Thread by @tisaiahcho

Many White Evangelical Christians have a defensive reaction to the idea of "white privilege" without understanding what it means in the first place.

racialequitytools.org/resourcefiles/…

Peggy McIntosh's important work "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" defines white

privilege as an "invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was 'meant' to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools ,

and blank checks." She's clear that white privilege is not white guilt - the idea that White people should collectively feel responsible and guilty for the racism White people have committed in the past.

McIntosh specifically lists 50 instances of white privilege that people of

color in general are unable to take advantage of (and rather, are societally and generationally disadvantaged of). This list of instances of white privilege is helpful to dispel the common misunderstanding that white privilege means that all White people are rich, powerful,

connected, etc. (i.e. "What about poor White people?")

She also specifies that white privilege does not mean that White people are irredeemably racist. In fact, she distinguishes between "positive advantages" and "negative advantages" that come from white privilege. Positive

advantages are those which ought to be spread amongst all people, while negative types of advantage must always be rejected.

White privilege, in short, is an open-eyed recognition of providence - including its darkest parts. It is recognizing that the way things are today are a

part of a bigger story, and that each of us are not living in a vacuum sealed meritocracy. It is a tool to help Christians pursue contextualized justice by bringing to light what is often hidden about the over-advantages and disadvantages that exist in society.