White Privilege | My Site 1

White Privilege: What is it?

White privilege "refers to a political and socio-economic system where white people enjoy structural advantages and rights that other racial and ethnic groups do not. Many white people are unaware that this system exists, which is one of its successes" (Racial Equity Tools, 2020).

Examples of White Privilege in America:

Peggy McIntosh's seminal article, White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, gives a list of 26 ways she experiences white privilege in her everyday life. It is well worth a look. Some examples she gives are, "I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time" and "I can choose blemish cover or bandages in “flesh” color and have them more less match my skin" (McIntosh, 1989).

How White Privilege is Harmful:

In a quote from McIntosh, who is a white woman, she explains that "My skin color was an asset for any move I was educated to want to make. I could think of myself as belonging in major ways and of making social systems work for me. I could freely disparage, fear, neglect, or be oblivious to anything outside of the dominant cultural forms. Being of the main culture, I could also criticize it fairly freely" (McIntosh, 1989, p. 11). This ability to act within and outside of the cultural norm should be enjoyed by all, yet in a country rife with racism, it is generally only enjoyed by those belonging to the designated majority, which is incredibly harmful to everyone else.

White Privilege in Libraries:

White privilege affects many aspects of libraries, including:

-Programming: When programming is being created by and for white perspectives, it is inherently excluding all others. To enthusiastically serve all community members, programming should not be approached from a place of whiteness, but from a place of equity.

-Services: As centers of equity, libraries should organize their services not in an "available to everyone" mindset, which falls in line with a problematic "color-blind" perspective and indulges white privilege, but in a way that actively reaches out to those in the community with less equity, and brings library services to those most in need of them.

-Collection development: Having a collection, especially a children's collection, that reflect a vast multitude of peoples is absolutely imperative. A disproportionate amount of children's books feature white protagonist (Perez, 2014), or only stereotypes of marginalized characters. Building a collection that reflects marginalized peoples in the community is an important part of collection development.