CR #7: What is the majority?

What?

Baldwin states that in order to understand the minority, you must define the majority. He first points out that the majority is extremely difficult to define. I felt it when he said “majority is not an expression of numbers, of numerical strength, for example. You may far outnumber your opposition and not be able to impose your will on them or even modify the rigor with which they impose their will on you.” This speaks to the power imbalance that plagues minorities in America today. Also when he says “You may have beneath your hand all the apparatus of power, political, military, state and still be unable to use these things to achieve your ends.” It reminds us that there is next to nothing that a minority will ever be able to do to disadvantage the majority, not that they want to, in such a way that effects their whole life. He says that the word majority is not limited to numbers nor power imbalance, but is more about influence. Baldwin talks about about fear that causes us to oppress others and that is the fear of losing status. Losing status or even slipping a little bit is equivalent of slipping into chaos and loss of identity because when priding yourself on your place in the world is all you know and what you use to differentiate yourself from another person, it is unbearable to think of yourself now being on that lower level that held you up to the standard you were at. He uses the example of the way that black people are treated and have been treated for years in America and says that in a way we, or they, tell us where the bottom is. “Because he is there and where he is, beneath us, we know where the limits are and how far we must not fall,” is what he says perfectly describes that pride of being on top and the shock it would create if one were to “fall” down to our or their level.

So What?

Farmer uses his stories and draws on the points that Baldwin makes on people’s places and status in society. The story he wrote about Acephie and she tried to work as hard as she could to reach a successful place in life, but was only able to become a maid and eventually got fired and abandoned by her partner for being pregnant and then eventually died from HIV/AIDS. It pointed out the stigma placed around young mothers which reminded me of the community I work with in my service learning.

Now What?

I think that the fear Baldwin describes definitely causes the majority to overcompensate and put down the minority today. I feel like I see this when minority groups are being discriminated against and stigmatized just for being who they are. For example, the community I work with is a group of young mothers. Too often I hear people judging women just like them and assuming that they aren’t educated or that somehow becoming a mother “ruins” their lives. These same people, I feel, pride themselves on not being young parents and don’t think about if it were to happen to them or say to themselves, “I would never be that stupid.” It’s not a state of mind or lack of education all the time and when it is, people should be surrounding them with support and understanding, not the same stigmatization that keeps people from not making the same mistakes. I also feel like we see this with politics and the way that the current president has tried to demonize Hispanics and Muslims, trying to illicit fear in everyone in order to keep those groups oppressed.