"Elusive and fugitive"

When I first read the article "White Privilege and Male Privilege" by Peggy McIntosh, my eyes were opened to yet another perspective, another way of viewing myself as a social being in relation to the rest of the world. Of all of the reading I have been assigned at Colgate (and actually read), McIntosh's article has resonated most profoundly. It is the culmination of her critical self-reflections; a set of fifty ways that she reaps the benefits of white privilege. Interestingly, these fifty "Daily effects of white privilege" ("that she attributes more to skin-color privilege than to class, religion, ethnic status, or geographic location" [McIntosh, 2]) have a transferable power to almost all other white women.
There is something about reading and re-reading McIntosh's list that encourages me more and more each time to consider myself as a racial being and to be ever-conscious of my racial privilege.
Yet, for some reason, others have a very difficult time accepting their white privilege. I agree with McIntosh that in facing white privilege, one must give up the myth of meritocracy. Where did this myth come from? Why is it, as well as "The American Dream,"so ingrained in our culture? For, if we look around and critically reflect if only for a moment, it is just that: a myth.
Although it is my white privilege to criticize my culture "fairly freely" (McIntosh, 5), the first step for any white person is to recognize this unearned power and be cognizant of its effects on their lives, especially when working for social change.