10 Ways Good Folk React to Systemic Oppression
Stages of Reacting to Systemic Oppression by Momma Ma'am a Ms.
1. Belief that all deserve justice (And Thinking That Everyone Gets It)
This is a stage inhabited by those of all socio-economic backgrounds and babies.
Many people never leave this stage because they believe or wish to believe that justice is accessible to all. They don't like conflict because it is unnecessary in their view-too loud and without reason in the utopia that is their world. They may have few activist friends or friends from oppressed groups or fail to see them as such.
2. Awareness of injustices
Typically, being a victim of or witnessing an injustice is the "passport" to this stage. Many people of privilege travel to far away places to get to this level. For oppressed people, they simply walk outside of their front door and keep their eyes open. Depression, outrage and paralysis accompany this stage which makes leaving hard for some. Overwhelm is common here because the newly awakened person is often not in a community supportive of their awareness and the injustice is too great to face alone.
2.5. Awareness that specific groups are more prone to more injustices
One can spend a lifetime observing and many do but some will discover patterns of oppression that are undeniably happening all of the time to black and brown and poor and anyone not straight white male.
3. Expressing disappointment and questioning "why?"
We all know people in this stage. Don't roll your eyes at them/us. They beat their chests and expose their hearts. I don't know which is harder: to be in this stage or to watch someone else go through it. Facebook relations can be tough at this time. It takes education to move beyond Stage 3.
4. Learning that justifications for dehumanization and oppression are flawed
It takes critical thought and reasoning to overcome a lifetime of indoctrination that validates the degradation of a group of humans. Many good people silently hold to the dehumanizing justifications and use them to validate systemic bad treatment of others. (Read that last sentence one more time please) Until this stage, many think in terms of "those people" who they would never associate with but "not because I'm racist but because they don't know how to act or we have nothing in common or they don't like me" vs. the outliers that are their friends and perfectly appropriate for socializing and supposed non-exploitative intimate connections.
5. Make a plan to reject the logic of oppression and dehumanization
Or Ruminating. . . It's hard to know what to do but just deciding to do something about it can be enough for some. They'll get to it one day but for now they need to pick up some yummy hummus.
6. Align with others (like them who have done stages 1-5) to reject the logic of oppression and dehumanization
This stage provides community, but not for oppressed people. They make a lot of great plans and, though they may listen to oppressed people, they don't have a clue how they affect the oppressed people they want to help. They may say "I want to empower you" to the oppressed person. In the activist community, we call them "well-intentioned" but they perpetuate oppression. They are the missionaries offering salvation to the lowly others. They are supremacists in white capes.
6.5. Make efforts to oppose oppression and dehumanization.
Because the efforts are not led by or at least inclusive of people who are oppressed, they often perpetuate dehumanization and oppression. Many social service, religious and social justice organizations live in stage 6.5 where philosophy remains based on the core tenet that the oppressed people have a lesser intellect. A clue that your community is in this stage is finding yourself with people who don't personally identify with the oppressed making decisions for and about the oppressed, i.e. a grand jury . ("Might as well wear all white and top the ensemble with a hood."-- Please don't but that is what I have thought hearing the so called humanitarian plans cooked up by no one who identifies with the oppressed group.) This stage makes some people feel good for a long time. Others lament the lack of inclusivity and move to stage 7.
7. Align with oppressed people who reject the logic of oppression and dehumanization.
These people might offer a true community outside of groups of oppressed people because they are respectful, appreciative of the cultural differences. The style of communication honors the value in the culture of the oppressed. Breath. of. fresh. air. Those in this stage gain cultural competency that is lacking in the previous stages. They start to see that the dominant culture is not dominant because it is "right" but because it dehumanizes and oppresses others.
7.5. Awareness of how the logic of oppression and dehumanization has infiltrated your own thinking and actions.
Though there may be lots of tears in this stage, it should be considered a triumph to enter it. The revolution starts within, yeah? With REIMAGINING through the lens that is informed by pre-colonialism study of indigenous peoples, feudalism, colonialism, imperialism, religious persecution, gender studies, human development, art history etc., they will notice all of the big and small ways that they are perpetuating dehumanizing stereotypes or reacting to oppressed people in a offensive or defensive way. Careful awareness and education is good medicine for those in this stage. However, ancestral and personal guilt precipitated depression and a return to justification for systemic oppression in this stage can lead to paralysis or a flight to preceding stages.
8. Intentionally reject the logic of oppression and dehumanization on a personal level
These people start to make cultural competency a part of them and their lives. They begin to stand out in their mainstream sphere of influence as "different", "neat", "radical", "angry", "off-beat", "left", "communist", "socialist", "extreme", "eclectic" or "odd".
8.5. Sharing your personal work against oppression within personal sphere of influence.
In this stage, some may lose friends for talking about "it" too damn much. They may also come to be seen as a trouble maker or pot stirrer by schools, employers, law enforcement and faith organizations or any other system that intentionally or unintentionally exploits oppressed people.
Stage 9: Awareness of the need to act on a broader scale to affect change.
Unfortunately, the passport to this stage is often a terrible tragedy. When violent state sanctioned executions are summed up in a hashtag(#EricGarner #TamirRice #EmmettTill, #MichaelBrown, #LennonLacy") or a personal encounter with the violence of systemic oppression like sexual assault, public shaming, suicide of a friend . . . harm shit. Sadly, many become overwhelmed and remain stuck in paralysis with this awareness hidden in their psyche.
9.5. Learn how to intentionally apply emotion, education, financial and community resources and skills to affect change.
Knowledge is power. This is the powerhouse stage. It gives much to the agent but it requires time, resources and support to enter it and stay long enough to receive the nutrients it has to give. It's a stage of privileged agents or those who have an overwhelming compulsion to see a different world.
10. Activist
Someone intentionally applying resources to pursue justice in solidarity with the affected population. Despite how they are characterized as criminals until they "catch on" and become mainstream famous like Dr. King, they are also often just regular people who just came to this point in an authentic way-outliers, yes but normal. They are parents, soldiers, young, elderly, highly educated, and marginally literate, poor, wealthy, etc. but not in equal parts-indigenous, queer, folks of color, healers, stand out as gate openers in my continent. They use what they have to disrupt, halt, destroy, inspire and create a world that only exists in their imagination. These folks nourish, heal, build, plan, dream, love, create, fight, bleed, sacrifice, die and transcend. And no one has to do anything that doesn't give them life though many do end up in patterns of bondage to roles that are not their calling. Self-care, beloved community, accountability and advanced communication are needed to maintain resilient groups of activists and to sustain the individuals without devolving into replicating the violence in the system that creates authorities where there is material wealth and views intelligence as a scarcity among beings.Their path is littered with many obstacles and, to make it to this stage, few overcome SOCIETAL EXPECTATIONS that support oppression. Radical is a moniker they are often given which is sad because justice is a staple. Activism pays shit so this is typically not someone's only gig.
To show you how fluid this is. Let's look at my last 24 hours:
Yesterday, I woke up in step 3. Then, I went online and did some 2.5 research. Felt really 9-ish after that. I did a couple of 8.5 activities and then pulled a 10 to close out the day. Now, I feel like I need to get back to 9.5 but first I need to work so that I can feed my kid.
That was 24 hours but it has taken me a four decades to experience at least a bit of each stage.
People may be like the weather but we need the rain to grow and it's always sunny somewhere.
Comments
Post a Comment