McIntosh and the Irish

"This image represents how Americans portrayed Irish. They were recognized as monsters and beasts" 

How does one person have greater privileges than another? Why is it, that discrimination is so obvious in our everyday lives? In McIntosh's reading, these questions were just a few of many that ran through my mind. Grasping an understanding of what McIntosh was trying to portray, you first have to take your own life into account. When you observe your own life you might think you’re on an even scale with everyone else in the world, but is that really true? McIntosh brought up that even though white woman have less privileges than men, those woman have a greater amount than woman of a different race. This is where the concept of whiteness comes into play. The privileges of a white person are much greater than those of a different race. McIntosh points out that there are many people around us that are limited in what they can do because of the colour of their skin or culture that they were born in. No one has a choice of how they will start their life, which makes it unfair that those who aren't born white are discriminated against.
 
McIntosh makes a point about doors opening for everyone with the right amount of work you put in towards them. If that really was true, then our world would be a whole lot different than it is today. There are so many hard working people from other cultures that struggle to make an honest living and provide for their families. Even though those people may work hard labour and long hours, there is very little chance that they will get the same amount of privileges as those of a white man. The only thing that makes those people any less of whites is based on the colour of their skin. It doesn’t involve that one race works harder than another. In fact, whites may even work less than those of a different race. No one notices these fine details, which is why the differences of privileges between races are continuing to grow.

            McIntosh brings about another concept that tells us that to be white, it links dominance over others. Because white skin is known to have more privileges, now people are becoming accustomed to that thought and have a realization that they truly are better than other darker skinned individuals. If a baby was raised and was never taught that one race is higher than another, then that child would grow up with much different aspects of the world. I believe that whiteness gains more privileges because they see that history has always been in their favour and that it should stay that way. This in the end makes other races believe that as well, and they continue to view themselves as a lesser group.

            In comparison to McIntosh’s ideas, the Irish coming to the U.S in the 20^th century are closely related to this topic of whiteness. Irish that came to the U.S in the 20^th century were discriminated by almost all the Americans. Even though they were white, they were treated as if they were in a completely different skin. The Irish were given less privileges than Americans, which makes connection with McIntosh’s ideas about whites privileges in comparison to others. Irish were brought down and seen as a lower race, making it hard for them to adjust to their new lives. Pictures were made and compared them as barbarians and monsters, giving people the idea that they cannot be trusted. They also gave an impression that the Irish always had something to hide and were up to no good.

The U.S seemed threatened by them, and when people are threatened, they want to do all they can to take the power for themselves and leave others with little. What is confusing is that the Irish were white and yet their privileges were deprived. Thinking from McIntosh’s ideas, I believe the best answer for this scenario would be that since the Irish were from a different culture it caused them to threaten the norms of the country. The Irish have different religions, speech and ways of dressing and acting which may make Americans feel uncomfortable.  This reasoning could show why there are so many images that portrayed the Irish as horrible people. Having a strange new group of people come to your land could raise concerns, which in the end creates racialization of a whole culture of people.

            In conclusion, McIntosh began to show us that privileges are unequal and separated by race. Whiteness is the holder of a majority of power, while others such as African Americans struggle day to day for theirs. Her ideas also relate to how the Irish were treated amongst the U.S in the 20^th century. They weren’t treated as people of the same race or colour; rather they were created into an entirely new race. They were stripped of their privileges and racialized by the whole country creating an unfair playing field for all the Irish.

Related article: http://www.racismreview.com/blog/2010/03/17/irish-americans-racism-and-the-pursuit-of-whiteness/