The main idea of this chapter is that as people in the dominant group we deny oppression still exists. We tell ourselves that racism and sexism were a problem years ago but in this day and age we are fair to minorities. The dominant group says that they are not racist that, being racist is no longer accepted so therefore it has virtually disappeared.
The chapter is basically about denial. The dominant group denies that there is oppression, and therefore denies that there is also privilege. The dominant group lies to themselves that they are the dominate group that they control the resources and that they control the subordinate groups. They will often say that the subordinate groups have more of an advantage, that because of affirmative action that whites and men are at a disadvantage.
Yes minorities do have it rough but is it not true that in some situations African Americans do have certain advantages. For an instance when filling out college scholarship applications the question arises of race, I believe that this has nothing to do with the consideration of me getting money to attend college or not. Some will say because blacks have been oppressed for so long that black students cannot be compared to their white counterparts. However is it not true that the daughter of Oprah Winfrey has more disadvantages then a man from a poor white family? Perhaps in some cases people blacks are disadvantaged however other factors must be put in context with the race factor.
Maybe I am also denying that race is the only factor that causes disadvantage because I am white and therefore a member of the dominant group however I am also female and I firmly believe that just because I am female I have a disadvantage to my male counterparts. In some cases I do believe that men have an advantage to me but I also know that sometimes I have an advantage over men. I think that for the most part life evens out and it’s all a system of balances. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and sometimes life isn’t fair, but no one ever said life is fair. Maybe that the only people that life is fair for top executives and CEOs and maybe those people are all white males but there is no requirement that says “to have power you must be a white male.” Powerful black women are a prime example of that. Women like Star Jones and Oprah Winfrey show us that blacks and women can succeed
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Sara,
I don't think Johnson says race is the only factor that causes disadvantages... or oppression. In fact, I think he might argue that an individual black might have more access to privilege because of wealth than a white person-- but they wouldn't have access to WHITE privilege. Again, we are talking about structural disadvantages accrued because of perceived membership in a group, not the characteristics of individuals. Hope this was more clear after our in class discussion-- if not, please bring it up in class because I'm sure others might benefit from discussing it too. Nice job with your thesis statement and engaging interesting questions in your analysis!
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