There is no Spoon

I have been thinking a lot about race lately. I have been inspired by what I have heard from people like Michael Eric Dyson and Tim Wise and dismayed by others who want to blame and raise one demographic above the others.

Tonight it struck me that the very idea of a racial norm is an painfully obviously artificial construct yet it is the foundation that US (maybe Western) culture is based on. If you can see it, it is plain as day. The voice of white culture speaks with the authority of speaking for all people. It is the voice of a collective, countless people speaking together. And as a white male I hear my own voice speaking with it as well. I hear this collective voice and assume that since there are so many and its so loud, that is must represent the voice of everyone. And so when the voice of a non-white people group stands out it can be respected as such but there is still the understanding that the collective voice is true for that people as well. you see the collective voice speaks for everyone whether they like it or not.

The collective voice is like the voice of the wizard of OZ, it tells us all not to pay any attention to the man behind the curtain. Was it a coincidence that the Wizard of OZ was a white male? It makes the point perfectly; never mind that the voice speaking for everyone always has (in the history of our country) and always will speak for everyone. It always will...unless you can realize the truth. The voice of the heterosexual white male speaks with authority based on one simple predication that we have all subscribed to: straight white people are the norm.

The voice of the non-norm person can be respected, but that person will be recognized as a special kind of normal (white) person. As long as they live/work/speak within the system, they will always be (especially to the majority of white people) thought of as a unique kind of white person. Maybe as a white person with additional features, the way an SUV might have an off-road or sport option package.

That predication is the construct that gives whiteness its intrinsic authority and privilege. That predication is totally artificial. This is the truth that, for me, seems like the beginning to seeing the world a different way. One cannot change or escape white privilege by changing a few habits. It is a change that has to happen in the mind first with the realization that this is not how God intended us to live. One may not be able to escape white privilege ever by act of will... you cant bend the spoon, thats impossible, instead try to realize the truth...there is no spoon.

CPWI Part 2

032007 CPW 054
Originally uploaded by ajdele.

I did not end up going to the saturday protest that was organized by ANSWER. From what I heard about it I am not sorry. It sounded like an angry protest, with anger on both sides. This protest drew anti-protesters. I heard one man on NPR say that he was going to be there to make sure that the peace people did not deface the Vietnam War Memorial. How can peace be so mis-characterized? There were also people at Arlington National Cemetery with the same purpose.

I dont understand how peace can draw such vehement responses against it. I recently heard something else troubling on NPR.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9083208

It seems a small town in MN had voted to support the creation of a department of peace and non-violence. Just check out the link, it is a crazy story that I cant even paraphrase

CPWI Reflection

Many of you know that last week I was in Washington DC participating in the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq. It was quite an experience. In a way I feel that I cheated myself out of fully participating in the worship/march/protest by occupying myself with taking pictures. I was officially under the charge of McCormick to catch the event (and McCormick people) participating in it and that kept me busy.... I think that is another post.

This was my first protest. For the longest time I was ambivalent about protesting in general. I can see how it appears to be futile and fruitless. One of the first things my parents said to me after I got back was "We're still at war, it didn't work!" (Let the reader understand that my parents were supportive of my participation, or at least didnt condemn it) And they are right, it didnt work. As a matter of fact the car I was riding in had heard on NPR on the way in that President Bush was at Camp David this weekend. During the protest I also learned that he is commonly gone when major protests are planned. I guess we can feel good about that, we had caught someone's attention. Us or the ANSWER protest planned for the next day.

So then what is the point. I can see the value in protesting as part of the democratic process. I think many of us in the US take the nature of democracy for granted. Or at least forget to factor human laziness into it. In our representative democracy our elected officials are expected to vote and propose legislation that is in line with the will of the american people (or in our best interests...that is a whole other discussion). they are further expected to know via popular telepathy what the will of their constituency is. This is the sticky point, they cant know what we
are thinking unless we tell them. I find it rediculous to expect politicians to actively go find out what is best for their people when they have people with a lot of money behind them (lobbyists)
telling them what they should do. It is simply easier to take the information you are presented with rather than go do the hard work yourself (or pay a staffer to do it). Whatever we would like to believe elected people are not the morally superior people we want to think they are, they are normal people who have messed up lives like you and I. Into all this you also have to factor in potential gifts and bribery from interest groups and multiply it by the ridiculously low number of citizens who vote on a regular basis.

Within this system I see a protest movement simply as popular lobbying. We were taking our concerns direct to the government (in CPWI's case, we took them to God then to the government) in the best way we could. We didnt have large numbers of dollars behind us but we did have the time and talent of a lot of people. We can't give gifts to elected officials so we made a big noise to be noticed. Even if the movement voice is not heard it is voiced! One can only do so much to make sure one is heard, our primary responsibility (as people of privilege with a voice) is to use it and to speak.

As I say this I have to reiterate that this was my first protest. I have not used my voice responsibly. I have never called a congress- person's office or sent a personal letter. I have signed onto group emails that are made easy for me. I think I may have sent a custom message through one of those things... maybe, once. more and more I am feeling my place in the world: young adult, european american, middle class, male, computer savy. I have a responsibility to those who others in each of those demographics have screwed over to use my voice for their advancement and betterment.

CPWI was not the start of that for me but I think it was an important milestone. A biggish step. I think I will need to continue reflecting on what this means and what to do with it; Peace work, Christ's call to non-violence and real community, the middle class freedom to protest, how to live responsibly in privilege, and on and on and on...