CR#4: Intersectionality with Inequity
Beverly Daniel Tatum’s article “The Complexity of Identity: Who Am I?” discusses the ways in which dominant identities are typically reflected on societal expectations, and play into effect when describing oneself. From the text, I gathered that this dominant identity was a white, fit, heterosexual, wealthy male. Tatum shared information through the observations she made when asking her students to describe themselves. It was clear through these observations that individuals with dominant identities did not mention the characteristics of that dominant identity. For example, a white male would give other characteristics describing themselves, but would not mention “I am white”, “I am Straight” or “I am a male”. On the other hand, she observed that those with subordinate identities would mention it, such as “I am Black”, “I am bisexual”, “I am a woman”. (Tatum 10)She gathered this information and connected the dots, realizing the ways in which those of Dominant groups would forget the privilege that they had. Those of subordinate groups would mention these categories for it has become a large target of attention for them in their lives, recognizing it.
When discussing perspective-taking, one can see through Jose Calderon’s article “Perspective Taking” how taking perspective within different communities can change or influence the dominant-subordinate dynamic. Calderon goes into sharing the many ways in which one can use perspective-taking and use it to influence change, within education, community, democratic engagement, and leadership. Calderon shares that through time he has had to change his own ways and adapt to his classes, for it was the best for his students. He shared when he was growing up, he was a non-English speaker and in school, he was treated as if he were mute. With time a teacher of his noticed he did not speak Spanish, then dedicating her afternoons to learn Spanish from Jose and teach him English. He shared through this he learned that teachers can learn just as much as their students, them implementing this in his teaching in his career. He shared that he has his students engage within the community, working with day laborers centers, getting first-hand experiences with immigrants. This made the class texts “real” for the students, then striving for social change within these communities, working on projects and implementing Spanish classes for the laborers(Calderon 3).
Intersectionality has many parts, all playing together. One’s intersectionality is where different parts of their identity meet, instead of being a part of a few categories, it’s rather the way that all your characteristics work alongside one another. Kimberle Crenshaw shares in her article entitled, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color” the ways in which different components of an individual’s subordinate traits, can cause the individual to be more vulnerable. Crenshaw shares “ Many women of color, for example, are burdened by poverty, child-care responsibilities, and the lack of job skills. These burdens, largely the consequence of gender and class oppression, are then compounded by the racially discriminatory employment and housing practices women of color often face(Crenshaw 2)” This illustrates how intersectionality influences the lives of women of color. In class we watched a TED Talk from Crenshaw, providing an example of intersectionality, which made it a lot clearer for me. She shared, Imagine there are two roads at an intersection. One road is being black, and the other road is being a woman. Often times employers will get away with providing these individuals with a lower-level job or no job at all by claiming that they do provide work for people of color, and they provide work for women. But in reality, they will not cater to both equally as everyone else at the same time. She added that you called for help, as an analogy, she compared it to an ambulance. The ambulance would be able to help you on one single road at a time, but not where the two roads meet. This clearly illustrates the ways in which intersectionality can cause one to be more to the inequity within our community.
Robin J. DiAngelo, on the other hand, shares how she grew up white but poor. She shares through her text that all she ever focused on was her poverty, never recognizing the privilege she had. She shares that growing up poor and a female was difficult but she never recognized how different it would be if she were not white. She later came to realize the privilege that she had, beginning to share her knowledge on the topic. She shared that many use their oppression to lessen the privilege that they see within themselves, she recognized that though they were strongly oppressed in society, that others were still seen as below them
In my little experience with the Sparh center, I can see areas in which intersectionality can play a significant role. Many of the individuals that utilize the resources that the Sparh center provides are poor, substance users, individuals with HIV, or part of the lgbtq+ community. These individuals all have subordinate parts to them, some having more than one. This is where the intersectionality has room to happen. With this intersectionality, it causes more barriers between the community and healthcare, job opportunities, food and more.
