Peggy McIntosh’s 1987 essay “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” sent waves through social justice circles that reverberate to this day. McIntosh introduced the term “white privilege,” describing the often-unnoticed advantages of being white in America.
McIntosh’s paper remains worth reading, a simple list of the various ways she benefits from her race.
But almost three decades on, privilege rhetoric has run its course. Progressives should shift to the language of fairness, and move away from a culture of stigmatizing individuals and embracing victimhood.
Danny Bugingo | Argonaut
During a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing in June, Sen. Kamala Harris was interrupted by Sen. John McCain while asking Attorney General Jeff Sessions a question regarding Department of Justice policy. Social media exploded with criticism of McCain’s “manterruption,” heaping snark and indignation at a white male cutting off a woman of color.
This style of messaging — claiming victimhood before turning on the alleged oppressor with a wave of stigma — has convinced millions of working class whites a reality television billionaire is better tuned to the needs of the poor and marginalized than the Democratic Party.
Certainly, white privilege has not gone away.
The Pew Research Center reports the median net worth of white households is 13 times that of black households, and 10 times that of Hispanic households, numbers that have barely budged since McIntosh penned her essay. These statistics, as well as lived experiences of discrimination recounted by people of color should unsettle any American who believes in freedom and justice.
However, McIntosh’s simple call for awareness has been perverted into a message of guilt and stigma. Instead of appealing to America’s highest values, and explaining how racism, sexism and bigotry run counter to them, the Left often uses privilege rhetoric as a cudgel, beating shame into individuals whose identity groups mark them as oppressors.
Kamala Harris’ experience of being interrupted by man is far from unique. Every woman — and certainly every woman of color — has been interrupted, patronized or not taken seriously at some point. However, shouting down white males will do nothing to address sexism. Instead, progressives should emphasize fairness and equality for all Americans.
Inequality, whether economic, racial or based on gender, tears massive rifts through this country. America needs an activist Left calling attention to these divisions. Democracy does not work without some amount of social justice.
But shut out of the Presidency, powerless in Congress and impotent at the state level, the left cannot make the sort of change needed to build a more equitable society. Democrats recognize their messaging needs to change, with House and Senate Democrats unveiling a new agenda over the summer under the banner “A Better Deal.”
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer wrote an op-ed in the New York Times advertising this better deal for workers, a series of policies ranging from a massive infrastructure program to a mandatory $15 minimum wage.
Economic populism is a good way to win political office — the losers of the last two presidential elections were successfully framed as out of touch elites — but progressives need not abandon women and minorities in order to be successful.
As the Left moves forward, it can shed the most divisive edges of identity politics while continuing to confront the unfairness of racism, sexism and bigotry.
Danny Bugingo can be reached at [email protected]
Jason Burnett
Peggy McIntosh prayed to her Christian God demanding that he (her pronoun) reveal to her the undeserved advantages that she had over her black peers. When God provided 46 of them over the next fiew months, Peggy did not assume that God had answered her question with precision. She assumed that God had answered the question of what privileges do white people get? Her list of privileges refer to her, the wealthy daughter of an American Aristocrat in New England. Her claims, nearly every one of them, are completely invalid for a white male in Southwest Atlanta. Nothing that God informed her of pertained to white people as a class. They pertained to her as a rich white woman. White privilege is the definition of racism. Racism refers to the belief that a race conveys a unique quality to a person solely on the basis of their skin color. To claim that white privilege is a valid statement is to claim that white people have unique characteristics that are not afforded to others. This is literally racist dogma. What we should be discussing is not privilege, but rather advantage. But when setting up a battle between races, the term "white advantage" doesn't sound nearly as triggering as white privilege. With advantage, there is still the opportunity to succeed and there are conditions under which advantage is justified. Privilege, not so much. This is part of the new Cavil[sic] Rights Movement that has leveraged victimhood for the literal privileges that it offers. While Peggy was safe from criticism by leveraging her victim status as a woman, she offers white people as a sacrifice for white privilege. And while usually the woke movement would attack a white lady for centering herself in the stereotypical black struggle, because she is a woman and her views benefit the woke, she is given a free pass. The same is true for the super-wealthy Robin D'angelo and her prescription of White Fragility. Together these two false claims act like a one-two punch for any white person committed to equality. For those of us who have long been activists for equal rights, who have addressed the unfair advantages we have been given, and done the work to establish a more just society, it is a slap in the face to be told that we have privileges that others do not. It puts all of our work in the toilet and just in case we have any response whatsoever to trashing our life's work, white fragility comes in for the KO. Respond and you are attacking women. Respond and you are a racist. Respond and nothing you say will ever be given any consideration. This is a problem. You can't have equality when you swing from one extreme to the other. Until we stop looking to leverage the victim status, there will be no hope for equality. In equality, there are no victims.