were no blacks in my college classes.
I would say that’s a glaring picture of white privilege.
Blacks in the south in the beginning of the 20th century were literally second-class citizens by every measure.