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James Chong

WR 39B, Winter 2018

Professor Delany

4 March 2018

Word Count: 1521

Persona: Upbringing and Race’s Influence

According to the British Broadcasting Channel, in the United States, 75% of the white

population only have other white people in their social community. Although race is only a

social construct, it is a significant factor in how it drives an individual life, often represented in

writing. The pieces that will be analyzed are Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the

Invisible Knapsack” and Ta-Nehisi Coates’ “The First White President”. McIntosh’s piece was

published for an issue of ​Independence School ​in the 1990’s. This makes the majority of

McIntosh’s audience the affluent, white community. Coates’ work on the other hand, was

published to ​The Atlantic ​in 2017. The magazine, ​The Atlantic, ​is meant for educated males

interested in politics and worldly news. ​In the liberal age of 2018, a rhetor’s upbringing,race,

and cultural background shapes their values and beliefs that influences their message they

convey in their writing to their targeted audience. The rhetor’s experiences form their persona,

and therefore affect their ethos as they use those experiences to write on their respective subject.

In this essay. It will be discussed how McIntosh’s formative years during the Cold War led to her

ignorance that blinded her from other cultures, and how Coates’ political standpoint was

influenced by the development of the Black Lives Matter movement. ​Both the rhetor’s works

were published in the span of 30 year gap, but they were intended for two different audiences. In
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this essay, the two author’s rhetorical situations will be analyzed to understand where their

beliefs came from to further illuminate their message. The 30 year time difference between the

two rhetor’s upbringing shows how societal beliefs shifted from a conservative to a liberal view,

reflected in their writing.

McIntosh, growing up in the 1950’s to 70’s with the Cold War and propaganda, led to her

ignorance about the advantage of white privilege other cultures as she transformed to a civil

rights activist. This in turn led to a culture shock in McIntosh’s life when going to college, after

being sheltered by white privilege. McIntosh comes from a middle class family and grew up in a

predominantly white neighborhood in New Jersey. McIntosh writes her piece, “White Privilege:

Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” as an expressive, self-reflective piece on how she notices her

race benefiting her quality of life after she moves to Pennsylvania (Beyond Whiteness).

McIntosh writes many things she noticed that only white people can say about their standard of

living, by creating a compilation of observations she had encountered throughout her life. She

realizes that she has the privilege that many people of color would not have had. Her text was

published in 1990 for an issue of ​Independence School ​when feminism and racism topics were

on the uprising. The third-wave feminism began in the 1990’s when McIntosh published her

paper; the third-wave feminists focused on individuality, diversity, and ultimately equality.

McIntosh’s audience were the subscribers of ​Independence School​, a relatively affluent, white

dominated community (Rothman). McIntosh admits to the fact that “ (her) schooling gave (her)

no training in seeing myself as an oppressor, as an unfairly advantaged person, or as a participant

in a damaged culture.” McIntosh states herself, that her upbringing in a white dominate

environment blinds her from the oppressive culture outside of her community. As she grew up
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around other people of European descent, she was oblivious of the advantage her race gave her

among others. McIntosh, 83 now, grew up in the 1940’s-1960’s when the Cold War proposed

many forms of propaganda in which influenced her values; what was common knowledge was

simply indoctrination (History.com). As McIntosh was not exposed to other views and values, it

led to McIntosh’s ignorance and failure to challenge societal beliefs. This is reflect in McIntosh’s

writing when she states,”​ ​I could freely disparage, fear, neglect, or be oblivious to anything

outside of the dominant cultural forms.”. As she grew up and approached the 1970’s, the Civil

Rights Movement emerged and McIntosh slowly realized difference in culture and the

appearance of white oppression. The Civil Rights movement shed light on the struggle for social

justice, primarily based on racial segregation and discrimination. Feminism and black rights

became extremely prevalent in the 1970’s due to this (History.com). McIntosh also begins her

text with the topic of equal rights between men and women, leading into the idea of racism.

These social issues were brought to McIntosh’s attention and made her see the oppression the

white people had on others. Slowly shifting her views on her race and its advantages, she became

an active member of the racial equality community. After McIntosh’s realization she wrote the

paper and expressed how her community as a child formed her beliefs and oblivion.

Understanding the cause of McIntosh’s oblivion plays a crucial part in the apprehension of her

text because it demonstrates the wisdom that McIntosh gains from her realization and improves

her ethos as she can explain why being white is oppressive. With these significant pieces of

information, she brings out awareness to her scholarly and white audience, hoping an action can

be done to solve the situation.


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Ta-Nehisis Coates grew up in the 1980’s, an era where civil rights and black

empowerment gained massive publicity; this era formed his beliefs and influenced his text.

Ta-Nehisis Coates is an African American, multi-modal writer who emphasizes on black rights

and equality (West). He wrote the text, “The First White President” an article that informs his

audience how Donald Trump exploits the racist community in America to win the presidential

election of 2016. Coates also writes to bring awareness and argue that Trump is not fit to be

seated in the white house. Coates’ text was published in October of 2017 to ​The Atlantic, ​a

magazine that analyzes politics, culture, technology, and national relations (Atlantic). The article

was written in a time where political correctness and liberalism were at large, more importantly

the Black Lives Matter movement was active. The Black Lives Matter movement started from

the many anti-racism groups that conjoined in 2013 and 2014 (Black Lives Matter). The Black

Lives Matter movement campaigns against systemic racism and violence towards blacks. Coates,

an African American who emphasizes on black rights, naturally followed and supported the

movement. Coates discusses how many Trump supporters are against the movement, and how

Trump uses this as an advantage in his campaign. Relating Trump’s and his supporters racism,

Coates states, “But the model for America’s original identity politics was set. Black lives literally

did not matter and could be cast aside altogether as the price of even incremental gains for the

white masses.” Coates says that white people simply neglected the Black Lives Matter

Movement, and put themselves on a higher “white pedestal” . By doing this, “America’s

politics” not only ignored the importance of black empowerment but increased their white

privilege and power. This is in context of 2017, where there are two strong, opposing arguments

for liberalism and conservatism. Coates reflects this time in history as he sides with the
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liberalism and the equality for blacks, while Trump and his supporters support a conservative,

“racist” view. He continues to argue his liberal view by quoting other credible public figures, and

add his own thought on it as well. Coates demonstrates his liberal view by taking a risk and

stating his controversial views that contradicts his audience's ideals. His response to W.E.B. Du

Bois is, “When W. E. B. Du Bois claims that slavery was ‘singularly disastrous for modern

civilization’ or James Baldwin claims that whites ‘have brought humanity to the edge of

oblivion: because they think they are white,’ the instinct is to cry exaggeration. But there really is

no other way to read the presidency of Donald Trump.” Coates once again reiterates his

2017-esque liberal views, fighting for black right and equality. Coates goes to the extreme in the

quote and implicitly says that the whites, having brought racism, was the single reason for

disaster in today’s modern civilization, and then he relates this ideology directly to Trump’s

presidency. Coates’ ideals are parallel with the ideas of the Black Lives Matter movement in his

advocacy for anti-racism.

A rhetor’s values is built on the foundation of their upbringing and the influences around

them; this is exemplified in their arguments and message in their texts. For example, McIntosh’s

upbringing in an isolated era, with the influence of the Cold War, led to McIntosh’s ignorance of

other cultures and beliefs that led to her oblivious white impressionism. Understanding the

background of the rhetor allows the audience to know where the author came from, and why the

rhetor makes their arguments. It is exemplified in this essay where Peggy McIntosh and

Ta-Nehisis Coates’ upbringing affect their values and beliefs. McIntosh grew up in the 1950’s, a

time where a conservative view was widely accepted. As McIntosh she grew older she

experienced a sharp contrast in cultural beliefs for America shifted towards a more liberal view
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after the Civil Right Movement. This is the same liberal view that Ta-Nehisi Coates grew up

with and maintained in his article, “The First White President.”

Work Cited

“US Race Relations: Six Surprising Statistics.” ​BBC News​, BBC, 18 June 2015,

www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30214825.

History.com Staff. “The 1950s.” ​History.com​, A&E Television Networks, 2010,

www.history.com/topics/1950s.

West, Cornel. “Ta-Nehisi Coates Is the Neoliberal Face of the Black Freedom Struggle |

Cornel West.” ​The Guardian​, Guardian News and Media, 17 Dec. 2017,

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/dec/17/ta-nehisi-coates-neoliberal-black-struggle-co

rnel-west.

“The Atlantic.” ​The Atlantic​, Atlantic Media Company, ​www.theatlantic.com/​.

Valdary, Chloé. “There's No Single Explanation for Trump's Election.” ​The Atlantic​,

Atlantic Media Company, 28 Sept. 2017,

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/coates-trump/541158/​.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi. ​The First White President​. The Atlantic, Oct. 2017,

www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/10/the-first-white-president-ta-nehisi-coates/53790

9/​.

“HERSTORY.” ​Black Lives Matter ​, blacklivesmatter.com/about/herstory/.

Hayes, Chris, director. ​Ta-Nehisi Coates: 'You Might Be A White Supremacist'​. ​YouTube​,

MSN.
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Rothman, Joshua. “The Origins of ‘Privilege.’” ​The New Yorker​, The New Yorker, 20

June 2017, ​www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-origins-of-privilege​.

“Peggy McIntosh: Interview on White Privilege.” ​A Resource for Dismantling White

Privilege and Racism​,

www.beyondwhiteness.com/2012/02/19/peggy-mcintosh-interview-on-white-privilege/​.

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