Strange Fruit #89: Unpacking White Privilege. Plus, America's Favorite Desserts!

In the late 1990's, feminist and anti-racist activist Peggy McIntosh described white privilege as "an invisible weightless knapsack of assurances, tools, maps, guides, codebooks, passports, visas, clothes, compass, emergency gear, and blank checks." The invisible knapsack metaphor persists today as a way of introducing people to the concept of privilege. It comes in many forms - male, white, straight, cis, able-bodied, and other identities all confer certain benefits - but the suggestion of privilege can spark emotional denial. On this week's show we talk about white privilege and how it manifests itself in our culture, with Dr. David Owen. He's an associate professor of philosophy at UofL, and is on the local planning committee for the White Privilege Conference, coming to Louisville this Spring. In our Juicy Fruit Segment, we bring you the story of a hairstylist in Prince George's County in Maryland, who was fired when his HIV-positive status was discovered by his boss. We also dissect Sarah Silverman's controversial equal pay video (and the enduring phenomenon of the celebrity non-apology-apology), and how gay-friendly comics often miss the mark when they stray into race- or gender-related humor. And finally, we celebrate National Dessert Month! Jai goes through a list of the most popular desserts in the US and we try to guess what they are. Did we agree with the choices? Let's just say this week marks the first time the phrase "rot-gut dessert" was ever uttered on Strange Fruit. (Photo courtesy of White Privilege Conference) Links: www.whiteprivilegeconference.com Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, by Peggy McIntosh http://amptoons.com/blog/files/mcintosh.html Sarah Silverman's Equal Pay Video Faces Backlash http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/13/sarah-silverman-equal-pay-video-backlash-transgender_n_5978038.html Hair Cuttery over termination of HIV-positive employee http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-haircuttery-hiv-firing-20141009-story.html 10 Most Popular Desserts in America http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/food-facts/5-most-popular-desserts-in-america.htm