IAT Test

I was raised by a single, non-white mother from a lower-class background. I don't remember being privileged throughout my life and definitely not for being partially white. In fact, I remember a lot more suspicion, scrutiny and isolation due to it.

The ways some of my privileges are related to race are to the fact that my mother is white. She is very educated, and a successful business owner. By having the upper hand in life, my mother was able to take care of me great.

“To be white in America means not having to think about it,” declares James Baldwin. What Baldwin means by this is that white people do not have to think about how their race affects their lives on a daily basis. To take this to a further level, in American society to have privilege in any identity group is to not have to think about how being part of that group shapes your life daily and to think of what it would be like to be part of a different identity group. In fact, for most people thinking of how being part of a privileged group makes their lives easier makes people uncomfortable or annoyed for having to think about their privilege, all of this which A.G. Johnson calls “the luxury of obliviousness” (Johnson, A.G. (2006). Privilege, Oppression, and Difference. p. 12-40). Johnson paraphrases Peggy

After reading the article by McIntosh I was in complete agreement. I feel it is uncommon for the privileged group to recognize their own privilege. I know I have had conversations with my peers about white privilege and those conversations have not lead to the agreement that there is white privilege. I think you really need to do as the author did and list things that you would otherwise take for granted, find what is in our knapsacks. I find that I am always checking myself when it comes to my interactions with others. Did I act a certain way due to the race of the people I am around? From the article by Bronson, it is discussed how children differentiate on their own. Our brains are wired to find the similarities and relate to those. It makes

American society consists of many equal races, yet people believe that as a white American, I am more privileged than others. However, I have learned that race is not the only factor that determines my status or position in life. In addition, the concept of white privilege is not as prominent in younger generations. Despite the assumptions made by others about the privileges whites are given, there are circumstances where being white negatively impacts me.

Am I privileged because I’m white? I’ve never thought that being a white, middle class, woman would cause a classification of myself being privileged. I’ve truly struggled over this past two weeks with this topic, and for various reasons. I came from a rough home, where alcohol abuse, emotional and mental trauma was abundant. After leaving home at an age of 17 years, I was on the streets for a few weeks. I’ve endured the hardship of not having clothing, or food to eat. I understand the feeling of being scrutinized for my appearance. When I finally got accepted into a shelter, it was scary. Everyone was white and going through hardship. Thinking back, I have to wonder why the entire shelter was white? All this being said, it’s taken years to get to where I am today. Nothing was given to me, nor was it handed to me. Everything has been an uphill battle. So understandably, this topic has been a struggle for me to come to terms with.

Growing up in Mexico, then moving to the US, I was able to recognize privilege, and the privilege I held. In Mexico, my family always had money and I was raised with very many opportunities i.e. going on constant vacation. I was very blind to oppression, and hadn’t learned the issues of being unprivileged.

Ready to test my own subconscious decisions I decided to take the Race IAT test. The test is designed to gauge your automatic preferences between African Americans and European Americans. The test begins with a series of questions which involve your demographics, and a set that ask you straight forward questions about your preferences. Followed by, a test constructed to test your subconscious preferences between the two. Pictures and words are then generated, and you are asked to make a quick association between the races and a simple good or bad response. The results of my test classified me as a person who moderately prefers European Americans to African Americans. Honestly, my moderate preference to whites over blacks is not all that

This time, my results showed that I have no automatic preference between African Americans and European Americans. These results were not different from last time and, honestly, I’m not sure what I expected. Ever since I first took the Race IAT test, I’ve been noticing how I act around Caucasian and African American people. One thing that definitely stood out was how much more typical being around white people felt. Northgate is dominated by Caucasian people, so I’ve grown accustomed to being around white people. Due to this, I wonder why I have no bias since I was raised and surrounded by Caucasian people. Analyzing all of this, I realize how important it is to understand that having a bias towards one race is perfectly normal.

I am a middle class, university student; I may not see life the same way as someone else. For example, I do not see the world the same way a black woman, teacher, senior or child would see the world. This is similar to privilege; I do not see privileged the same way someone else would. The privilege may have been noticeably not there in someone’s life, so they realize it everyday. On the other hand, I did not see my privilege all my life; it took me this long to realize I am privileged. One example is the entire Jennifer Lawrence scandal regarding wage gaps. Through the Sony hack Lawrence found out she was being paid considerable less than her male costar, she was completely appalled by this (Washington Post). Although Lawrence has won many Oscars and has had more experience than her male costar that has not won Oscars they are getting paid much more. It is crazy to see how even big stars are being exposed to privilege. The male actors are privileged based on their sex and do not even realize it. There is no reason for the males to be paid more but society decides some should be privileged beyond others. Just like Lawrence my position in life never made me think I may be privileged or unprivileged for the matter. Lawrence realized she was being unfairly discriminated against because she is a female. I believe my position is very privileged, however, in comparison to males it seems I

The town that I lived in was majority black, but most of the wealth was found in the white community. As a person with white skin, I was automatically given a higher status socially and several other privileges, such as growing up in a culture that expected me to achieve academically and therefore have the ability to leave the town. For people of other skin colors, that was not an expectation, and there were many roadblocks to their success, such as poor education and a high crime rate where they lived. It wasn’t until college where I read about oppression, that I began to understand that not confronting the privileges I received from my skin color is part of the problem, a way of maintaining meritocracy. As a woman, I am also the oppressed. I have to ensure that I do not achieve or succeed too much or else I will threaten men, and run the risk of not finding a husband some day. Should I find a husband, I will likely be expected to prioritize family over my career, something not as expected from my husband. My mother stayed at home with us our entire lives, and I often feel the expectation that I will do the

To begin, I would like to examine the privilege that I inherited when I was born to a white mother and father. It is important, as a white person, to end the silence that so many white people engage in daily, regarding their privilege. It is not common to hear people speaking about the privilege they experience. This may be due to guilt. It may also be because most people wouldn’t want to willingly admit that all they were able to achieve, the stability they feel in their lives, and the pride they feel for the success that they created for themselves, in large part is due to how people in society perceive them as members of a privileged group. This isn’t to say that those who have achieved success have not earned it, but it must be said that skin color has made certain things easier for white people, and that it may have played a large role in their ability to achieve their potential. Of course I worked hard to be where I am today, but I

I have experienced how my socioeconomic status can cause people to view me as a lesser human. I have had to exhaust myself to prove I am capable of contributing to my school, family, and community. I know what it’s like to be underestimated and overlooked, to not feel good enough because I don’t have enough money, because I’m not smart enough, because I don’t think the way I am expected to, because I have ideas and plans and want to do more with my life than anyone ever anticipated. I care about people and I can empathize with them because I know what it’s like to overcome obstacles, to beat the odds, to be more than what anyone wanted. I know how to live unafraid of others opinions, speak my mind and embrace every opportunity and have a unique perspective of the world thanks to my parents and

My oppression is not always visible, but it is ever-present. I am a black, bisexual woman raised in a single parent household, and I did not know my father for the first four years of my life – and for the next 12 he was merely a child support payment and monthly visit. Therefore, my oppression is easier to identify than my privilege, but I have always been aware of my privilege and how that privilege affects my immediate environment and role I play in it as well as larger society I grew up in a racially diverse, affluent suburb with no fears of where my next meal was coming from or if the electricity bill would be paid. I was afforded quality primary school education and given the opportunity to go to college instead of worry about providing for my family. That in itself is a huge privilege.

I never even consider the amount of mindbugs I have until reading Blindspot. After taking the IAT test about race did I truly discover these mindbugs. This experience was an eye opener to prejudges I might have]. Before taking the IAT test I thought I would have a higher preference for African Americans. The IAT race test presents black faces, white faces, good words (“joy,” “love,” “peace,” etc.) and bad words (“evil,” “failure,” “hurt,” etc.), and you respond as quickly by pressing one of two keys. If you work faster when good words are assigned to the same key as white faces, you purportedly prefer white people. After it revealed my hidden bias of preferring whites over blacks, I was stunned. Since I was a child I have always loved deeper skin colors. I wanted a black bitty baby instead of a white one. I always had African American friends I’ve always been one to fight for the social injustices of others, that’s why I was shocked when I found out I have a slight automatic preference for white people. In Blindspot, after taking the Race IAT test, many had themselves pondering a certain question, “Does this mean I am prejudice?” (Banaji and Greenwald pg.46) I even had the thought, even after educating myself on all the horrific things America has done to people of color, I was surprised to see a slight preference to white. Society had definitely influenced my white preference with in-group favoritism. In-group favoritism “is a pattern of favoring members of one's in-group