Strange Fruit

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 Silve