Mis/reading Audre Lorde at U of O
Individual solutions will not cure social ills
Three weeks ago, I reached out to my professor to ask for advice in dealing with the anger I felt as a biracial woman confronted with the reality of structural racism in my everyday life. She responded by telling me to seek a variety of forms of personal support, particularly — to get therapy.
Let’s be clear.
The professor of a class called Culture and Power, required by my graduate program, who assigned a series of readings specifically about racism, told me the best thing I could do to address my own anger about how racism has impacted my life is to get therapy.
Um what?
This entire conversation came about because I emailed the professor to specifically ask whether we would have time during this class to discuss strategies to navigate structural oppression in our own life. Her answer, by the way, was a resounding no.
No, we would not address whatever personal wounds were triggered by the themes of sexual violence, racist assaults, poverty, suicide, and other serious social ills present in the readings she assigned. Sorry, but this was not that kind of class.
Oh, and no, obviously, she did not add trigger/content warnings to any of the readings. She is not…
