Privilege and Oppression Always Intersect;Gary Graves
When we speak of social injustice we must realize all oppression is intersectional with privilege.This means that what happens to one group of oppressed people happens to every group of oppressed people, because of the existence of privilege in our society. It is difficult to get people to actually understand how privilege and oppression Intersect.In the same way it is difficult to get people to become conscious of systemic privilege.That is because many people are unaware of how the mechanism of privilege and oppression actually work.My goal is to raise the readers consciousness and get him or her to see the Intersectional connection between privilege,oppression and social injustice.
Abigail Fisher, 22, at the Supreme Court 2003 claiming Reverse Racism
Allan G Johnson states in his essay…”It is important to note that privilege does not guarantee good outcomes for the privileged group nor does it guarantee bad outcomes for everyone else. Abigail Fisher, for example who’s been suing UT since 2008 accusing them of Reverse Racism, it was noted by UT Austin however Abigail Fisher was a very mediocre student.(Merlan 2019)On June 23, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 4–3 decision decided against Abigail Fisher.In the case Fisher versus UT at Austin.Fisher went on to attend Louisiana State University’.White people for example can work hard and have little to ,show for it, white people for example can be mistreated by police without just cause. White people can and do get mistreated by the police,it is not as common an occurrence as it is for minorities in America. Johnson says;”When it comes to being randomly stopped and frisked by police whites have an advantage,they did not earn.”(Johnson p.456 ) We need only point out the privileged treatment of self-identified White supremacist Dylann Storm Roof the mass shooter in South Carolina by law enforcement after the shooting Law enforcement stop by a Burger King to purchase a hamburger for Dylann Roof. Michael Brown on the other hand, his body lay dead in the streets of Ferguson Missouri for four hours straight having been shot six times by law enforcement for a minor infraction.There are some who would say the death of Michael Brown at the hands of law enforcement is this social anomaly.African Americans would argue, that most black people have had very bad encounters with law enforcement.It is a common occurrence even when African Americans are polite and well-behaved.(Rankine p.458)
Claudia Rankine says in her essay; …” white liberals and progressive my turn a sympathetic ear and feel temporarily bad about black suffering. They will never know the basic fear of fearing that one can be killed for simply being black at any moment in America”(Rankine p.458).One can be killed for being a 12 year old black boy playing in the park with a toy gun Tamir Rice, killed for having a gun and admitting to a police officer you have it Philando Castile. One can be killed for going to church and praying such was the case in South Carolina. Dylann Roof shot and killed nine worshippers in that South Carolina church because he was infected with the disease of White Supremacy.It is a more virulent and deadly strain of white privilege, or if you like racist extremism.He wanted to feel important, and be a successful white man. He wanted to be a race hero. I stated earlier privilege does not always guarantee that one will win in every circumstance.This is the phony promise of, White Privilege and Its hideously deformed cousin White Supremacy. In life there are always other factors to be considered whether or not one will be successful,luck, intelligence, class, wealth.
In Dylann Roofs case he had the disadvantage of mental illness.The only people smitten with a similar Evil destiny on this planet, are women. They alone may understand what is like to be killed only because you are a woman.In her essay Jean Kilbourne States the following…” Battery is the single greatest cause of injury to women more than automobiles in America. She goes on to explain more than one third of the women slain in this country, die at the hands of boyfriends and husbands.”In the past 20 years there have been several trends in fashion directly related to women gaining more power in our society. I will cite a few of these fashion trends the obsession with female thinness,the hyper sexualization of women’s bodies and the increase of violent images directed at women (Kibourne p.560)
The increase of violent images directed at women
This is why women and other oppressed people are so obsessed with the image they present to the world. They dress up to be taken seriously, they fixate upon how they dress and what they wear obsessively.We see the ceremonial obsession with dressing upscale among black man weather is hip hop fashion, or the most expensive clothing available.Women dress in such a way as not to appear too provocative,to avoid possible assault,and be respected. Those who have privilege worry considerably less about the image that they present to the world. (Fletcher 09.19.19)
There is no longer any directly racist propaganda ads in American advertising,such advertising has been removed.It is not necessary, Rankine says …” Anti-black racism is in our culture. In our laws.In our friendships. In our Segregated cities.”(Rankine p,458) A system of privilege… operates around three basic premises: dominance,Identification and centeredness.”(Johnson p.456)There was almost a total absence of women and people of color,in the first half of the 20th century in positions of power and authority.The dominant image of the twentieth century was centered upon being white and male.This is the intersection between privilege and oppression and social injustice.The root cause of all social injustice intersects at one thing is the basic need to control and dominate other human beings.That psychology cuts across all race gender and class. I will cite here for the reader a very famous study in Social psychology. The Stanford Prison Experiment by Philip Zimbardo in 1973 he and his colleagues set up a makeshift,Prison in the basement of Stanford University. He selected 24 men to be in the prison experiment. Zimbardo was very careful about the selection, he purposely chose men with no criminal records,who seem to be emotionally and mentally stable. Eleven of these men were selected to be prison guards, all these men were white middle-class males.
He immediately set up an authoritarian,system,prison guards were given military style uniforms. Guards were given mirrored sunglasses to wear. The inmates were forced to strip down naked and deloused upon entering the prison,similar to a real prison.They wore only a gown with no underwear and a number which replace their name, a chain lock around their ankle. Zimbardo encourage the prison guards to set up their own,rewards and punishments for the prisoners.The experiment was supposed to last two weeks, it ended in six days.The experiment ended due the rapid escalation and brutal treatment of prisoners in the fake prison.Prisoners who disobey the authoritarian system,we’re forced to go without food. At one point in the Stanford Prison Experiment a rebellion occurred.The ringleaders were put into solitary confinement.Two inmates had what appeared to be a mental breakdowns.These ordinary men when placed in positions of privilege and power degenerated into ruthless enforcers(Mcleod,Saul 2019).When we speak of social injustice we must realize all oppression is intersectional with privilege.
References cited:
Fletcher,Ben,C( 2013, April 20) “What Your Clothes Might Say About You” Psychology Today http://www.psychologytoday.com
Ghansah,Rachel Kaadzi(2017, August 20) “A most American Terrorist The Making of Dylann Roof”/GQ https://www.gq.com
Green,Stuart.Lidinsky April “From inquiry to academic writing 4th edition” p.456,p.459,p.590
Mcleod,Saul: The Stanford Prison Experiment/Simply Psychology https://www.simplypsychology.org
Merlan Anna,It seems Mediocre Grades Not Ethnicity,Kept Abigail Fisher out of UT Austin https://www.dallasobserver.com