6.4b1 White Privilege

If some groups are disadvantaged, then other groups are advantaged. In the United States, the social structure provides opportunities to White people because of their racial categorization, opportunities referred to as White privilege. McIntosh (1989) introduced this concept by creating a list of how White people experience privilege because of their race.

For example, McIntosh (1989) writes: “I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race” (p. 2). Recent evidence supports her claim. Several states are restricting education on race or gender (and any loosely related topic) (Natanson et al., 2024). These restrictions limit what counts as historical, important, or worth teaching to those histories that support White supremacy. Moreover, organized efforts to ban books about race, gender, sex, or sexuality in schools and libraries, are occurring at a record pace (Flood, 2021). Though some book-banning efforts focus only on books by or about people of color (Flood, 2021), the fact that many bans extend to books on gender, sex, and sexuality shows how White supremacy is related to other systems of oppression, such as patriarchy (Fleming, 2018).

Photo 6.8

Many Books About Race, Sexual Identity, or Both Have Faced Book Banning Challenges