b. medusa 11 October 2006 11:13:04 am
the nappy as i want to be blog recently explored if enthusiasm for education itself, or the way the education attained is used, that denotes ‘acting wite.’ a commenter mentions some folx can be smart & never have that bomb tossed @ them.
is it anti-intellectualism (something seen in wite or poc communities), or resentment of the advantage that education provides? which advantage – knowing or consuming? [attainment for the sake of personal material gain suckz in a world where 5% uses up 25% or more, but i s'pose outsourcing & offshoring will take care of this problem. in any case, rants for anotha time.] is knowing something that takes one further than one would go w/o it, or something that distances one from where they came? and on the point about blending, i.e. not talking/acting wite; when is it fake if one does it, when is it just ‘remembering where you come from’, being comfortable in the skin of one’s roots?
as someone who attended a segregated school until the 7th grade, i remember ‘being into the books’ meant acting stuck-up or siddidy (does anyone even remember that word?). it wasn’t until i attended integrated schools that i heard it associated w/ acting wite. i’m inclined to associate the overall phenomenom w/ rejection of class advantage / intellectualism, but this denigrates the devastating effect it has on poc.
some point in the near future a rant on anti-intellectualism / willful ignorance is necessary also, as i’ve come see (& mentioned briefly in an earlier post) the latter as annoying, not to mention dangerous. again, anotha rant for a different time. btw, on the aforementioned nappy as i want to be blog – @ the top of the page – is a statement which speaks eloquently, succintly of something i’ve hit on briefly in a couple of posts here. go see for yourself.
b. medusa 7 October 2006 9:44:50 pm
i just read a comment to a post on another blog that was so spot on! the gist is: any oppression is easier to see than one’s own privilege, BUT oppression is only seen on a superficial level until one’s own privilege is recognized.
i would add that one’s own privilege must be acknowledged & DEALT WITH. this requires a lot more than an hour or two spent @ a ‘wite privilege seminar’*, & a helluva lot more than just saying ‘i have wite privilege’ & continuing on in a slightly less clueless manner.
this isn’t just referring to wite privilege, its merely the first one which came to mind. male privilege is just as destructive, class privilege is usually gained from one or both (but usually elevated to a greater threat than either). i could go on & on, but all other privileges lead back to these three. take 2 equally downtrodden sistas, the one further oppressing the other is channeling gender/race/class privilege, when carefully analyzed.
privilege has to be constantly, critically analyzed, otherwise acknowledgement is mere apology until the next infraction; allowing oppression to continue from those who profess enlightenment.
* usually w/ more poc in attendance than wites. its good for poc to see the work being done (or not), but we don’t need to attend in greater numbers than wites. i would not say the same about a male privilege seminar, women are almost more adept @ boy shit than men.
b. medusa 7 October 2006 9:34:50 am
- would it be “emotional” blackmail if she were a he? smacks of boy shit re: hysteria.
- the proposal is not sudden, its been put forth in some form or other for @ least a year. the group has refused to meaningfully acknowledge & adjust. this is manipulative, similar to practices the group claims it doesn’t want to emulate. combined w/ people’s sacrifices that make the project viable (barely, these days), working shifts for this group reaches the same level of shitty as anywhere else, just in different ways. Continue Reading »
