White privilege checklist
This list is based on Peggy McIntosh’s article on white privilege.
https://www.deanza.edu/faculty/lewisjulie/White%20Priviledge%20Unpacking%20the%20Invisible%20Knapsack.pdf
Louder With Crowder Takes the Test
These dynamics are but a few examples of the privilege which white people classes have.
On a daily basis as white person…
- I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.
- If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure renting or purchasing housing in an area
which I can afford and in which I would want to live. - I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to
me. - I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be
'followed or harassed. - I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of
my race widely represented. - When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that
people of my color made it what it is. - I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the
existence of their race. - If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.
- I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented,
into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a
hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair. - Whether I use checks, credit cards, or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work
against the appearance of financial reliability. - I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like
them. - I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having
people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty, or the illiteracy of my race. - I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.
- I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.
- I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.
- I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who
constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion. - I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and
behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider. - I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to "the person in charge," I will be facing a
person of my race. - If a traffic cop pulls me over, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my
race. - I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and
children's magazines featuring people of my race. - I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat
tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, out numbered, unheard, held at a distance, or
feared. - I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having coworkers on the
job suspect that I got it because of race. - I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot
get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen. - I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.
- If my day, week, or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or
situation whether it has racial overtones. - I can choose blemish cover or bandages in flesh color and have them more or less
match my skin.