White Privilege In My Life

I never really thought about the concept of racism as a two way street; for one race to be disadvantaged, another must be advantaged. Like Peggy McIntosh, I never even took the time to consider how I have personally benefitted from being part of the 'Master' race. I never trully realized that being white gave me more privileges or advantages. In order to illustrate how these privileges have impacted my life, I will discuss the more important privileges I have listed on the class blog.
The first privilege I listed was 1)People of my race hold a overwhelming majority in government positions. This is an important point to pay attention to. Minorites live seeing their government run primarily by white people and have to also live knowing that these government positions are just begining to open up to them, and the highest level positions are unattainable for them and their future offspring.
Another privilege I listed was 3)I see people of my race on money. This might seem like an unimportant detail but is actually a form of oppression. I remember watching the news and hearing the announcement that Saddam Hussein's image was removed from the money. The reporting anchor then discussed how this was a big deal because the money featured the face of a cruel dictator. This could be applied to the money we use here in America. The great thinker on the subject of race, Dave Chappelle, once stated that U.S. currency "looks like baseball cards with slave owners on them". Minorities, African-Americans in this case, are forced to use currency with the images of the very people who enslaved their ancestors.
Untill people realize that "Hate is baggage" (American History X) and do something to stop the perpetuation of White Privilege, racist thinking will persist and so will the archaic system of oppression that holds Whites as the privileged class.