Identity and Social Interactions

The quote from Bryan Stevenson really captures the beauty of being broken. This is important because society does not often recognize brokenness as something positive or beautiful. This makes me reflect back on my own life. I often tell others that I would not change the difficulties that I faced growing up because then I would not be the person I am today. I feel that this is what Stevenson is describing. The setbacks that we have in life make us relatable, human. When we see vulnerability in ourselves we can empathize with others. This idea was then represented beautifully in the kintsukuroi. It is art that takes something broken, something that others might disregard and makes it beautiful. For those looking at this artwork, it serves as a reminder that others can see beauty in brokenness.

I was immediately taken aback by Jacqueline Navogratz. She opened her talk by describing an impoverished community and the first thing she said about the people there was that it was impossible not to notice their vitality. It was a little mind blowing to hear positive statements about the poor as opposed to being told everything that was wrong with them. My amazement did not end, as she then talked about Jane and her dreams. Jane wanted to be a doctor and have a good husband and Navogratz explains that she did not get either of these things and that she is HIV positive. Jane does not focus on this though, instead she spoke of the things she had in her life that gave her hope and made her happy.

Aaron Huey spoke about pictures he took of the Lakota. He explains the proud and tragic history of the Sioux tribe. Due to the United States government the Lakota have been hardened by life. They have had their land and their culture taken away from them and from the pictures that Huey took they have been left with little to nothing. The images showed homes that were falling apart, buildings covered in graffiti, overall a people with a broken spirit. As Huey explained though, these are not people that need our help. They are strong and capable of being independent. They just need us to stop cutting them off at the knees, they need us to give the Black Hills back.

Tan Le came from a dangerous place and she explains that her first memories are of the boat ride to Australia where her and her family became refugees. She explains that everything in her life from that point on she had to work for. She does not seem hardened or bitter, she explains that being an outsider is a good thing. She talks about the great things she has been able to accomplish in her life, all because of where she started from. Even though her family has been through difficult things, she says that if she could give her children the same experience she had from the boat ride that she would (with her guidance).

Mellody Hudson then talked about race and the uncomfortable subject that everybody makes it. She compares it to touching the third rail because it is followed by shock and a long silence. In her experience talking about race is more effective than choosing not to acknowledge it. She explains that we need to be comfortable in discomfort, meaning that to get others to acknowledge race we have to be ready to face uncomfortable situations ourselves.

All of these advocates were able to find beauty in the broken. They saw the situations that people were in and did not pity them or treat them like charity. Instead they saw the inherent worth of every human being. This is something I want to strive for in my social work career. It may sound simple, but I feel that getting past interactions we are used to could prove difficult. I will have to work to be present in each moment and give every person the time and effort they are worth.

Hobson, Mellody. (2014, March). Color blind or color brave?.

https://www.ted.com/talks/mellody_hobson_color_blind_or_color_brave

Huey, Aaron. (2010, September). America’s native prisoners of war.

https://utexas.instructure.com/

            Le, Tan. (2011, December). My Immigration Story.

 https://www.ted.com/talks/tan_le_my_immigration_story

           Novogratz, Jacqueline. (2009, February). An escape from poverty.  

https://www.ted.com/talks/jacqueline_novogratz_on_an_escape_from_poverty

Theories of Difference: Pt 2

This week talking about religious discrimination and aging with disabilities both made me think of my grandparents. My grandparents, especially my grandmother, are enthusiastic southern Baptists. This is a nice way of saying that they are narrow minded about their Christian beliefs and they tend to want everyone else to behave accordingly. When I was growing up I remember being confused about other religions, specifically around the holiday times. I remember asking about other religious beliefs and being told that they existed but that I did not need to worry about them because basically, they were wrong. I don’t say this to make it seem like my grandparents are unaccepting of all other faiths, simply that they genuinely do not consider them or their perspectives relevant. They are so caught up in the hype of Christianity and saving everyone else that they never stop to consider that they could be wrong or how their beliefs are affecting other people. I do not apply this to all Christians, but it is an all too common problem based off of my personal experience.

When reading the list of Christian privilege, I felt that the items on the list were privileges that I have very recently become all too aware of. As I said I was raised southern Baptist and before my senior year of high school I was very devout. I prayed and read the Bible daily and I even went on a couple of mission trips. I never thought to be upset that other religions were not represented in movies and television, or the radio, or my church. When you are surrounded by so much of your own culture and religion it is hard to understand why you should question it. While I genuinely had the interest of others in my heart, I was still not trying to understand their beliefs or cultures, I was trying to inflict my religion upon them. Unfortunately at the time I did not realize this, based off of everything I had been taught I was doing the right thing.

Disability is easily identified as a difference, but I do not think that people often consider the differences within disability. When we group those with a disability all together we are refusing to acknowledge their uniqueness, stripping away their humanity. When reading about being an ally to those with disabilities it seemed that one of the biggest barriers is that people either ignore disability or view it as a weakness. Time and time we hear from the disabled that they are not weak and that they do not want or deserve lesser standards. This week Rosie King spoke about having autism. She did not complain or discuss the things she has been unable to do. She tells us that through her autism she has been able to accomplish things she could have never done in an “able” body.

I mentioned that the aging disabled population also made me think of my grandparents. This is because they are both afflicted with a physical disability. I remember in high school when both of my grandparents were on disability (income from the government) for the first time. It drastically decreased our household’s yearly income and it was really scary. As time went by and I was able to work myself things got better, but for a lot of people once they are unable to work there are little or no options in terms of annual income.

Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Castañeda, C., Hackman, H. W., Peters, M. L., & Zúñiga, X. (Eds.). (2000). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York: Routledge.

King, Rosie. (2014, September). How autism freed me to be myself.

https://www.ted.com/talks/rosie_king_how_autism_freed_me_to_be_myself?language=en#t-353205

Theories of Difference: Pt 1

This week talking about theories of difference has brought up the challenge of getting out of my own mind. If you’re thinking that this sounds impossible, it just might be. What I mean by this is that when trying to understand concepts such as race, gender, sexuality, etc. it is difficult to think outside of the way we have been socialized. A more specific example would be thinking of gender in terms of a spectrum as opposed to a binary, it is difficult for the mind to do especially without any bias. The reason I said this might be impossible is because I am not sure that it is possible to eliminate one’s personal bias. I also think it might be impossible to completely eliminate the effects of socialization.

This week in Adams we read about “whiteness,” this is a construct of socialization that I think will be difficult to overcome. George Lipsitz put it best when he called whiteness “the unmarked category against which difference is constructed.” In America we don’t even acknowledge it, but white is the standard that everything and everyone are compared to. This makes accepting and overcoming difference much more difficult. Since Europeans first came to the Americas they set a precedent of promoting whites ahead of every other group of people. In recent years this has presented itself as a narrative of white innocence. This narrative has presented itself in multiple ways first in youth like Christopher Fisher, who feel that they can get away with unforgivable acts because of the privilege that their skin color gives them. Secondly it has shown up in legislation with the best of intentions, affirmative action. Entitled white people have continued to fight affirmative action on the basis that it is “racist.” Instead of supporting legislation that promotes equity and gives opportunities to minorities, there are white people who would rather promote their own self-interest.

Perhaps just as difficult to understand as racial differences is gender differences. Although short, the poem of Lee Mokobe was powerful. In just a few lines he is able to explain his internal struggle to understand himself and how he fit into the world. Being a twelve year old that knows you’re of the wrong biological gender, the last thing you would need is criticism and isolation. Yet, this is the way we choose to treat those who do not fit into our gender binaries. Instead of celebrating our differences, we shame them for being themselves. Although talking about a separate population, I felt that Mia Birdsong’s talk touched on similar feelings. She talked about populations that are within the scope of two inequalities. Her focus though was not on the things that they lack, but rather what they can provide. She tells us that we are getting people’s story wrong and that people in poverty have a lot to offer. She urges us to appreciate their financial difference, even though in America being a low income family is not celebrated. People’s differences whether they chose them or not, are a part of who they are. They not only form an individual, but a society. Without difference, we could find no common ground or understand how truly similar we are. Difference is beauty, not shame.

Adams, M., Blumfeld, W., Castañeda, C., Hackman, H., Peters, M., Zúñiga, X. (2013). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York, NY: Routledge.

Birdsong, M. (2015, May). Mia Birdsong: The story we tell about poverty isn’t true [Video file]. Retrieved from

http://www.ted.com/talks/mia_birdsong_the_story_we_tell_about_poverty_

isn_t_true/transcript?language=en

Mokobe, L. (2015, May). Lee Mokobe: A powerful poem about what it feels like to be transgender. Retrieved from

https://www.ted.com/talks/lee_mokobe_a_powerful_poem_about_what_it_feels_like_to_be_transgender?language=en

Identity

          I only feel I can be myself around close friends and family. When I am comfortable I talk a lot and I cannot sit still. In larger social setting I am more reserved and quiet, I prefer to listen and observe. When I choose not to verbally express my opinions or ideas I feel like I have held myself back in some way and yet I choose to remain quiet anyways. Why do I choose not to speak up? Well there are many reasons: I don’t want other students to criticize my opinion, I don’t want to be seen as stupid or wrong, I feel like someone else could articulate the point more clearly and sometimes I am probably just being lazy. Aside from laziness, none of these points hold any weight. Logically I know that answering questions and participating in class would probably only improve my performance, but I have been socialized to think about all of the what-ifs. I have not been taught to know my worth and love myself for who I am, but to look at everyone else and compare myself to them. So while I cannot imagine the experiences of those who are disabled like Stella Young or women who transition as Lana Wachowski, I can be aware of how painful it is to compare yourself to others and feel like you come up short somehow or like you will never belong.

            Watching I Am Not Your Inspiration really made me reflect about my encounters with those with a disability. I have had a few personal interactions, but most of my experience has been the ogling that Stella Young described. I have seen all of those sentimental memes featuring people that are disabled and I too have thought well I should work harder because it’s easier for me than them. Ms. Young stated that what people with disabilities had to work to overcome was other people, not their mental and physical impairments. This is kind of mind blowing, that maybe the mentality of non-disabled people is holding disabled people back more than their own disabilities.

            Then Lana Wachowski again reinforced this idea that your identity is at least partially dependent on other people. She, like Young, show how good or bad we can feel based on how others see us. An example that Lana gave of this was the first time she went out with her family after she transitioned. She mentioned it being very important what the people at the restaurant thought of her and how they addressed her. Then she spoke fondly of her mother introducing her to the server and the server simply saying that she (Lana) looked like her mother. This may seem insignificant, but to Lana it meant the world. In just one simple phrase that person was able to make an important impact in Lana’s life. Just like IO Wright with her Self Evident Truths project. She does not know the people that she takes pictures of. She just knows that they don’t identify as completely straight. That fact alone makes them susceptible to hate and judgement. Her message is simple, that all of humanity deserve the same rights and that these should not be able to be denied on the bases of sexual orientation, gender, sexual preference, etc. Just by giving those communities faces, she is helping re-shape their identities.

            The chapters in Adams really emphasize that this search for identity is life-long and everyone goes through it. Also most people are oppressed in one way or another, so finding common ground and trying to understand others people’s perspective is very important as well as not making snap judgments. Chapter sixty-nine even laid out a list of judgements that a person can make based solely on gender. Even though I was reading it for an assignment and it was not directed at me, it still made me compare those negative sayings to my life. Even a simple list of words can make an impact on our identities.

Adams, M., Blumfeld, W., Castañeda, C., Hackman, H., Peters, M., Zúñiga, X. 

(2013). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice. New York, NY: 

Rutledge.

HRC. (2012, October). Lana Wachowski Receives the HRC Visibility Award. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crHHycz7T_c

Wright, T. (2012, December). Fifty Shades of Gay. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/io_tillett_wright_fifty_shades_of_gay

Young, S. (2014, April). I'm Not Your Inspiration, Thank You Very Much. (Video). Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/stella_young_i_m_not_your_inspiration_thank_you_very_much.

Structures & Institutions

I feel like I am naturally a pessimist so being hopeful can be difficult for me at times. That being said, my blog posts usually consist of my worries for the present and future. This week I wanted to make an effort to note something I feel very positively about. In “Can Schools Be Fixed,” something that gave many of the interviewees hope was the amazing educators that they had met. I have also found that educators on average are not a group that lacks passion or knowledge. Teachers I have had, professors I have currently and students I know that are training to become educators have all been truly concerned about their students learning as well as their well-being. Even through the current presidency and the potential rough road ahead for educators, especially those in public education, those in the field have a lot of hope for the future because overall they believe in kids and the influence education can have on their futures.

As we saw in “Dropout Nation,” within the educational system race and racial identity are so important because history proves that different ethnicities often correlate to socioeconomic backgrounds which correlates to economic opportunity. Because of the structure of educational institutions these early disadvantages can have long-term impacts on the lives of students. I went to a high school in a low socioeconomic status neighborhood and the labels that were placed on kids due to their ethnicities and their parents’ incomes effected the kids they hung out with and therefore their participation in school and extracurricular activities. Post high school this then affected their options for further schooling and jobs.

In Fields and Fields article “Racecraft,” they discuss the idea of racelessness. They show that racelessness or a post-racial society is actually the direction we are moving in because the concept of race does not really exist. I think they do a good job of separating the non-existence of race from those who choose not to acknowledge ethnic and cultural differences though. To me race not existing just means that there are not any biological differences or advantages between people. Yes we have different DNA, but we are all people and the region of the world we are born in does not make us better, worse, or different, simply human.

In his novel Allan Johnson quotes James Baldwin discussing how white does not really exist and that whiteness was forcefully developed. This idea resonates with me because I do not know the ethnicities that make-up my ancestry, only that I am “white.” While there is nothing wrong with being white, whiteness is not a culture. It does not involve proud historical traditions or celebrations, it does not feel like it defines who I am. This correlates with Baldwin’s argument as he claims that ideas such as race and whiteness are constructs of society and not reality. According to Baldwin it is not being white, heterosexual, abled, etc. that is valued, it is being in the majority with normal society.  

This then addresses the question of men in helping profession positions. Regardless of race, ethnicity, social class, education level, etc. professions that value ethics and people over money are not professions meant for men according to society. Society says that to be successful men have to make a lot of money. To be in a helping profession then men have to constantly overcome their pride and the judgments of society, as well as dealing with everyday stresses of the job. Societal norms and institutional structures are hindrances that can easily be overcome by deviating from normative behavior.  

Fields, Karen E., and Barbara Jeanne. Fields. Racecraft: The Soul of Inequality in American Life. London: Verso, 2014. Print.

Johnson, Allan G. Privilege, Power, and Difference. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2018. Print.

Koughan, F., & Vargas, K. (Producers). (2012). Dropout nation [Motion picture]. United States: PBS.

History of Privilege

Something I cannot seem to understand about humans is their ability to de-value the lives of others. This week in studying the history of privilege we saw example after example of the rich exploiting the poor and it costing the poor their lives. This pattern seems to have repeated itself throughout history.

In each chapter that we read in Zinn we saw that there has always been disparity between the rich and the poor in America. Zinn even notes that at one point a private committee petitioned to have a Bill of Rights that included a limitation on the amount of property that a limited number of wealthy individuals could hold. Remarkably their reasoning was they found it a potential threat to the happiness of the common man. I think that this could be an example of the “guards” standing up against the Establishment like Zinn spoke of. Changing the existing Bill of Rights to better protect the rights of lower SES citizens is the kind of bold moves that Zinn dares to imagine and hope for. (Zinn, 1980).

Between the people’s history that Zinn provides and the perspective of A Brief History of America, I was questioning the very foundation of our country. We have been taught to think of our forefathers with reverence, but if they were only looking out for rich white men do they deserve that respect? Zinn suggests that it is unfair to ask this question because of their economic positon and the time period that they lived in. Michael Moore’s video suggests otherwise however. The video portrayed the forefathers as gun happy racists and it doesn’t seem unfair to do so.

As Kimberly Roppolo reminded us, the forefathers were controlling land that did not even belong to them. Long before Americans were exploiting slave labor they had to take their land from the Native Americans. If taking their land was not enough, we burned their villages, took their money, forced them to reservations or death, and broke over 700 treaties with them. In other words we exhausted these people of every single thing they had often times even their lives. And even now we continue to take advantage of the Native Americans and their resources, a prime example being the Dakota Access Pipeline. (Adams, 2013).

After unjustly taking this land Europeans then become Americans as they forcefully separated themselves from their mother country England. What I was never taught about the American Revolutionary War though is how it too exploited the poor. Zinn explains that as things between the colonies and Great Britain moved closer to war, the colonial leaders changed policies that they knew would sway colonists towards their side. Then when the war began poor colonists were forced to participate in the draft and the rich could pay their way out of it.

After Americans gained their independence they found someone else to do their work for them and they used African Americans to build their country literally and economically. And just like Native Americans even today African Americans are still being exploited. In “From New Orleans to Ferguson, a Decade of Asserting Black lives Matter,” Melissa and James Perry explain how black lives are ignored and de-valued. They explain that the economic disparity between white communities and black communities became abundantly clear during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It also became clear then that the United States was actively discriminating against these communities by refusing to invest in them and then delaying aid once the storm ensued (Harris-Perry & Perry, 2015).

So my question after all of this is how can I promote equity, benevolence, and social justice when history shows us that there will always be those with power and privilege to oppress others? Of course I don’t have an exact answer to this but I have hope for individuals and I believe that eventually that can make a difference. This revisits Zinn’s idea of a movement unlike any that the United States has seen before. He thinks that it will require many movements we are familiar with like marches and sit-ins, but he thinks it must happen on a much grander scale. I am naturally a pessimist and it is difficult for me to comprehend such a grand idea, but I think that Donald Trump’s presidency could be the driving force that unites America in such a way.

A Brief History of the USA-Bowling for Columbine-Michael Moore [Video file]. (2011, March 29). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGYFRzf2Xww

Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W., Castaneda, C., Hackman, H., Peters, M., & Zuniga, X. (2013). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (3rd ed.). New York City, NY: Routledge.

Harris-Perry, M., & Perry, J. (2015). From New Orleans to Ferguson, a Decade of Asserting Black Lives Matter. The Nation.

Zinn, H. (1980). A People's History Of The United States. Retrieved from A Brief History of the USA-Bowling for Columbine-Michael Moore [Video file]. (2011, March 29). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGYFRzf2Xww

Socialization

During my time at UT I have taken a lot of sociology and social work courses and therefore I have spent a lot of time thinking about the concept of socialization. How socialization occurs, how it affects individuals throughout their lives, and how socialized individuals then structure the world. When thinking of this concept I can never come up with any concrete answers. To me it seems that even though we can study and theorize socialization, we can never truly know exactly how much socialization works to shape individuals and or if we can ever truly be liberated from being socialized. I don’t question the existence or relevance of the cycle of liberation, I simply question whether some effects of socialization remain even after reaching liberation.

          When introducing socialization this week the Black Lives Matter movement was used to illustrate inequities and how we are socialized to think about those inequities. This example has been relevant in my life as my opinion of the Black Lives Matter movement changed through the cycles of socialization and liberation. This movement began when I was in high school and still living in a small town in west Texas. I feel that I was raised to think in very binary terms, those who agreed with our way of life (the right side) and those who lived alternative lifestyles (the wrong side). As a result when I viewed social issues such as Black Lives Matter I was ignorant, confused, and oblivious (Adams, 2013). I could not even begin to think outside of myself or my experience because I was not taught to do so. I have to be honest and admit that I could only see the movement at face value, yes black lives did matter but didn’t everyone’s? I wasn’t awake yet, I had not been educated on black issues and the weight of what Black Lives Matter is really fighting for.

          When I moved to Austin I was immersed in diverse surroundings and more importantly I took courses that educated me about race, gender, sexuality, and most importantly the difference between equality and equity. This is when I was ready to wake up, reach out, create change, etc. (Adams, 2013). It was only through different life experiences and critical change and relationships with others that I was ever able to be liberated from the socialized view I had formed of the Black Lives Matter movement (Adams, 2013). Now I understand that yes all lives matter, but it is not all lives that are being put at risk every day or all lives that are denied opportunities, it is black lives.

          The inequity still being experienced by African Americans was also illustrated in the PBS film this week that compared Park Avenue and the Bronx. As was shown with the Monopoly experiment, everyone is not starting with the same amount of resources. The rich player, also seen as a resident on Park Avenue, has more money and is able to use two dice therefore he is much more likely to succeed from the beginning. The poor player, or a resident of the Bronx, has less resources and is more likely to fail from the beginning. This is before the game starts before talent, skill, or hard work ever have a chance to impact the final outcome. This is the system that America has put in place for anyone who is not an upper class white male.

References

Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W., Castaneda, C., Hackman, H., Peters, M., & Zuniga, X. (2013). Readings for Diversity and Social Justice (3rd ed.). New York City, NY: Routledge.

Gibney, A. (Director). (2012, November 12). Park Avenue: Money, Power & the American Dream. Retrieved from http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/park-
avenue/