This diary is prompted by all of the events of the past several days in regards to incivility, civility, etc and this wonderful blog entry by former Kossack abrauer, “Privilege-and-Paternalism-talking-cross-culturally” over at the Angry Black Lady Chronicles’ blog.
Let me start by saying that I recognize there are areas where I am privileged vis–a-vis others:
I own a car (though paid The Black Tax* to finance it)
I’m well-educated
I am abled
My salary is above the median income
I’m an American-born citizen
I can read and own a personal computer and can afford access to the internet
I do not have to perform manual labor to fulfill my job requirements
I’m straight and HIV-negative
I can provide pedagogic privilege to my child
I’m sure I’ve left off a few other privileges
*“The black tax is the price blacks (and other minorities) pay in our daily lives because of racial stereotypes. Like a tax, racial discrimination is persistent, pervasive and seemingly inevitable -- as in "Nothing in life is certain save death and taxes." And just as the state collects general taxes, blacks often regard state representatives such as police and judges as IRS agents for the black tax.”
Link
Now here is where I a belong to an underprivileged group:
I am an African-descended American
I am a woman
My family is comprised of primarily people from the po’ poor to the working poor
I live in a low-income neighborhood
I’m a single parent
No one will leave me a home, land, assets when they pass
Very interesting lists and I’m sure I’m leaving out a few things and could write a diary on each of the areas where I’m privileged and non-privileged. But that is not what I want to do today. As I said, this diary is motivated by the events of the last few days here at Daily Kos and abrauer’s blog posting about his time as a Communications Assistant for a company that provided TTY services. It details his experience and is a really interesting read on Deaf Culture and the Deaf Community.
So yes, a privileged/underprivileged person like me understands Intersectionality and understands that I have some advantages that are mitigated by other advantages. For instance, none of the privileges that I enjoy has a wit to do with my being followed around in stores, asked for ID repeatedly or generally being perceived on any given day, depending on the circumstances, divorced from actual reality as an example of the racist black female archetype as penned by Nina Simone.*
• The first of the four women described in the song is "Aunt Sarah" a character who represents African American enslavement. Nina Simone's description of the woman emphasizes the strong and resilient aspects of her race, "strong enough to take the pain" as well as the long-term suffering her race has had to endure, "inflicted again and again".
• The second woman who appears in the song is dubbed "Safronia", a woman of mixed race forced to live "between two worlds". She is portrayed as an oppressed woman and her story is once again used to highlight the suffering of the black race at the hands of white people in positions of power, "My father was rich and white, He forced my mother late one night".
• The third character to be explored in the song is that of a prostitute referred to as "Sweet thing". She finds acceptance with both black and white people "my hair is fine" but sadly only because she provides sexual gratification, "Whose little girl am I? Anyone who has money to buy".
• The fourth and final woman we meet is an embittered and volatile woman, a product of the generations of oppression and suffering endured by her people, "I’m awfully bitter these days, 'cause my parents were slaves". She seems prone to violence "I'll kill the first mother' [as in "Motherfucker"] I see!" and her difficult character may be inspired by the late Nina Simone's own bitterness towards white people and their many crimes against her race. Simone finally unveils the woman’s name after a dramatic finale during which Simone screams, "My name is Peaches!"
Link
But despite my vantage point depending on circumstances and conditions, what you will not find me doing to groups where I do have an advantage (let’s face it, I’m not a white, straight man) is you will not find me behaving paternalistically towards those groups.
What does that mean?
“…from a dominant culture who enter another peoples’ world, ostensibly to manage or control it..."
You won’t find me:
Wielding areas where I’m disadvantaged as a sword against those who do not share my privilege on one dimension or another.
You won’t find me using my underprivileged friends as props to support my inability to listen to those who are actual members of that group
You won’t find me telling underprivileged groups what should be important to them or deemphasized for the "greater good", how they should interpret words and phrases and you won’t find me offering up specious theories to explain their place and position and the discrimination they face in this society.
You won’t find me asserting myself as an expert on issues where I am NOT a member of the underprivileged group
Being lectured by a group who is not in that underprivileged group as if they are experts on my condition as well-meaning as they may be
Granting immunity from a critique of someone’s words and/or behaviors as it pertains to a group where they are NOT disadvantaged because they feel that being disadvantaged in one area is blanket immunity and therefore means they are not blind to their own privilege in other areas or as abrauer says:
“Don’t presume that you know better than other people what is best for them. They’ve come to the place they currently occupy by surviving just fine in this world up until now, and they’ll be the ones who must live with the consequences of the choices and decisions they make today.”
You will not find me seeking to control the debate in other communities.
What you will find me doing:
Is centering my experience where I’m not privileged AND SPEAKING TO AND FROM THAT experience. I’m the expert and although others in my disadvantaged group may disagree, I will recognize their expertise in the area.
You will find me LISTENING to those who speak with the expertise of actually living the experience where they face discrimination and other marginalizing treatment where I am advantage vis-a-vis that experience.
You will find me asking questions to better understand and using my experience in a marginalized group to not supplant my marginality onto that underprivileged group where I'm at an advantage but to seek to draw parallels FOR MY OWN PERSONAL UNDERSTANDING. I do not have to mention those parallels I draw as this may derail the discussion.
You will find me allowing for their ability to create a safe space where they are free, if temporary from the toxicity and anxiety-ridden experience of interactions with the dominant group.
Yes, we all are coming from different places and experiences. One person can occupy a position of privilege and non-privilege at the same time. No one is disputing that but I do feel that in some cases, there is a “privileged gaze” that is nothing more than paternalism for some when they deal with other underprivileged groups. This privileged gaze is a sense of entitlement gained through their membership ine one or more privileged dominant groups that allows for an individual to go in and dictate to another differing underprivileged group. They feel that their lack of privilege on one vector of humanity means they got it all down pat about any other intersections or vectors of humanity and thus, can actually pretend to be an expert and ASSERT their views on other groups when they are not of or among those groups.
So while coalition building is a must, please take a step back and ask yourself, are you wielding your underprivileged position as a sword? If you are using it as an excuse for paternalistic behavior or intolerance, do not expect that members of other underprivileged groups will idly sit by and watch the transference of your privilege vis-à-vis that underprivileged group. In summation, your position in an underprivileged group makes you an expert on that underprivileged group and that group alone. It does not mean that you do not have work to do in areas where you are privileged. There is no transference of credentials where you are a member of the dominant group vis-à-vis underprivileged groups.