Article Connection #2 - Johnson

It wasn’t until I heard Emily and Erika’s Pecha Kucha presentation that I realized really what Johnson really meant.  I agree with every thing that they said about having privilege and not even realizing it.  These thoughts probably wouldn’t have even crossed my mind if I hadn’t taken this class, and come across these articles. 

            At my school for my Service Learning project, 85% of the students are given free lunch.  They also all receive breakfast every morning and a snack a few days a week.  My teacher told me that this was because many of the students don’t have anything to eat outside of school.  When I was in elementary school I was not in this situation.  I had plenty to eat and I went to a private school and I didn’t even realize how good I had it.  I didn’t ever think that having regular meals at home was a privilege, but it really is. 

"And if people in privileged groups don 't include themselves in the solution, the default is to leave it to blacks and women and Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, lesbians, gay men, and the lower and working  classes to do it on their own. But these groups can't do it on their own, because they don't have the power to change entrenched systems of privilege by themselves. If they could do that, then: wouldn't be a problem in the first place" (10)

            Johnson argues that we need to “say the words.”  In order to fix the problem, we need to acknowledge that there is a problem regarding race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity and social class.  Macintosh also recognizes this problem when she she talks about white privilege in her article "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack".  She tells us that white privilege is an "invisible package of unearned assets"(1).  By seeing the problem and realizing that we, as a society are responsible for fixing it, we are one step closer to fixing it.  

For me, the words are: It is not okay that the students at my school don't have enough to eat.