Can I just say something...

Can I just say something without you getting angry? Maybe I should just call this post "I'm Pissed: Part Deux". I have just been thinking something over that I think needs to be shared with the world. If you have friends that you would classify or would classify themselves in some sort of minority group, or further, an oppressed minority group, then perhaps you should listen to what I have to say. You may not like, you may not agree, but at least hear me out.

A problem that I run into when talking to be people in the dominant group about issues of race, ethnicity, sexuality or any sort of subject that might pertain to a social construal that facilitates inequality, is that they don't want to hear it. I call this "I'm white so I've got to be right syndrome." I have attended a predominantly white institution for the past four years (the years of my undergraduate career) and I have come across this phenomenon time and time again. So be assured that I do not write this impulsively. This is after years of careful, calculated and experiential observation. A gay Filipino national attending a Catholic Jesuit predominantly white institution - sort of sounds like a sociological or anthropological experiment doesn't it? But I digress, the "I'm white so I've got to be right syndrome" is a more or less subconscious manifestation of racism. It is unintentionally covert but extrinsically can manifest itself in a person's willingness to listen, to be open, to understand, to feel compassionate, to feel empathetic, to feel emotional, to feel period, to comiserate with an oppressed person's struggles and experiences. It is a palpable reality that I am sick about. I say that it is covert because no one is usually keen enough to point it out.

The pattern that I have observed is as follows: a group of friends, predominantly white, say a ratio of 2:1 white to minority, broaches a topic of conversation that has to do with race. The discussion becomes more heated and the responses of the minorities involved becomes conflated with emotion, understandably so, I might add, because it has to do with the very essence of who they are. The white people in the conversation observe these emotional responses and the social complaints of the minorities. This is where the "I'm white so I've got to be right" attitude comes in. They see the minorities as getting on a soapbox, as they say. They see their arguments as not plausible, overly-emotional (thank you Descartes), and thusly reject them. Further, they may feel that the minorities are searching for something "to feel bitter about" as I have heard it stated, rather than believe or accept that perhaps they have had a very painful past experience that would lead them to such a reaction or to make certain comments.

So can I just say something? For situations like this I feel like it is the duty of those in the majority (and I'm not just talking about race but rather a broader conception of oppression) to listen to those in the minority. Those in the majority enjoy certain privileges that are invisible to them. As I stated in a previous post, at a predominantly white Catholic institution their perspective is always taught in the classroom a fact that they may take for granted. The privileges abound. Minorities (i.e. - those that do not enjoy the same privileges) are painfully aware of those privileges. For example, a maid will know what it's like to be poor or working class and what it is like to rich. As I was saying, they are more aware of those oppressive structures that are otherwise invisible to the majority, either because of ignorance or because of a willful and vehement rejection thereof (like certain assholes in previous posts). Ahem, so like I said they are aware of those oppressive structures and are more apt to make a social critique of them because they are the ones that are most likely to be hurt by them. So in the aforementioned situation (last paragraph) a deference to those opinions should be observed. The minorities know more about it than those in the majority, that's for damned sure. Their standpoint is considerably more ample. so listen to it!

If you are not willing to at least be receptive to those opinions then I would label you as the worst kind of bigot. It is a spectrum, those on either extreme would be classified as either those that are not bigots at all or those that are the most vocal and racist, while those in the middle are those that tell themselves that they are uncomfortable with social injustice and oppression but aren't willing to do anything about it. This is 90% of the population. This is the worst kind of bigotry. What can you say for yourself when you are uncomfortable or don't agree with social injustice but you don't do anything about it? You are no ally. I don't want you. You can take your half-assed support back. You suffer from "I'm white so I've got to be right syndrome." The cure? Take a long hard introspective look at yourself. Observe how you listen to people, if you listen to people who are different from you. Think twice about things that you think "aren't a big deal." That's a start.

I'm pissed

So I haven't blogged in a few weeks. With finals and commencement just around the corner it's hard to find the time to even breathe. But now I'm pissed. I got into it with one of my fellow staff members last night. Just to backtrack a little bit: I'm a resident assistant the University I go to. Alright back to the present - so I got into with this staff member who will remain nameless. We began to become nostalgic about our English teachers from our freshman year. I stated that I admired my teacher because she was a lesbian. My colleague (I loosely use this term here) proceeded to tell me that I was a bad person. I gently inquired why. He told me that you shouldn't like someone just because they are this or that. Point well taken. I told him that it wasn't the same thing; however, to state that I like teacher so and so because she is straight. He told me that it was. What a douchebag. So I had to explain the niceties of classroom dynamics at a predominantly white heterosexual male institution (of aformentioned dominant group my colleague is a member). I stated that his privilege was invisible to him. His perspective is always taught in the classroom while the gay/lesbian perspective does not usually arise. These experiences are not honored or praised in any way. We have Western Civilization taught as the default history. Patriarchal Sexist Catholic Theology courses taught. These are part of the core of our Jesuit education. The very construction of epistemological discourse has been, well, constructed by white propertied heterosexual men on the backs of those minority groups whose voices are squelched. So yes sir, I did like my teacher because she was lesbian because she taught to my experience. She spoke of my existence in a way that is quieted in dangerous and oppressive ways in the conventional classrooms at Marquette University. I could see myself in her. I could hear the voice of the oppressed, whose existence I was left painfully unaware of until that moment. No longer bound by the immanence of patriarchal white-washed one-sided oppressive institutional frameworks dictating and canonizing what is of educational value she pulled me into transcendence. So yes, I liked my teacher because she was a lesbian you fucking asshole.