White Privilege and Racism

Until recently, McIntosh's description of the "obliviousness about white advantage" was a syndrome that i suffered from.  It wasn't until I was going to the airport with my Pakistani friend that I realized how easy life was for me.  Immediately after going through security he was pulled aside to be frisked as his bags were torn apart as they searched for a weapon of some sort.  After the huge ordeal I was a bit flustered and sorry that the situation had occurred.  He proceeded to laugh at me as if it were some joke, saying that it was basically airport protocol for him.  I was outraged that an American institution prejudiced against him because of his skin color. 

Who would have realized that America, who promises suffrage and equality, would allow its own institutions to discriminate against skin color even after the Civil Rights movement.  I always realized that I was fortunate but never acknowledged that it could be due to my skin color.  I was naive to think that all of the opportunities I have had was because I deserved it, not because my race suggested otherwise.  As stated in the article, I did not recognize white privilege.  I find it interesting that McIntosh relates it to male privilege, where men may want to improve women's status but do not do anything about lessening men's.  In contrast to male privilege, I think that younger generations, do not realize that racism exists while men notice that women are not granted equal opportunities.  For young students who have not been discriminated against,   racism is just something that occurred in history and is no longer present today.  More often than not, schools are racially diverse and children have friends of all colors.

With McIntosh's list of all of the ways she had an advantage within society, I was blown  away by little details that I had never even thought of.  One that especially blew me away was that she can "choose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have it match" her skin.  This seems rather trivial, but it was definitely a fact that is outrageous since there are so many skin tones that the term "flesh" does not define.  The fact that people notice issues like this in terms of racism leads me to believe that more people are recognizing that racism is an issue that needs to be dealt with more severely.  I think that as the United States become more modernized and accepting, defining people by their race will occur less frequently.