Amazing Grace by Kozol and White Privilege by McIntosh (Connection)

While reading the texts, Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol and White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack by Peggy McIntosh I felt as though I could relate them to the two previous texts we have read, Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan G. Johnson and The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children by Lisa Delpit. McIntosh’s writing relates to Johnson’s with the “privilege” concept. These two pieces also relate to Delpit’s and Kozol’s readings because they also have issues dealing with race. 

McIntosh and Johnson’s pieces both talk about privilege and specifically white privilege. Unlike Johnson, McIntosh says exactly some specific “white privileges” that she faces. For example one she wrote was, “I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.” Johnson’s articles’ speak about white privilege but does not exactly state one such as McIntosh did. They both say though that there should not be such a thing as “white privilege.”

Delpit’s article talks about race within the school and speaks about young children. Kozol’s article talks about the poverty within schools and the gives examples from a specific area. Although Kozol does not say specific races like Delpit’s article, both articles talk about how one life style may be harder than another’s.

Another article that relates to these four articles is, For the white person who wants to know how to be my friend, by Pat Parker. This article talks about the stereotypes of a person who is black.  The last part of the article is what I feel as though is important, it says "In other words- if you really want to be my friend - don't make a labor of it." I think this is important because it ties into the other articles because with how race should not matter and there should not be an effort to make them different or try to make them the same.

When reading Kozol’s piece I felt sad. The whole reading was filled with sadness and had stories in it that you would wish that no one would have to live with. The fact that in a neighborhood so many deaths occurred so close in time to one another was a sad reality that not everyone’s lives are as “easy” as others and some people never have to worry about the issues that other people deal with daily.