I, being a middle class white male living the United states have gone through out my life knowing about racial, gender, and class in equality with out really digging deep into it. Why would I? I am on the higher shelf of this society with an easy road set before me with open opportunities so why would I look into it if it did not benefit me? That was my subconscious mind set before addressing the situation in FNED 346, where I have opened my eyes to the ethereal injustice that we accept day after day. In Allen G. Johnson's piece, Privilege, Power, and Difference, he addresses these problems head on even though it would not benefit him being of the same class and race as I. CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG? Johnson quotes the famous civil rights leader Rodney King, and as he does so answers said question with two questions. CAN WE NOT? or WON'T GET ALONG? Personally I believe that as a society we have the capacity to get along though due to each persons hubris we may never see that day. Only with acknowledging our own ignorance can we start anew in an age of acceptance and perhaps, equality.
RACE is one of the most physical differences that we see in each other besides gender. It is also the most definable of one's self even if this definition is negative or untrue. Stereotypes have a habit of misinforming people who rarely interact with those of another race. I for example have not had much interaction with African Americans or Hispanic Americans as there were few or none where I grew up and studied as a child in Southern Rhode Island. It was mostly white people who associated them selves with country and farms along with the occasional Asian American and Native American, Native Americans mostly. So when ever I encountered someone of a vastly different skin tone than I, there was a mental click in my head that said this person was different. It was not something I could control and still cannot control today because that's just what happens when identify someone. I'd like to associate this feeling with the fact that I had little to no interaction with people of color during the first 3/4ths of my life and meeting these new people is as if I was an astronaut visiting an alien world and encountering the natives of said world. It was difficult to connect really. Especially as I entered college and left the white pocket of Rhode Island. Eventually I became friends with people at CCRI, the Community College of Rhode Island for those who are unclear of what this is, and several of them were Haitian, Hispanic, and Dominican. One such friend called himself Dawry. He is of Dominican descent and shared several interests with me. We would play cards and table top games together as we talked about how shitty and terrible our jobs were in between classes. We would eventually become such good friends that he would invite me over on occasion to his house where I would meet his family who besides his sister, spoke almost exclusively Spanish or Spanglish in some cases. It was awkward at first due to the fact that besides my schooling of Spanish 1 and 2 in high school three years ago at the time, I did not speak a lick of Spanish. But I would still put on a smile and politely inquire and answer questions I could understand. Eventually they commissioned me to paint a back drop for Dawry's nephew. It was of the movie Monsters Inc and was very large as it consisted of three 4x6 foot plywood sheets and covered in acrylic paint. I did so on time while painting the nephew into the scene, even thought they did not request it, and they loved it. So much so that they commission me to paint for the nephew's birthday each year. Though they and I were cautious at first, we eventually bonded and accepted each other for who we were. I being a white middle class male painter and them being a Dominican middle class family. As this short story concludes I would like to point out that we CAN GET ALONG, and that we should ignore the barriers we put in front of our selves every day and reach out to those who we alienate and avoid, for if we can, we will, GET ALONG.
GENDER is a category that we fall into as we exit the womb, crawly and crying not yet knowing that our genital area will dictate our futures, for the good and the bad. There is no denying that this is a male dominated world with many men making far more than women and holding shut that glass ceiling that keeps the fairer sex at bay. Or at least that's the public opinion. Johnson sure seems to think so as he reminisced about a fellow teacher who was African American and female. He commented on how he does not have to worry about walking alone at night or worry about smiling to one one of the opposite sex and sending the wrong message. He also talks about how his status as a man elevates his self over her whether they accepted it or not. Sexism is an undeniable problem in this society and feminist groups try to attack this head on, whether sending the right message or not, but I do not believe that women are the only targets of sexism, whether me being male makes me biased or not is up to you, but I don not readily see billboards promoting equality among the sexes, they mostly if not all lean toward the favor of women as their stereotype makes them seems week and defenseless when in reality this is not always the case. The mere fact that the issue of female abuse and unfairness is being addressed and not males taken advantage on is sexist in it's self. The media is being sexist in it's attempt to protect and enhance women's rights. I have seen several strong women in my short lifetime, some stronger than men, metaphorically and not, and I have seen the abuse of the system that tries to protect them. I used to date a woman who's name I do not wish to disclose and she had a sister. This sister was violent, rude, and disrespectful to most people especially her boyfriend. Every time I commented on these violent acts my girlfriend at the time would become defensive and comment on how she was family and how she would protect her when they were young. I really disliked that I could not voice my opinion but at the time I would just let it go because I did not want to ruin our relationship. Eventually I saw the sister violently hit the boyfriend in question with blood drawn form her sharp nails, the boyfriend left the house and drove away in a huff. I stared wide eyed at what just happened and the family just stared as well, doing nothing to what just happened, no conscious actions taken, the barriers were put up and they all just went on with the day like nothing happened. I often wondered what the situation would have been like if it was the other way around. The boyfriend would probably have been arrested for assault at the very least. Strange how the fact that the sister was female protected her from the consequences of her actions. The workplace is strange as well. I work in the food industry and most of the people that work there are female. I would say that 1/4th of the staff is actually male and most of the managers are female. There are 6 female managers and 2 male managers. I suppose when hiring people you would want those who are pleasant to talk to and look at instead of gruff, rude, and violent workers correct? What did you think when I said gruff, rude, and violent? Male or female? Men or Women? If you live in this current society you probably thought of males and their testosterone driven minds who obviously are not meant to be polite by nature, compared to the gentle flower of the female mind which is only filled with peace and tranquility. Or at least that's what we are led to believe. To tell you the truth I believe we are all the same no matter our shells. We all might react differently to some situations but we all feel happiness, pain, sadness, and joy. So why have women present food to you while the few men who cook for you stay in the kitchen away from public eyes? It's all about presentation, the delightful greeting of an order taker is more accepting than that of a man. And I have seen this in so many establishments other than my own place of work. It is a female dominated industry in my eyes and is not entirely fair to those men who apply and get turned down because they aren't hiring their kind at the moment. You can take this as you will, I will just leave this opinion here and see what happens, and it is just that, an opinion. Or rather an opinion of a white middle class male.
CLASS is an issue I am not familiar with unfortunately. Johnson seems to tie this issue in with race but I have seen cases where this is not really a factor. On the way to college in Warwick or now recently Providence, I have seen people now and again on the curbs of roads waiting for people to stop at a red light and beg for money. This upsets me and makes me uncomfortable when confronted with the situation. I just do not know if they are actually homeless or not and so I put up my barriers and evade my eyes from the person in question. There are little to no homeless where I some from or at least none that I can see being a forested and small community of neighborhoods and farm land so as again I am not used to the idea or sight of a homeless person. It upsets me that this happens because if they really are homeless, they are losing so much aid because of the stereotypes and pretenders that poison their image. I do not know what else to say on this sensitive subject so I'll just leave it at this, the only way we can help these people is to spend a mile walking in their shoes, only then will we be able to truly sympathize with those who lack a roof over their head.
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