Critical Reflection #4
In Tatum’s Article, dominant identities can be described as the “Parameter within which the subordinates operate (The Complexity of Identity).” The dominant group holds the power and authority in society and are the only ones that have a say in how their power and authority can be used in comparison to the subordinate group. Furthermore, the dominant groups are able to determine the structure in society, such as who gets the best job and what history will be taught in schools. With their power to control what happens in society, they also can assign roles to the subordinate group that reflects, “The latter’s devalued status, reserving the most highly valued roles in society for themselves (The Complexity of Identity).” This demonstrates that the dominant group views themselves as more superior and wants to maintain their power role against the subordinate group. In addition, when the dominant group assigns these inferior roles to the subordinate group, they begin to internalize these images placed upon them and find it difficult to believe in their own ability. Examples of these power dynamic relationships include, Blacks having been historically characterized as less intelligent than whites, and women having been viewed as less emotionally stable than men. As a result, there is a power imbalance within society that must be addressed.
In Calderon’s article, he explained that perspective-taking can shift or even change the power imbalance between the dominant-subordinate groups. He explained that by learning to understand others perspectives, language, and culture, we can better comprehend and appreciate each other’s differences in order to find our commonalities (Perspective Taking). Certain people or groups have the power to define dominant culture, and therefore, the power to liberate others. The value of perspective-taking also brings the terms of power and democracy together. According Drama of Diversity and Democracy, democracy can be defined as all people having the right to be treated with respect and given the same opportunity to learn and grow within society (Perspective Taking). However, if people are not given equal opportunity due to the marginalization of specific groups it is sign of unequal access to political, economic, social, and cultural power (Perspective Taking). Therefore, when we take the time to listen to each other we can find a common ground amongst everyone and work towards building a democratic society that empowers each other’s differences.
Kimberlé Crenshaw explains “intersectionality” to an imaginary reader as understanding the ways that multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes overlap themselves and create obstacles that are not understood within conventional ways in regards to anti racism, feminism, or any social justice advocacy that is present. For example, when examining violence against women, that experience is often shaped by other dimensions of their identities, such as race and class. This ignores differences within groups and contributes to tension among groups, which jeopardizes the problem of identity politics that frustrates the efforts to politicize violence against women. When Crenshaw was observing the dynamics of structural intersectionality at a women’s shelters located in minority communities in Los Angeles, she noted that the shelters serving these women cannot afford to address only the violence inflicted by the batterer. They must also confront the other multilayered and routinized forms of domination that often overlap in these women’s lives that hinder these women to create opportunities that allow them to leave abusive relationships that originally brought them to the shelters (Mapping the Margins). Women of color face other obstacles such as poverty, child care responsibilities, and the lack of job skills that impact their ability to leave their abusive relationships. These obstacles are a result of gender and class oppression, which are then compiled by the racially discriminatory employment and housing practices women of color often face (Mapping the Margins). This demonstrates that identity is not a self contained unit, but a relationship amongst people in history, people in communities, and people in institutions. Intersectionality can also be applied to DiAngelo’s article on her own experience with intersectionality.
DiAngelo identifies as a white woman, who grew up in poor. Growing up she was able to recognize her class oppression, but she did not understand her race privilege. At an early age she knew she was an outsider for being poor, but she also knew she was not Black. She understood that she was at the lower rungs of society, but realized that “colored” people were below her place on the social hierarchy. Her grandmother would always tell her to not touch candy or uneaten food lying on the street because a “colored person” may have touched it, which gave the message that if a colored person touched something it became dirty. With this realization, she also saw the irony in it as well- she appeared dirty because of poor hygiene, torn clothes, hunger as a result from being poor and a colored person was considered “dirty” simply from the color of their skin. This presents that although DiAngelo was poor amongst the other white girls in her school she was able to relate to these girls for her race, being white. Furthermore, once she graduated from college she began to work as a diversity trainer. Through her experience as a diversity trainer she was able to better understand how Whtie racial identity is socially constructed and privileged, and the mechanisms by which whie people receive and protect that privilege. Therefore, she took this knowledge and correlated it to her own experiences growing up poor to conclude that poor and working class White people do not necessarily have any less racism than middle or upper class white people. With observation she inferred that poor Whites are most often in closest proximity to people of color because they tend to share poverty. As a result, she was able to analyze how class shaped her racial identity and has been able to understand her internalized racial superiority. With these experiences and learning lessons, she has learned that in order for Whites to unravel their internalized racial dominance, they must complete two things: to work on their own internalized oppression- the ways in which they impose limitations on themselves based on the societal messages they receive about the inferiority of the lower status groups they belong to; and to face the internalized dominance that results from being socialized in a racist society- the ways in which they consciously or unconsciously believe that they are most important, more valuable, more intelligent, and more deserving than people of color.
The intersectional identities of my community partner, Young Moms Marin, include young women between the ages of 16–30, who identify as multi-racial, White, or Hispanic. In addition, these Moms are all low income, no marital status, and all have children that face a variety of challenges in their daily lives. These multiple identities make these women vulnerable to society due to the way society is built. Society wants a family that has a mother and a father who are married and working, because if they have children two incomes typically support the children’s needs financially. In addition, males typically earn more than women, so even if the single mother has a job they still would be unable to have enough funds to support their children. Even if these single mothers were to receive child support, sometimes the money is not properly allocated to the women due to the father of the child/ren failing to pay them or is not enough money to meet the needs of all children. Therefore, the system only supports those mothers who are of upper class receiving fiscal support from the fathers. These are just some of the challenges that many of these mothers face with their multi sectional identities. Young Moms Marin helps support these identities by providing resources that can assist with their financial situation. For example, the coordinator always invites guest speakers to the meeting to discuss about the many local resources they can apply for to obtain food, health insurance for their children, housing, as well as other great programs that can assist the mother’s needs. With this awareness, mothers can slightly better their situations because many of them do not know that these local programs exist for them. Although, all of these mothers struggle financially, some of their identities can be observed to be more dominant than the others. For example, most of these mother’s children speak English, but there’s one boy who only comprehends Spanish. This makes him an outsider or a subordinate in comparison to other children in the group because the children are only speaking to him in English and the activities in the childcare room are only completed in English. It is difficult for the boy to communicate with the children and he is often left playing by himself. As a result, there can be a shift in dominance within the children because even though they are similar in age, they do not always play with the boy because he is unable to communicate with them in English.
