White Privilage: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh (quotes)

"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"".
I feel that the author is trying to say that many people do not notice "white privilege" because of the fact they were raised without thinking it was privilege. She says that as children our parents tell us that this is the way your life should be. That it is an average life for a person. Most parents don't point out how we are advantaged because of our skin color. As the article later says, we are not judged on a daily base because of our skin color.
"In any case, we need to do more work in identifying how they actually affect our daily lives. Many, perhaps most, of our white students in the United States think that racism doesn't affect them because they are not people of color; they do not see "whiteness" as a racial identity."I personally wouldn't say that racism doesn't affect me, but it is more that I was not raised in a diverse community and did not see it until college. Overall though I believe the author is trying to say that many white students do need see how racism affects their daily lives. This may be because it benefits the white person, because they are not the one being discriminated against and are less likely to see it. I agree with the author that many people not see that "whiteness" is a racial identity, because it isn't something that is said. I know I am a white student, but in conversation a friend would not say that I am white. It seems like it is something that is known, but not really said.
"In my class and place, I did not see myself as a racist because I was taught to recognize racism only in individual acts of meanness by members of my group, never in invisible systems conferring unsought racial dominance on my group from birth."The author brings up a very powerful idea here, by saying that you may not consider yourself a racist, but it may only be on the surface. If by ignoring or failing to see that underlying view does that make you a racist? If you do not see the problem at hand and therefore not working to change it, does that make you seem racist because you are not fighting to change the unfairness of the system. If you saw this underlying issue and ignored it does that make you one?