racism: response to McIntosh & Ferguson

[another response paper]

I have seen Peggy McIntosh’s clear and concise list of privileges in other contexts and always found them very thought-provoking. However, this is the first time I have read McIntosh’s article in its entirety and I actually found one aspect of it quite annoying. In the beginning, she writes as though she is entering uncharted territory; and, at the end of the article, she writes as though she will have to figure out for herself, unaided, what “we” can do to dismantle our privilege. As if thousands of books and articles have not been written by people of color (e.g. bell hooks) illuminating the existence and function of white privilege with tremendous brilliance and clarity, and providing us with many ideas and plans for change! In fact, it is sadly revelatory that McIntosh’s article is so often chosen to represent this information. People designing anti-racist curricula assume that many white students will not listen to a person of color giving them this same information; unfortunately, they are probably right.

In the Spring selection, I agree with his insistence on distinguishing racism from prejudice and his implied distinction between institutional/systemic racism and individual attitudes. The idea that racism is only about individual attitudes is precisely what causes the current generation of college students to deny that racism exists. If racism is merely attitude, then they are right—attitudes have changed. The Tom Metzgers of the world are extremist and outcast in 2003, and most people are happy to “celebrate diversity.” However, the pernicious evil of institutional racism continues to play out through our unconscious reproduction of the status quo. To help students feel less defensive about unpacking their participation in this system, I think it is important to emphasize that everyone in this society absorbs racist ideas, so there is no shame in having such thoughts and perceptions. The only shame lies in refusing to educate oneself to consciously combat institutional racism.

The Ferguson* article helped me in precisely that way—it showed me one persisting blind spot of my own. Although my approach is empathetic rather than punitive, I can definitely observe in myself that tendency to “adultify,” to see young black men’s behavior as more significant than that of young white boys. This also correlates with my own observations, in the past as well as in the first few days of practicum experience. One of the special ed teachers I observe is particularly appalling about this. When the sole white student is loud and disruptive, the teacher ignores him; when one of the African-American boys is disruptive (even when one called out, “Can I read next? Please miss, can I?”), he is reprimanded unkindly and even sent to the principal. Altogether, it is clear that while we all know how to “talk the talk,” we need a lot more work and education before we or our society will “walk the walk” of true multiculturalism.

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FYI: Description of Ann Ferguson's book from the Gustavus Myers website, which gave the book an award in 2001.


Ferguson, Ann Arnett,
Bad Boys: Public Schools in the Making of Black Masculinity
University of Michigan Press, 2000

Explores what getting into trouble means for African American boys. Ferguson follows a group of 11-12 year old boys labeled "at-risk" throughout a school year observing their interactions with teachers, administrators, and parents. She theorizes that Black boys' behavior is "adultified" - their alleged transgressions are interpreted by others as sinister. Ferguson discerns as well the children's views of this phenomenon of getting into trouble. A cutting-edge book that will appeal to parents, teachers, educational reformers and others. Ferguson examines the institutional racism present in deciding who gets punished or not. Ferguson teaches at Smith College in western Massachusetts.