CR#7 The Other
Baldwin defines the majority in terms of a person’s ability to influence others and their status. He explains how “status [has become] a kind of substitute for identity” and how “money and the things money can buy is the universally accepted symbol of status” (p. 217). As a result, we fear losing our status and highly value money. In a lot of ways, money has become our way of defining ourselves and how we identify in society. It is the defining factor as to who we are in society and how we will be able to live our lives. We therefore cannot afford to lose our status because our identity is at risk. As Baldwin says, “when one slips, one slips back not a rung but back into chaos and no longer knows who he is” (p. 218). A consequence of this mentality is that we place minority groups below us and stand above them as a way of holding ourselves up. We place the minority as the setting bar for how far we must not fall.
Farmer’s stories speak to the injustices of underprivileged communities or what Baldwin would describe as the minority as a result of the majority utilizing the minority as a stepping stool. In each of Farmer’s stories there is an inhumane injustice made toward someone without a powerful status. Men are being beaten and left for dead. Women and children and left helpless from disease. What makes their suffering worse is the fact that they are not the only instances but rather their treatment is a common trend. Because these people do not have money– what constitutes status in our society, they are left powerless and helpless. Additionally, they are used to define the bottom of the social and economic ladder of society. They are mistreated to remind people where they hope to never be and to strive to always be above of. Growing up I was placed in an all white Lutheran private school. I was one of the only people with black hair. Even my cousin who attended the same school as me was mixed making her look more like the rest of my classmates. I was treated differently. At the time I didn’t understand why but looking back now I recognize that I was their stepping stone of what never to be. My parents couldn’t support and fundraise for the school like the other parents. I didn’t live in the wealthiest part of town. I didn’t even live in a house. Maybe my classmates never realized it either but they did treat me differently. They treated me like a minority. I remember the first friend I made at this school. I wouldn’t call her a friend looking back at it now but I looked up to her. I wanted to be just like her. She is blonde with beautiful blue eyes and she is skinny and always dresses in the cutest outfits. Being so young she may have never realized it but she treated me like a slave. She ordered me around and what was mine immediately became hers too. If she got annoyed with me she would tell me she wants to play a game trick me into going somewhere where she would abandon me and go play with other people. It became her game and my misery. Since those days, she has not only thrived but increased in her status. She is now a well known YouTuber living in Los Angeles. We were both so young we didn’t know any better but this experience like the stories that Farmer tells is an injustice. It shows how just as Baldwin explains in his piece, that we live in a society that will do anything to keep ourselves from the bottom.
Our fear of losing our status and ultimately our identity relates to the current political climate in that it is very much based on social influence and money. Those in power got to where they are with great social influence. In our day and age social capital is a vital tool to getting anything we want. The ability to network and influence others to work in your favor is one of the most powerful tools especially in the world of politics. Along with influence, there is nothing that can be done without economic support. In our society, those who are at the bottom of what Baldwin describes to be the social ladder are people who lack the ability to influence others and financially support themselves or their ideas. This greatly affects the community that I work with in that the seniors are part of the minority. They lack strong skills in articulating in the dominant language, some of them struggle financially, and therefore, are labeled as what not to be to stay away from the bottom. As individuals, I see the fear in them that Baldwin describes. Not only do the community members struggle but the community programs as a whole struggle as well. They struggle to find funding to support their programs and resist a lot of political and governmental gridlock.
