Did you ever wake up one day and realize you had been doing this:

This seems to happen to me quite frequently of late.  I no longer want to allow myself the privilege of this sort of thing.  Yes, I said privilege.  This was a big topic of discussion in my readings for class this week.  Out of 10 social categories, I land in the dominant group for nine.  NINE.  Do you have any idea how much privilege I have?  Do I?

Social categories:  gender, race, class, nationality, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, physical ability, age, language.  Me:  female, white, middle, U.S./first world, European, heterosexual, Christian, able-bodied, not elderly, English.

The only category that I can say I have experienced oppression in is gender.  And, you know what is funny about it?  It doesn’t make me feel any better about my privilege.  I actually feel a little sad and disheartened.  Until.  Yes—I am about to disappoint those of you who think highly of me.  Until we start to talk about my kids.  Momma Bear doesn’t want them to lose any of their privilege.  Not one ounce.  Can you say tension?  There is tension here.  To parallel an example used in the reading, if I walk into my kid’s classroom at school with a bag of pencils, how will I distribute them?  Equally?  By need?  By merit?  My kid has pencils.  Plenty, in fact.  Shouldn’t they go to the kid who has no pencils?  You know–the one who cannot afford a pencil.  Or, would I worry that my child’s feelings would be hurt, and the pencils should be given to every child, needed or not.  Or maybe only the kids who are behaving according to the norms should get a pencil.  Are you tracking with me?  Because, I am not really talking about pencils.  Deciding to take a stand and challenging what our society views as the norm is not easy.  So, how do I ask my kid to do it?  ‘Yes, kid, I know you feel left out because you did not get a pencil, but little so-and-so doesn’t have any pencils.  So-and-so needs the pencils so that he/she can actually have a shot in life.  You have to learn that fair is not always equal.’   Ouch.

Let me throw one more zinger out there.  How do you feel about the pervasive norm in our country that basically says if an individual works hard enough, he/she can find financial stability?  Well.  I feel a little discombobulated.  On one hand, I can look at my husband and see how he literally pulled himself up out of poverty with hard work.  On the other hand, I can look and see that he was only battling against oppression in one social category—class.  How would this look if he had been a black man?  Or a gay man?  Or a Spanish speaking man?  Not the same.  That is how I think it would look.  I think that for some people, hard work is not enough.  Now, why do I feel the need to possibly stand behind a shield?

I will end with a quote.  It is an old favorite—one I have used in blogs before.

“Knowing can be a curse on a person’s life. I’d traded in a pack of lies for a pack of truth, and I didn’t know which one was heavier. Which one took the most strength to carry around? It was a ridiculous question, though, because once you know the truth, you can’t ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.”
― Sue Monk Kidd

So, my first reading assignment is complete. Wow. It started with a thought provoking essay by Leroy Pelton and responses to the content from other scholars. The topic at hand is whether or not social justice should be based on the individual or groups of people. I would love to expound on my thoughts and opinions about this very matter, but no doubt, we will have plenty of time for that later (and let’s be honest here—I am not wholly convinced of my own stance just yet). Instead, I cannot help but get lost in the dynamics of the interactions of the scholars themselves. I am learning that people are either deeply passionate about social justice or totally indifferent. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground, and passionate people = passionate discussions. I get it. But . . . I have to admit that one of the respondents’ writing turned me off completely because it was oozing emotion. He appeared to be internalizing the discussion, and then muddying the water with his own ‘stuff.’ Sometimes, people can recognize this type of thing because they struggle with it too. Ahem. I wonder as I begin this new season of blogs what kind of discussions will be in my future. Will I be able to temper my passions, listen with an unbiased ear, and be open to learning new ways of thinking? Will my readers?

I leave you with this quote from Edward Scanlon and John Longres:

“Fruitful debates about social justice require thoughtful exchanges that assume that our colleagues are people of good will, even when we disagree with them.”

Good question.  I used to write blogs pretty frequently.  Then, I went back to school and started writing papers.  Lots of papers.  Well . . . I am back.  But things are going to be a little different around here.  I am taking a Foundations of Social Justice class this semester, and we are required to blog weekly about our readings and our learning experiences.  So, hold on to your hats.  It is about to get fun.