Hi , Thos is my professor’s reply post to one of my classmate and he wanted me t

Hi ,
Thos is my professor’s reply post to one of my classmate and he wanted me to answer his reply post.
Please write one or two short paragraph by answering below questions.
Write simplely, clealry about your thoughts
Discussion topic: White privilesge
On the “woke” front, one of the reasons why I assigned Race: Power of an Illusion to the class is to develop the ability to see race (and systemic or institutional racism), even when we don’t think it is operating.
Over the 4th of July weekend I had a lengthy conversation with my brother-in-law, a a rich, white, straight, cisgender, man, about “privilege,” including male privilege and white privilege. (By the way, he lives in the Chicago metro area suburbs.) He was really struggling with the notion of intentionality. He kept trying to frame privilege as an individual, intentional act done by a person (of privilege) to exploit others and gain advantage. What he was missing is that intentionality isn’t the point. The point is that the privilege just is.
He (we) are swimming in a society that provides unearned advantage (or privilege) to men (over women), white folks (over people of color), high-SES folks (over low-SES folks), straight and cisgender people (over LGBTQIA+ people), etc. I got the impression that his focus on “intentional acts” is a way of deflecting and denying that he benefits from his many unearned privileges baked into our structures and culture. If he isn’t doing anything intentionally to exploit others (as a man, as a white person, as a straight or cisgender person) that he is off the hook. Have you had conversations with folks that went this way? Please explain. If they went in another direction, please explain that.
Also, what do you think institutions can do to help move the needle on people’s understandings of white privilege? I can’t help but wonder if my brother-in-law’s work place is engaging employees in discussions (and professional development programs) of race, including explicitly dealing with issues of privilege and how that can affect relations with colleagues, hiring, promotions, etc. Is this something that companies should be doing? Please explain your thoughts. Any examples to share?
P.S. My straight, white, cisgender, 90-year-old father couldn’t quite get his head around the notion either. Ugh. I tried!