White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Backpack Summary
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Sasha Fierce, Queen B, Mrs. Carter. By any alias, Beyoncé Knowles’ name has become synonymous with the empowerment of black women. While Beyoncé’s prosperity serves as an inspiration, it also brings about misconceptions about the declining impacts of racial influences, as Beyoncé herself expressed in a 2011 interview. Beyoncé’s wild success, despite her race, creates inaccurate conclusions about a current post-racial society; although people of minorities have risen to highly regarded positions in American culture, prejudice and discrimination continue to exist today. “I’ve kind of broken barriers” Beyoncé proudly claimed in her famous televised interview with Piers Morgan (Beyoncé on Race). Though issues of race may not actively plague the…show more content… In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Backpack,” Peggy McIntosh examines the often unnoticed side of racism, that not only are people of color deprived, but white people are conversely born with inherent advantages (McIntosh, 1). However, in recent times, Americans of the social majority argue that common characteristics of white privilege lost their exclusivity to apply solely to whites. Beyoncé Knowles’ dominating presence in American pop culture enables blacks to identify with aspects of McIntosh’s list of frequent conditions of white privilege; for example, the increasing popularity of Knowles’ music allows blacks to “check off” numbers five, nine, and twenty on the list of privileges, for one can expect that Beyoncé should appear on television or in the news and have her music, posters, or other products accessible for public consumption (McIntosh, 2). Whites, taught not to recognize their privilege, would thus claim that since various benefits now include other races, white privilege ceases to exist in today’s supposedly post-racial society. However, white privilege varies on a personal basis and evolves over time, yet through its changes it nevertheless remains a prevalent force acting on society. Furthermore, Beyoncé’s stardom highlights the truth behind McIntosh’s list of advantages today, as