White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack

“As a white person, I realized had been taught about racism as something which puts others at a disadvantage, but had been taught not to see one of its corollary aspects, white privilege, which puts me at an advantage.”

McIntosh sets up one of the essay’s core themes: White people in America may be aware of the plight of nonwhites but not aware of their own non-plight. She argues that white people see racism as a problem for some “race community” without seeing “white” as a race. So, racism is understood as a problem for people of color. White people believe they are untouched by racism because they are untouched by its negative effects.

“White privilege is like an invisible knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools and blank checks.”

This sentence introduces the essay’s central metaphor, and it is the sentence for which the essay is most well-known. The curious thing about the knapsack, in her analysis, is that it is invisible to the people who wear it and take advantage of it, but it is highly visible to everyone else.

“As we in Women’s Studies work to reveal male privilege and ask men to give up some of their power, so one who writes about having white privilege must ask, ‘Having described it, what will I do to lessen or end it?’”

McIntosh intends to describe the social phenomenon of white privilege and to suggest ways to dismantle it and motivate people to do so. She draws on her women’s studies background as a lens through which to examine the issue, offering parts of a prescription as well as a diagnosis. Reframing an issue—or presenting an idea in a different way—can help encourage understanding. The metaphorical knapsack serves a similar purpose; it is another lens that McIntosh employs to help others recognize their invisible privilege more easily and clearly.