Becoming an Ally: Members of the Dominant Class Working for Equality

It was Wednesday, November 5th and I was walking across campus feeling rather pleased and relieved with the election results from the previous day. A former student and now friend, I’ll call her Tina (not her real name), was standing talking to her sister in front of the campus clock tower. I walked up to them and asked if I could join their conversation, they smiled and indicated that I was welcome. They were talking about the election results, but they were not talking about the presidential race. They were talking about California’s passing of Proposition 8, which rescinded a previous Supreme Court judgment that allowed same-sex marriages between consenting adults.
        It should be noted that Tina is in a committed same-sex relationship wherein her partner’s biological child considers Tina as a parent. I listened as she described how it made her feel to be denied legal rights that are afforded others. I was a bit taken aback because I had viewed the election results as a positive step forward in gaining rights for underrepresented groups only to be slapped with this new reality for my friend.
        Being a straight, White male in America has its perks. The economic and cultural reality of America has favored those like me for a long time. Early in the country’s history citizenship required that you be male, white, and propertied. Women and under-represented groups, whether they were people of color or gay/lesbian, have had to fight tooth and nail to pry even the most basic of civil rights from the established White male power structure. As a member of the historically privileged class, the question becomes: Why should I become an ally to the under-represented population in America? What could I possibly gain by supporting others in breaking down my own privilege?
        Much of becoming an ally for me is a question of moral imperative. From the Buddhist point of view we must strive for equanimity between self and others and not prioritize our own welfare as first. In fact, most religious beliefs have as their foundation an assertion of compassion for people who have less than we do. Working to gain everyone the same basic rights and responsibilities that are afforded me is then a function of morality.
        But I also have a selfish interest in mind when I advocate for equal rights and privilege for everyone. I am a firm believer that peace, whether it is with foreign countries or within our own borders, can never be achieved as long as some people seek to dominate others. The idea of domination implies a struggle in which those dominated fight to break free and gain equality with those who oppress them. Therefore if I am ever going to live in a peaceful world, I must advocate for equal rights for everyone. I will sacrifice privilege for peace gladly. Therefore I am motivated to work towards social justice for both the welfare of others and for my own selfish desire to live in peace.
        Supporting people in their efforts is no minor task. But before you can aid someone else, you must first be comfortable with yourself, your cultural heritage, and sexuality. If you are conflicted about your own identity as it relates to others’ culture, it becomes very difficult to understand the animosity people may have for you as an outsider and you may become defensive or even embarrassed by your own background. Therefore it is essential that Straight, White people understand that our cultural heritage or race has a definite impact on how we see the world. This understanding of our own worldview will help us understand that the worldview of others’ is also colored by their cultural heritage and sexuality.
        It is important to realize elevating another person’s status is not demeaning to your own. Acknowledging the facts of oppression in order to try to minimize it only serves to raise everyone to the same level. You do not have to give up your own civil liberties and heritage in order to gain someone else rights and validate their experience and culture.
        One of the difficulties in becoming a White ally to people of color and other historically oppressed groups is defining the role we can play within the struggle. “People of color will always be on the front lines fighting racism because their lives are at stake” (Kivel, 2002, p. 97). However, as the group that has historically diminished and demeaned others, White people can play an important role in helping people of color and other oppressed groups gain equality. Stuart F. Chen-Hayes makes the point that when oppression is challenged from within it serves to strengthen the argument against oppression and facilitate change in the system that perpetuates it. “Oppressors, as allies against oppression, are urged to use their privilege and power to challenge other oppressors in their own cultural groups for lasting systemic change in schools and families” (Kumashiro, 2001, p. 66).
        It is important to listen critically to the dialog of culture. Just as it is not true that your group is always right and the other group is always wrong, it is also not true that everything a person of color says about racism is always true. Listening critically to others’ opinions and expressing your own view in an honest, caring way serves to validate the dialog, whereas simply pandering to the opinions of people invalidates it. Validating the opinions of people, without patronizing or pandering, serves to empower them regardless of circumstance. And if the persons within the dialog are of historically diametrically opposed groups, validation serves to build trust.
        Listening with compassion will also go a long way in building trust as well as forging alliances and strengthening friendships. Sometimes action is not what the person who has been hurt by bias needs. Sometimes he or she just needs to be heard and acknowledged.
        The day after my encounter with Tina and her sister, I took time from my office hour to go out and look for Tina. I found her in the cafeteria, stopped her and told her that I had been thinking a lot about our conversation the day before. I told her that I felt lucky to know her because her friendship helped me to understand the reality of the impact of legislation such as Proposition 8. I let her know that the feeling of helplessness not to be able to do something for her angered me. And how I wished that those who supported the measure could feel what I was feeling for my friend. I think it was then that I realized what becoming an ally was really all about.
References
Kivel, P. (2002). Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice. Gabriola Island, B.C.: New Society Publishers.
Kumashiro K. K. ed. (2001). Troubling Intersections of Race and Sexuality: Queer Students of Color and Anti-oppressive Education. Lanham MD: Rowman & Littlefield.

Their Song

As morning blue begins to rise, curious day awaits
While anxious hands do push aside all those who hesitate
When evening comes again we’ll see how it begins and then
With folded hands we’ll close the day and lock it in amen

Torrid shouts equality in boisterous cascades
That rise among the chosen few and echoes as it fades
Into the cause of middle age as temperament hits ground
And all hands soon abandon ship rather than be drowned

The torch on innocence is passed but the fire wanes
As if to say the warmth of it gives out more than it gains
Truth be told the world it comes and goes without a need
The Earth knows no real difference from flower or from weed

It looks as if this deed that’s done makes not a ripple there
When power hungry boulders fly into the tepid air
To crash upon the surface where so many boats abound
Its waves crash violently ashore and make a frightful sound

Turning to the west we find there is no comfort in
The myriad of platitudes when rhetoric wears thin
It’s all about the servicing of needs we do not share
Triumph lights the sky ablaze but me, I do not care

So go about your business, without a second thought
On how your circumstance in life was ultimately bought
Just try to smile while others sit and wonder what went wrong
With the dream American, with their life, and their song.

Race And Power

I have been spending a lot of time during the last two months reading about culture, equity/equality, and race. Because of my predisposition towards social justice and equanimity, I have been giving much thought to the causes and effects of racism in the United States. It is my own personal belief that in order to eliminate an unwanted effect, its cause must first be addressed and, if possible, negated. Once the underlying cause is eliminated its effect will naturally also disappear.
        One particular article that I have read recently solidified my understanding on the foundation of race relations in this country. The article, written by Gloria Ladson-Billings, was Culture Versus Citizenship: The Challenge of Racialized Citizenship in the United States and is found in the book Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives edited by James Banks. I am not going to regurgitate here what the article said, but rather, express my own thoughts about racism in the light of Ladson-Billings’ explanation of the roots of race relations in the U.S.
        Race is a construct of the mind. Biologically all humans are virtually the same. Although it is true that we tend to favor the dominant traits of our parents, the line of race is quickly blurred when a so-called interracial couple has a child. Clearly, such a case indicates that race is not a biological imperative and therefore is a social and mental construct. Race being a false social construct was not the viewpoint of Europeans as they sought to colonize the Americas (and in fact the rest of the world). According to Ladson-Billings those Europeans adopted an Aristotelian notion of “natural slavery” in which a human/nonhuman dichotomy allowed for the subjugation of non-European/non-Christian cultures. (Banks, 2007, p. 103)
        The Buddhist explanation as to why we create such a construct is rather simple. Every creature, regardless of the status to which it is born, seeks to avoid suffering and gain happiness. Therefore this false construct elevated the European expansionists’ own status and justified their subjugation of others and their plundering of wealth in order to gain comfort.
        This attitude of Europeans holding themselves as above and separate from people of other cultures naturally bled into the creation of law within the newly formed United States of America. “In the United States in the 18th century, women, children, and enslaved Africans were property” (Banks, 2007, p. 109). The classification of Africans (and indeed women) in such a way continues to influence the dynamics of power to this day.
        If there is one thing for certain about human nature it is that we stubbornly adhere to those things that gain us a sense of control over our own lives. This sense of control makes us feel somehow safer and gives order to a chaotic world. The White male supremacy created as Europeans conquered the western world is being stubbornly adhered to in order to maintain the status quo of economic dominance of the White majority. In 2002 “the median net worth of white households was $88,651, or 11 times greater than Hispanic families ($7,932) and 14 times greater than African-American families ($5,988) (Goldenberg, 2004). Clearly, the distribution of wealth is lop-sided and in favor of White Americans.
But how does wealth equate to power? According to G. William Domhoff, Professor of Sociology at the University of California at Santa Cruz:

Wealth can be seen as a "resource" that is very useful in exercising power. That's obvious when we think of donations to political parties, payments to lobbyists, and grants to experts who are employed to think up new policies beneficial to the wealthy. Wealth also can be useful in shaping the general social environment to the benefit of the wealthy, whether through hiring public relations firms or donating money for universities, museums, music halls, and art galleries. (Domhoff, 2005)

Clearly then, White institutionalized racism is a function of an imbalance of wealth that has its roots in colonialism and is naturally self-perpetuating as those who control most of the resources struggle to maintain their control in order to ensure themselves comfort and safety within the larger society. However, I would argue that the unequal distribution of wealth and power results in the exact opposite effect.
        Although it may be true that if a person gains enough wealth and power he or she could insulate his or herself somewhat from the dangers of the world, that type of protection is not only difficult to achieve but also costly to maintain and arguably relegates the individual to a shallow, isolated existence. That kind of guarded lifestyle is afforded by only the wealthiest class of people who are well entrenched in their own affluence. For the rest of us it is a different story.
        White institutionalized racism makes for an unpleasant and even dangerous world for the middle and working classes of all cultural backgrounds. Those with the greatest wealth and power maintain their status by systematically driving a wedge between those with limited power. Race, culture, and religion are common tools used by those who wish to gain influence over the majority of a population. By hording and withholding resources in the form of jobs and a living wage for the working classes, the top 20% of the individuals that control 80% of the wealth maintain a false sense of necessary competition that polarizes the lower classes. This polarization most typically, and in my opinion purposefully, manifests itself as racial bigotry and distrust and creates a climate of anger and violence amongst the working class. This racial tension then serves to benefit those who have power and live in comfort while is destructive and dangerous to those who do not.
        The root cause of inequality and racism would logically then be the stagnation of resource at the top of the economic food chain. Cutting the cause of racism would then be the movement of resource from the few to the many. As long as resources are tied up by the wealthiest, tension amongst the middle and working classes will continue. With the free flow of resource, inequities in education and other social programs can be addressed. Without the movement of resource, there will always be a struggle amongst the lower classes, manifesting in cultural tension, for that which is limited by the upper class.

References

Banks, J. A., Ed. (2007). Diversity and Citizenship Education: Global Perspectives. Indianapolis, IN: Jossey-Bass, An Imprint of Wiley.
Domhoff, G. W. (2005). Who Rules America? Wealth Income and Power. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Goldenberg, S. (2004). Guardian.co.uk. US wealth gap grows for ethnic minorities. Retrieved November 20, 2008, from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/oct/19/usa.suzannegoldenberg

Gas Prices

Okay, has anyone else noticed the sharp dip in gas prices lately? You have? So I wonder why they have come down so quickly recently. And I wonder why we had been paying so much over the last couple of years?

My thought is that OPEC (remember them) has been punishing us Americans for our choice of leadership. “You want to have assholes as leaders?” they say, “Fine! Pay through the nose for your gas then.”

What? Nobody else noticed that when it became clear that Obama was going to take the election that gas prices began to fall?

I’m just sayin’.

When Dinosaurs Rule

Continued from the last post.

So in their infinite wisdom, those who hold poker tournaments require that everyone enter the game with the same amount of cash. With everyone starting on an even footing, chances are that those with the greatest ability, not those with the greatest resource, will come out on top. With a level playing field it takes skill and ability to out maneuver your opponents, as opposed to just having the resource to overpower them much like a brontosaurus steps on a fury rodent.

The wealth (and so the power) in the U.S. has steadily, over the last couple centuries, shifted into the hands of the relatively few. When the phrase “all men are created equal” was coined the culture was largely agrarian, with tradesmen and shop keepers providing goods and services. And the “men” in the phrase were just that, excluding women; and excluding Black men; oh, and by the way, they only included property holders. The original phrase was “life, liberty, and the pursuit of property.”

With this shift of resource and power to the relatively few, it has become steadily more difficult for the cream to rise to the top. Those at the top are firmly in place. So firmly that when they screw up royally and send our economy to its knees, as it has gone recently, the government bails them out. The cream at the top no longer has any accountability, this is how entrenched they are at the top. It is tantamount to socialism for the rich and capitalism for the rest of us. The system is broken.

The fix then is logically a redistribution of wealth. Level the playing field so that those with real talent have a better chance of attaining their dreams even when they are born into one of the oppressed classes. Remember the dinosaurs? Where would we be now if dinosaurs still ruled the Earth? We would still be scurrying around trying not to get stepped on. It is not until we have a system that treats people equitably (as opposed to equally), giving everyone what they need to thrive and reach their full potential, will we as a culture begin to move towards its greater potential.

Is this socialism. Sure, it is. But socialism is not at odds with democracy. One is a political system the other is an economic system. We have been duped into thinking that socialism is necessarily a bad thing. When socialism is paired with a dictatorship, we call that communism (USSR, China, etc.); when socialism is paired with fascism, that was the Nazis. Has anyone tried pairing socialism with democracy? We tried once with the rise of the unions, and it was working out pretty well for most of the people, but it was fought by those with power until Reagan finally squashed the union system (and our economy) back in the eighties.

So as the new administration under Obama begins its work. And those who have power start their propaganda machine and begin to rant about socialism. Ask yourself where you would be if dinosaurs still ruled the Earth. And do you really want to let the dinosaurs continue to rule the U.S.?

Equity Vs. Equality

Continued from the last post.

So how do find the best poker players?

The capitalist mindset would have you believe that if there is a big enough carrot being dangled out there that the cream will naturally rise to the top to nab it. The idea being that individuals in society will follow Darwin’s model and climb our cultures evolutionary ladder and thrive if and only if they are the fittest.

But there are a couple of things wrong with this notion.

First of all, consider the human quality that is absolutely necessary for a person to achieve a lofty position in our capitalistic ecosystem. Is it kindness? No. Is it compassion? Hardly. Is it generosity? Please, spare me. A person who reaches the highest of the trophic levels of our economic system may not be devoid of these qualities, but these are not the qualities that got them there.

Greed got them there. The wish to have more. The desire that puts an individual’s needs and self-worth above all others. The driving force that propels a person up the economic food chain, clawing and clambering over the backs of others who are also fighting their way to the top. I’m not talking about people who become doctors and lawyers and such in order to achieve a comfortable living for themselves. I’m talking about the 2% of the population that controls 95% of the wealth.

Do we really want to live in a society/culture/economy that is built on a negative human quality? I know I don’t.

Besides, it is a flawed notion to begin with.

Evolution propelled dinosaurs to the top of the ladder, where they stayed for millions of years. Mammals lived along side of the dinosaur but could not flourish because of the oppression of the dominant species. It was not until a cataclysmic event killed off all of the dinosaurs that the lesser species, mammals, could thrive and reach their greater potential.

To be continued...

A New Paradigm

Imagine that you and Bill Gates enter into a poker tournament. Bill is allowed to bring all of his money and you are allowed to bring all of yours. What will be the result? Bill will make you go all in on every hand and even if you win a few hands, Bill has enough resource to eventually break you.

This is the scenario for the average American working class citizen who is told that if he or she works hard it is possible to rise above the straights to which they were born and become a person of affluence. Is it possible? Perhaps. Is it possible for you to succeed in breaking Bill Gates in a poker game? Perhaps. Is it likely. No.

If you consider the lop-sided distribution of wealth and power, coupled with a culture of institutionalized racism, is it any wonder why so many Americans feel disenfranchised?

“All men are created equal”

I have some issues with this statement. a) What about women? b) Created implies that someone picked up a piece of clay and formed us. Sorry, my religious God-believing friends, I don’t buy it. c) People are not all the same. Which is the what the word equal means.

This statement was written in another time and has served us well in the past. But like all things, it’s becoming a thing of the past and of little use in a time when everyone being treated equally is an institutionalized excuse for allowing the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer.

It is time for a paradigm shift towards equity.

What is the difference between being treated equally and being treated equitably?

I have a deaf student in one of my classes (a very good student, by the way). Because of her disability, there is a sign language interpreter in the class. If she was being treated with equality, there would be no sign language interpreter and she would be expected to perform at the same level as everyone else. Remember equal means the same. But luckily she is not being treated equally, she is being treated equitably which means she is getting the extra help she needs to thrive and reach her full potential as a human being.

Equity, not equality.

To be continued...

Dear Mr. Obama

I watched you speak last night as you accepted your duties as my country’s chief executive. I was pleased. I realized as I watched and listened and saw the expression on the faces of those you spoke to, that this election was not about the economy. Nor was it about the war, or foreign policy, or any of the things that the media made it about. This election was about fear.

For the last eight years our leaders have strived to make us afraid. And we are weary from their efforts. It has been the ever present black noise in the background of our lives. It has seeped into every crack and crevice of our lives. This constant propaganda of fear has continued to rise and envelop the people of this country and has exhausted us as we desperately try to stay afloat and live positively productive lives of compassion and hope.

We no longer want to be afraid.

The hope that you bring is that we will no longer live the reflection of George Bush’s fear. That we can rise above it and live with courage. Yes, the world is a dangerous place. But it is no more dangerous when we let go of our fear than when we hold it close. And from your words, I think you understand this.

This is what I saw in the faces around you. A country that wishes to let go of their fear. And we have elected a leader that we believe will help us in this endeavor.

Please do not let us down.