Peggy McIntosh shares many privileges that she has because of her skin color; privileges that she did not necessarily earn, but they are simply there.
There are a few things on her list that I can personally relate to. One of them being “I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed”. I have experienced someone following me or watching me on several occasions. It is frustrating to have this happen because when it does, the worker will sort of linger around in an obvious way instead of asking if I need help with anything and walking away.
“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 that fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser’s shop and find someone who can deal with my hair”. This is a HUGE problem! It sucks having to go out of the way to find a hair stylist that can handle my hair. It also sucks when you go to a general salon and have to wait on certain days for the person that does black hair. Living in Athens, there are many music shops downtown and a lot of their music is cheap. I definitely listen to all types of music, but it’d be nice to see music that is represented by anyone that isn’t white (not to sound extreme).
Interesting story: I was born in Brooklyn and lived in a neighborhood called Flatbush with my grandma. Historically many black people live there, majority of them being West Indian. I went back to Brooklyn in October and November for the first time about five years and the neighborhood has become so integrated. Since the integration, there is now a Whole Foods down the street from my grandma’s house. Many of the food spots that are probably seen as unhealthy (although good) have been shut down. I just find it interesting that it wasn’t until non-blacks moved into the area that they considered building an organic store and are taking away some many of the other food spots.
One thing that I found very interesting was “I can choose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color that more or less matches my skin”. I have never thought about this but it makes so much sense. I once saw a post that said something along the lines of “when they created the color ‘nude’ they weren’t talking about black people”. This definitely true whether we’re talking about band aids, nail polish, lipstick, or bras; nude is a color that was made with fair skinned people in mind.
Implicit privilege contribute to inequality because people do not think about it! It is also something that many of the privileged will probably deny. With it being implicit, the privileged and disadvantaged may not recognize that it is happening so it continues as a normal thing.