Structural Inequality in our Society

Tatum opens the conversation of self-identity with a series of rhetorical questions designed to make the reader reflect. It made me sit back and try to conceptualize the effect of my environment suroundings “What message is being reflected at me?”(Tantam, 1). The answer to who am I is a result of numerous internal and external factors. These factors include the complex multidimensional parts that make up every unique human being.

Overlooking multidimensional aspects of people’s identity is limiting our perception of others and ourselves. If we only view someone by one block of their identity we blind ourselves to the whole picture, or rather to how the other identities and experiences make others just as complex as ourselves. Tatum brings in the example of race and our multidimensional identities stating “ How one’s racial identity is experienced will be mediated by other dimensions of one’s self: male or female; young or old; wealthy, middle class, or poor; gay lesbian, bisexual, transgender or heterosexual; able-bodied or with disabilities; Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddist, Hindu, or atheist”(Tatum 1). In the context of societal culture, each of these communities is either dominant or subordinate. Tatum explains that the dominate group is seen as the norm for humanity and holds the power of setting the parameter of how the subordinate’s power and authority may be used. This oppressing power play can be seen in our society through how subordinate groups are portrayed the people. For example, the historical representation of African Americans in the early film industry depicted this group through one-dimensional of either the violent black man or the sidekick to the white protagonist. This shallow misrepresentation was directly controlled by the dominant group. While media has begun to improve their depiction of subordinate groups, the long-lasting repercussions of this abuse of power can still be felt in our culture today. Last semester, I held the door for a man as I exited a campus building to head to my dorm hall. He asked for directions to a building that I was passing, so I told him I could show him the way. When it started raining he offered to share his umbrella. On our walk, he explained how he was hesitant to ask for my help and referenced how a man of color’s intentions are often misinterpreted. I was horrified and angry that our current cultural system supported stereotyping the actions of this kind man standing next to me, that the possibility of positive treatment and interactions was determined by an negative oppressive societal system.

Reading Tatum’s article makes me wonder about what other positive interactions and connections are being blocked by systematic racism in American culture. Before moving to California, my rural upbringing in a small Maine town left me ignorant of how systematic racism affected everything in our society. There is racism in Maine, I was just unable to see it. While I had heard of many movements for racial equality, my awareness of where I was on this inequality in our system started in my Service Learning class. Once you allow yourself to see the injustice in our system, it becomes impossible to ignore it. Gaining perspective through assessing where I culturally am culturally dominate and subordinate has given me deeper understanding of how I impact my surroundings. If I choose to keep my head in the sand, I allow for the existence of inequality to continue, so in the end, there is no choice. It is my duty as a person to address all of my privileges in order to truly move through this world ethically.

In the context of my community partner, the dynamics of the “whiteness” can be seen in many forms. Today the students talked about their homes in comparison to the “White part of the Canal”, they viewed that area of where the rich people live. I observed how the students made a clear separation of themselves and their white neighbors. During orientation, our community partner explained the importance of avoiding dressing with expensive label brands. I work with middle schoolers. They are at an age where the urge to fit in with their peers is powerful. I think our clothes can express important nonverbal messages to the students about who we are. Wearing comfortable casual clothes compared to brands like Gucci also effects can affect your students’ receptiveness to you. Dressing casual runs deeper than just making you seem more laid-back and approachable. Clothing can be interpreted as a tell of our socio-economic class. Wearing exclusive brands may be fashionable, but when working with low-income youth it can be detrimental to forming a connection.

So how do we begin to address and change this fixed system of subordinate group stereotyping and self-serving dominate agendas? I believe it starts with everyone reflecting and addressing our part in the system, but this reflection must be collective. Powell inspired this idea when he explained, “These biases are part of social schemas and associations that exist in all of us, privileged or others and that are often reflected in our behavior and policies. Addressing such bias is a collective and structural project more than an individual and psychological one”(Powell, 79). To uproot a deeply engraved problem such as systematic privilege presents requires addressing all the forms of structural, institutional and power inequality. My Community partner Canal Alliance is bridging the educational inequality relationship of schools in Marin by providing students with the many resources for academic success. They also provide education and tax help to the parents of the students, empowering them to be able to help themselves. Their purpose is geared towards providing aid that can lead to the students having a stable future.