"Disapproving of the system won't be enough to change them."

I have to say, between Writing 100 last year and FNED this semester, it's really beginning to come to my attention just how fortunate I am to have been born into a middle class, white family living in suburbia. I mean I've always known about racism, but of course I learned about it just like Peggy McIntosh described it in her and her colleague's experience: "whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work that will allow 'them' to be more like 'us'." Just so you guys have a better understanding of the neighborhood I'm from I figured this pie chart would be pretty helpful:

As you can see, if diversity is something you're looking for in your public school system, Smithfield is not the district for you ! 
But this helps to illustrate my point of why I was raised the same way Peggy McIntosh was. When a majority of your students are white, do you really think that the concept of "white privilege" is going to be taught? Of course not. Like McIntosh states on page two, we've "been conditioned into oblivion about its existence." This is a statement that I can whole heartily agree with. When reading McIntosh's list of ways she feels she is privileged I sat there and thought "oh yeah, I am able to do this or that because of my race" or "wow she's right, the faces of our nation typically are white just like me". These are experiences that I would have previously never thought about attributing race to. That's just the way things were.  So I guess the point I'm trying to make here, is that the more I continue on with my education at RIC, the more and more it's brought to my attention just how many problems there still are in the world pertaining to racism and inequality. 

But just like McIntosh says, "having described it, what will I do to lessen or end it?" Honestly right now, I couldn't tell you what I would do. But I feel that as this semester goes on and we embark deeper and deeper into FNED, hopefully I'll find a way to become a part of the solution. 

For now though, while we're on the subject of racism and white privilege I wanted to point out one of the points Peggy McIntosh makes in her list of privileges. On page three, McIntosh's 20th privilege listed is "I can easily buy posters, postcards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys, and children's magazines featuring people of my race" The second I read that statement I thought about a short video I had recently seen posted on Facebook. In the video there are black and white baby dolls being shown to younger children. The reactions that the children have is interesting because in this case, even though a black version of a toy was manufactured, it doesn't mean that the problem is solved. I figured this would be a perfect post to share this video in.