No more victimizing, no more assimilating
Under Trump’s new administration, which has been controversial to say the least, members within minority groups have spoken up and protested the unjust policies targeting them, and causing an uproar while doing so. However, responses to such protests, including the Women’s March and the Anti-Ban/Wall protest, have received tremendous backlash. From who? A simple answer would be privileged people; white people. However, people in a position are not the only ones against the protests and marches; people within these minority groups are as well, including: wealthier “well off” people of color, “legal” Hispanics/immigrants, and white women- who sometimes seem to forget they are not as powerful or equal as they think they are. However, certain white women, such as conservative public commentator Tomi Lahren, along with others along with others, refuse to label themselves as victims, Lahren referring to feminists as “mean”. My initial reaction was to think, “how can they be so stupid? Of course, you are!”, but my perspective has changed recently.
I do not necessarily agree with the argument people like Tomi Lahren have made, claiming not to be a “Second-hand citizen” and not needing feminism because she is equal to men, or legal immigrants who claim that the process of becoming a citizen in the United States isn’t that hard because they did it- nope. People in minority groups should not be silenced, but our perceptions of ourselves as victims should. Members in minority groups have been victimized by white men since the first of them stepped on this land, and it makes sense that we fight to finally force them to see their privilege that they love to turn the other cheek to and pretend is not there. However, when people victimize themselves, such as white women, it allows for others to believe that we are weak, that we are fragile, and that we are vulnerable to their power.
As writer Fritz Fanon stated, “The only way for decolonization to work is if the colonized people refuse to be victims”. Ways in which we can help ourselves is by not allowing for the white society around us to strip our cultures from us, force us to assimilate, and label us with negative connotations that will lead to our social death. Men of color have had to deal with being tropes; disruptive figures occupying the anxiety-ridden terrain of white imagination. For example, we can think of how men within minority groups are labeled if they are charged, or even suspected of a crime. Black men are thugs and thieves, Mexicans are illegal immigrants and rapists, and Middle Eastern men are terrorists and threats to the public society. In comparison, when a white man commits a serious attack, even terroristic sometimes (Planned Parenthood shooting, for example), they are labeled as mentally ill. If we are silenced by those who say we have nothing to fight for, stereotypes will keep men of color in prison systems, uneducated and isolated from society; unable to progress.
When applying such stereotypes onto us, we must not allow them to get into our heads; their motives are to change us, to assimilate us. We have allowed white people to steal our cultures and use them as “spices” or an accessory to their own culture. However, as people of color, we have also been forced to assimilate to theirs in return. The concept of self-mutilation applies to people of color when assimilating to white culture- or being “white washed”. In being “white washed”, minorities stray from their roots and their cultures to fit in and be accepted by white society. White washing yourself and allowing for someone else to use your culture at the same time is a form of social death, a concept given by author Bell Hooks in her work, “Eating the Other: Desire and Resistance”. Her social death concept refers to a body that has no value, no power, and no meaning to society. Although living as victims should not be our answer, it should not be giving in and playing into the system either, because then, there is no body to victimize. Deleting one’s culture in assimilation means there is no history, there is no loss. There is no connection. As fellow writer Talynn Kel mentions, “You are the product of history without context and curated lies. You know what they want you to know, see what they want you to see, and believe what they want you to believe”. They control you. Although living as victims should not be our answer, it should not be giving in and playing into the system either. As a community, what we need to do is create self-awareness; there needs to be an understanding of privilege and the power that certain people have over others’ cultures. In addition, one must also understand the power our cultures can give us, and use that instead of attempting to change ourselves into the whiteness or be with whiteness to gain that power over our own bodies. People of color need to stop associating “white” with “power” and “brown” with “victim”. We cannot keep ourselves in the position as victims, and we cannot allow for society to keep making us victims by stripping us of what we are and labeling us as what they believe we are and what we should be; we cannot become them. People of color need to stop associating “white” with “power” and “brown” with “victim”. We cannot keep seeking the approval of white society in this country, and need to simply seek our own approval over ourselves.
