Privilege Power and Difference By Alan Johnson
Quotes:
"The real illusion connected to difference is the popular assumption that people are naturally afraid of what they don't know or understand. This supposedly makes it inevitable that you'll fear and distrust people who aren't like you and, in spite of your good intentions, you'll find it all but impossible to get along with them." (pg 16)
I thought this quote was relevant because it made me think of how mostly all white people can have a sense of internalized racism. It is usually generational and can (thankfully) be broken in younger generations if you surround yourself with the right people and follow the news.
"There is nothing inherently frightening about what we don't know. If we feel afraid, it isn't what we don't know that frightens us, its what we think we do know." (pg 16)
This quote was stated in reference to ignoring privilege and how that just adds to the problem. As someone who has anxiety I can relate to the whole being scared of something you think you know. I make up a life story for almost everyone I see and, depending on my mood, that can either make me feel safe or terrified. You should never assume something about someone, especially not based off their differences from you.
"...unless you live in a culture that recognized those differences as significant and meaningful, they are socially irrelevant and therefore do not exist. A 'black woman' in Africa, therefore, who has not experienced white racism, does not think of herself as black or experience herself as black, nor do the people around her." (pg 21)
This was said by Alan Johnson in regards to a quote analysis of a James Baldwin quote. It stuck out to me because it reminded me of being in high school. I am a white straight woman who comes from a lower-middle class family. I was able to go through a good school system in a nice town, and I am able to identify that I was privileged in that way. However, the school I went to was filled with primarily white students, where most of them were middle/ upper-middle class. There were a lot of people who had "daddys money" and who had a negative point of view. I was constantly surrounded by people feeding me these racist or sexist or homophobic/ transphobic remarks that everyone else would laugh at. I had to remind myself and have my family remind me all the time that it doesn't matter if people are "different" than me. I had to stop myself from continuing down the cycle of believing that I am better than someone just because of my race and sexual orientation and gender.
Random thoughts for class:
Has anyone seen the Barbie movie or listened to The Man by Taylor Swift because that is all I could think about while reading this document!
