congruence

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What? All three authors, James Baldwin, Audre Lord, and Jose Angel N are challenging social myths and structures that perpetuate oppression. What social myths and/or oppressive, unjust social structures does each author speak to in their piece?

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The paradox of education that Baldwin talks about that once someone begins to be educated by society, that person begins to become consciously aware of the society that educated them (Baldwin 1). Baldwin believes education should be a process where one is adequately equipped to seek out the questions of the society, the world and life at large. But more than that, he believes it should be a way most individuals discover their own identity.

Baldwin also believes education should ultimately be self-empowering. He analyzes the early life of a black child born in America, in how the “shape of his oppression” takes root (Baldwin 2). The black child Baldwin talks about grows up seeing everything that society puts on them. They feel it. This kind of education by society occurs as soon as one is born — this is the nature of oppression; with it being so pervasive that it affects all aspects of one’s life, from cradle to grave.

The fundamental goal of education should be not be high marks on assignments or tests, nor should they be concerned with the basis of a “correct” answer. There is more to learning than what we think we know.

Jose Angel N talks about the myth of economic growth, the “cup of promise”, that influenced his and many other migrant workers decision to work in the United States. Economic prosperity means social freedom in the United States — that is the myth. But in reality, that is not the case. Migrant farm workers are often paid under the table, unless they come as part of a regulated act or bill that protects (but even these federal acts don’t give them a livable wage). How is one suppose to be prosperous if one is being cheated in the work they put? In many cases, these migrant workers believe in the class “land of opportunity” spiel in their journey to the north. The reality upon their arrival is a trap; they are not meant to be anything more than a seasonal worker during the harvest. Their cup is empty and they leave emptier than when they first arrived. This is the negative growth he references.

Audre Lorde references the disqualification from humanity that women of color (and especially from her perspective as a black woman) have had to live through for a long time. Lorde states they “were never meant to survive” (Lorde 42). Women have had a myth attached to them for countless centuries, going further back than the formation of the United States; this is myth of servitude, childbearing and motherhood. In the 1800’s, this took the form as the “cult of domesticity” in the United States. Women were thought to be delicate and flowery, like angels — considered too pure for the evil world. But they were also expected to stay at home — like a child. This goes twofold for women of color. They suffer from a twofold oppression from their race and gender. When they go out into the world they suffer one oppression, and when they come back home they suffer another.

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So What? How do they use their stories, their identity to tell these truths? Why is telling these truths essential to their sense of meaning and how they choose to live their lives as ethical beings in the world? How is this relevant for you/your story, your work with community, your own sense of meaning?

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In Lorde’s own sentiment she states that people rob themselves from themselves and each other (Lorde 44). This line is contextualized by the dynamic of her complex identity going against that of society’s status quo. Lorde’s message is that of fighting the complacency of silence, the false and sleeping security of it. This complacency is what disempowers people. Not coming into terms with who you are is the greatest failure any human being can commit — the second is giving your whole self over blindly to a collective, whether it be an idea, man or institution, it matters not; these are the things that seek to rip you apart. Lourde stands opposed to these force; an identity is all has one to stand strongly upon if all else is lost.

Baldwin illuminates what an identity can do with his fervorish speech. He brings up the topic of education and the effect it has on the youngest of us, the children. He urges educators to figure out a way to unite themselves the potential and energy the next generation has (Baldwin 7). The next generation must always be mentored and guided by the elder. But what of everyone else not so young? Are the learned adults and beyond condemned to stay with what they know? Is humanity meant to live as always part of a collective greater than the individual? Baldwin focuses on children in his passage, but we can stand to teach and learn no matter the circumstance; we are teachers and children at the same time. We are strange, dichotomous, paradoxical beings after all.

Jose Angel N taps deeper into this human collective, channeling the common thread of feelings that divides and binds people. He states that the loss of his family he experienced as helplessness was mirrored by those opposed to him as a slow, gnawing anger (Angel). The reciprocity of feeling is felt by all involved in some way or another. There is no avoiding this. We are not robots on stand-by with no opinion. If you have a voice, it will always yearn to speak. And that will undoubtedly affect people around you, for better or worst — it’s almost like a law of the universe.

But what does this mean for all of us? Well frankly, there is something very telling of our own stories in that no single life is ever exactly the same. I see patterns for sure, and many people do share race, culture, communities and a host of other commonalities. But we bring something greater in our own indispensable perspective no matter how lost in the collective our individual selves may seem.

Your identity matters and every person should take time to find it — if not making it their ultimate life goal! If every person realized what they were, and where they stood as humans in relation to each other, a great magnitude of change would happen. I do not know what kind of change would happen or if it would look like any change I can imagine. But I do know the world as we know it would be better off with a humanity self-realized. This should be the goal we all strive to achieve.

But right now, most people are too afraid to discover themselves; they assume identities given to them, molded into them, living lives they think they should live. They are too afraid to see themselves for themselves — at least for now.

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Now what?

Lorde outlines the first 3 principles of Kwanza: 1) The decision to strive towards unity in self and community, 2)self-determination, 3)collective work and responsibility (42–43). Take at least one of these principles and think about how you will apply it to your work with your community partner this semester. Be specific.

Baldwin began by saying that one of the paradoxes of education is that “precisely at the point when you begin to develop a conscience, you must find yourself at war with your society. It is your responsibility to change society if you think of yourself as an educated person” (6).

What do you feel is your responsibility as an educated person? How is your work with community this semester supporting or part of how you wish to use your education? Please be sure to include points from Jose Angel N.’s piece as it is particularly relevant for the community you are all working with, most of whom are Latino immigrants or the children of Latino immigrants. How might his analysis of the current state of “negative growth” he describes inform and expand your understanding of the larger context that impact the people you are working with?

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Lorde’s first principle of Kwanza is Umoja, the decision to strive towards unity in self and community. I think since I’m with Canal Alliance’s ESL program, I have to be patient with myself and others. I have to find unity between what I know, what I think I know and what I need to know.

My role as an educated person has been and always will be to learn. Education doesn’t stop when you leave a classroom nor will it ever be confined to it. My responsibility to my community partner is to be a learner. I am not someone smarter than them. I am not someone luckier than them. I am not someone better than them.

I am someone meant to learn all the same.

Jose Angel N states that negative growth is a contraction of America’s promise to welcome the tired, huddled masses (Angel). This is a definite break of a social contract as well as a moral one.

In opposition to this negative growth, I want to be a positive growth as much as I can. There is nothing I can do to change the circumstances of the present, but we can all move forward together. I can make them feel welcome. I can try my best to make them feel understood; they are not some scapegoat to be blamed. They are here because they wanted to be here, so they came of their own volition and decision. We are here together.