What does society say I am?...Who do I think I am?

The history of blacks and racism is very similar around the world. Other minority groups were significant, but Africans seemed to be good enough to provide capital for different countries, but not good enough to be seen as acceptable or on the same level as everyone else. We were taken advantage of and their wasn't much we could do about it..we were exploited. In the U.S. whites were superior and blacks were inferior; in France, whites were good and blacks were evil; Brazil eventually abolished slavery but discrimination never diminished; South Africa was colonized by Europeans so Africans never really had their own. It seems that everyone had the same mindset when it came to distinguishing the good and pure from the ones that are poor and lazy. This is a good example of what greed looks like; you get what you want by any means...even if you have to bring others down to get it. Those are the exploiters.  Although racism still exists, there has been better opportunities opening up for all minorities. Realizing you have a voice is what started to make a change. Blacks began to reach out and take advantage of opportunities and resources that the whites have. The housing and urban development act was seen as a very good thing for the American people to get the opportunity to have their own homes. Then, black were not even seen as an equal so they did not benefit from the act. Martin Luther King Jr. stood out and made a difference for blacks. He took advantage of what he could to get the whites to realize that black lives are not inferior to whites or any other race. This resulted in the fair housing act which was part of the Civil Rights Act; allowing blacks to be treated fairly when it came to trying to rent or buy their own home. We are now allowed, to receive equal amount of education, own our own businesses, and elect the very first black president.

In Tatum's article she talks about the way her students respond about their identity and how they set their own barriers. She asked them to define who they are and realized they defined themselves based on qualities that others' seen in them. Obvious things such as ethnicity or sex was not mentioned. It kind of shows how we are trained to not really praise where we came from but boast about the things that will be an advantage to them in the future. Tatum also relates her students' responses to being dominant and subordinate. The dominant group sets the order and parameter while the subordinate group is ordered based on what the dominant group has set out.  She relates this to race to show that the minority knows about the majority (dominant group), but being that they feel inferior they are more focused on surviving in what the majority group has set out, rather than trying to set their own parameters; which could be do to the subordinate group not having enough hope to believe that better can happen.

McIntosh mentions privileges she has being a white female. She grew up not really realizing that she is privileged in many ways. The main thing she noticed was how white men had more of an advantage. Being a black female their are many disadvantages that I see in everyday life. Although, there are many disadvantages their are some privileges as well.
1. I am able to get a good education.
2. I have the opportunity to travel the world if I choose.
3. I am able to receive funding for school.
4. I can use school as a foundation for working on improving my culture (becoming a leader, making changes in the community, finding resources to make those changes, etc.)