It was nice to have a change of medium to analyze and think about this week- and I started off our assignment by watching the YouTube video from MTV's Decoded series on Microaggressions. I've seen some snippets of this series before and have also noticed that MTV's made a push to get issues like racism, sexism, and privilege in front of its viewers. I think the way this particular topic was approached was quite smart. Its use of comedy deftly showed the very unfunny realities of everyday racist comments and observations made by people of privilege. Moreover, because it's only a 2-minute snippet, you can imagine that this barely scratches the surface of what oppressed people experience due to their race, gender, orientation or religion. While I personally am not a fan of MTV (The Dead Kennedys predicted that they would produce swill and sugarcoated musicians back in the 80s) as don't forget, this is coming from the same network that spawned shows like The Jersey Shore and 16 and Pregnant, I appreciate that they're willing to expose some societal problems.
I then went on to read chapters from Johnson's book: Privilege, Power and Difference. After expressing my fears last week during one of our free writes about not being able to relate to students who might have different a level of privilege than myself, this was a welcomed and important read for me. As Johnson admits, he speaks and writes from a position of privilege himself. He notes that he can't help his background, but he can supplement his knowledge of others' experience and research in order to be able to name the issues and begin to work to solve them. We too often revert to a defensive position over words like privilege and racism because I think naturally, it's our inclination to want to arm ourselves against words that expose us as having a more advantageous lot in life. And as we learned in class, everyone has certain societal advantages and disadvantages. But, Johnson implores us to name these issues if we want to begin to break them down and help bring equity into our society.
I think it's a continual challenge for people (including myself) to be cognizant of the fact that race, gender, and orientation are social constructs. As pointed out by James Baldwin, ''No one is white before he/she carne to America. It took generations, and a vast amount of coercions, before this became a white country." What we consider to be an innate thing (race, gender, orientation) is actually a very manufactured concept that's taken thousands of years to develop. It reminds me of what I've also come to know about bigotry and racism: it's something we learn, not some sort of condition we're born possessing.
We've only begun to really analyze and work to dismantle and reconfigure social constructs to be more inclusive and accepting of less privileged people. Using the illustration of the Diversity Wheel was crucial to helping me understand how those who lack privilege feel pigeonholed by their race, orientation, gender and/or socioeconomic status. The Wheel takes the concept of a person, which I think of as incredibly complex, and attempts to siphon them down to a set of fixed social constructs.
Thinking about the recent natural disasters and reading about them through the lens of this class and also my postcolonial ecocriticism course, the unearned power that comes with privilege reminds me of this quote I recently read in Rob Nixon's book, Slow Violence regarding the "color of disaster":
"Discrimination predates disaster: in failures to maintain protective infrastructures, failures at pre-emergency hazard mitigation, failures to maintain infrastructure, failures to organize evacuation plans for those who lack private transport, all of which make the poor and racial minorities disproportionately vulnerable to catastrophe. As investigative Indian reporters, writing for publications like the Hindustan Times and Statesmen were quick to reveal, the Union Carbide disaster was preceded by a long history of structural neglect and a reckless flouting of elementary safety measures."
I'd like to end this blog with a song from an album I've been listening to on repeat lately by Solange Knowles. The underrated younger sister of Queen Beyonce, Solange's "A Seat at the Table" is a beautiful and racially charged musical memoir from the singer on what it means to be a black person and a black woman in America today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTtrnDbOQAU
Alyssa, it also resonated with me when Johnson spoke about the natural reaction to become defensive when being exposed to the ways in which you're privileged. One would be hard-pressed to find an individual who wouldn't refute claims that they have had it better in their life simply because of the color of their skin. It is exactly for this reason that I believe that MTV will have a difficult time getting the message of their video to resonate with anyone who isn't already aware of their privilege and aware of things like microaggressions. I think the message was pure and valid, but the presentation was a bit abrasive.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I really enjoyed the Solange video that you shared and think it follows a lot of the same themes of the MTV video. Thanks for posting it!
ReplyDeleteHi Alyssa,
Great post! I really liked how you connected the Solange song to themes from this week's readings. I love when music goes beyond that top layer of just entertainment. It was only last semester, when I took a class that covered the subject of privilege in depth, that I even began to recognize the privileges I had automatically been born with-by complete luck of the draw. I don't know about you, but I think being a white female enables us to kind of see this idea from two different places. On one hand, our skin color gives us a distinct advantage while on the other hand, our gender puts us at a disadvantage. I would say we certainly are more privileged than many people but we still must deal with many of the limitations put upon us due to our gender. The fact that we are not men is definitely felt...do you agree?
Hey Alyssa,
ReplyDeleteI understand your reluctance regarding MTV come from, considering that their production of Jersey Shore was something else. However, I think that the producers are onto something good with videos from the Decoded series like I believe they were with 16 and Pregnant. Contrary to popular belief, the frequency of teenage pregnancies may have actually declined as a result of the airing of 16 and Pregnant based on sociological studies. I’m having trouble finding the reputable source that I obtained from a past sociology course at the moment, but regardless, I agree that things are looking up for MTV. The only thing that concerns me is the level of negative response that is on the video, which actually overpowers those who liked it. I’m wondering a few things and was curious what you think…
Should these internet trolls be taken seriously?
Was the tone of the video too over the top, which may have led to viewers feeling attacked?
What should we do as anti-racist educators when faced with backlash?