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The Privilege of Unpacking “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”
When I sat down to unpack “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”, I thought I would be unpacking the theory of whiteness that neoliberal Democrats love. To my surprise, I also began unpacking middle-class niceness.
I knew this as soon as I found a clip of Peggy McIntosh talking about writing “Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack”. As soon as I saw her, I thought, “That’s a nice middle-class white woman.” Almost as soon as I thought it, I heard her use the word nice.
McIntosh said,
In 1980, I had read two essays by black women who had lined it out just like a given: white women are oppressive to work with. And I remembered reading those essays with astonishment. They were so factual about it. White women are oppressive to work with. And I had two thoughts in 1980, and I still remember them. One was, I don’t see how they can say that about us. I think we’re nice. And the second, which is outright racist, but this is where I was in 1980, I especially think we’re nice if we work with them. Then I thought, did we fill the reading list and the programs and women’s studies with white people’s stuff? And at first I said maybe, and then I said yes. And I asked myself, if I have anything I didn’t earn by contrast with my African-American friends in this…
