Opinion: Race & Class - Is There Liberation In Trying to Be Like Those Who Oppress You?

"The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." - Audre Lorde- Sister Outsider
I got into a discussion about race and class and a question was posed- in this society, are we enslaved mentally according to race and/or class? I took this to mean- does race and class dictate our "social mobility". Does it confine us in the social (and private!) spheres? Do we buy into these arbitrary confines and are we therefore mentally enslaved by them?
Hmph. Race. Race... so arbitrary and ascientific. Designed as just another way for the "white man" to show their superiority. Just another way to subjugate and divide. The People's Institute for Survival and Beyond has an incredible analysis on this. Whiteness.... white supremacy. Power. Privilege.

Words by Toi S.

The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. It means different things to different people. For me, in this context, it means- all of ya'll who are struggling to "get that paper", to have "upward mobility", to "assimilate" into a system built for us not to survive- there is no liberation in that. There is no liberation in striving to be "upper middle class". There is no liberation in acculturation, forgetting our roots to "play the game". The more we buy into the limitations of race and class and the supposed freedom inherent in "upward mobility" (read: assimilating into whiteness and perpetuating white supremacy, since they are seen as the top of the totem pole), the more we are bound.

The master's tools will NEVER dismantle the master's house.

We think we can play the system. We think we can code switch, get these degrees, forsake our roots, and that we will be rewarded the good life. We buy into all the white man tells us in school. We let white folks hand us our history and tell us "Shhhh forget, forget...your ancestors are long gone. Here... take this spiritual path, our spiritual path. Here... here's some history about us and what we think of you." And we take it.

Some don't bother to question it. Their ideas on education- we buy them. Their ideas on family, we buy them. Their notions of patriarchy and the way women should be subjugated, and relegated to only certain spheres...yes, yes...subconsciously we buy that, too. The way we form relationships, the way we value college degrees over elders and wisdom, the way we turn our nose up at our African roots, the way we judge body types, intelligence, the way we buy into colorism. You think we thought this way before the master built his house on our lands? Brought us into his mess. Set up shop ...appropriated all of us brown folks' culture- music, art, even parts of our history.

And then they sell it back to us. They take our homes and sell it back to us. They take our music and sell it back to us. Blackness has been co-opted in this country. They take blackness, brownness and sell it back to us. They go to India, come back and teach us some kind of diluted, variation of their interpretation of the spirituality they see- yoga, ayurveda and such. They go to Africa and do the same. White yoruba priestess'? Come on now!

Reggae, Ska, Punk, Rock, Country, R&B, co-opted....Shamanism, Yoruba, Rastafarianism, co-opted.

And yet...we should be like them? We should use their tools of higher education, their religion, their ideas on how a society should be built: capitalism, patriarchy to "get ahead", to "progress".

Nobody else sees something wrong with this?

We are not whole. We as brown people cannot be whole while buying into this mentality. This is why we are spiritually, mentally and emotionally sick. We can't heal ourselves through acculturation or looking for the answers in someone else's heritage and history. Though white folks could stand to learn some things from the other umteen hundred countries on this planet (that their ancestors have tried to dominate and subjugate). And I do mean LEARN from, not co-opt. Not think you can make them "better". Not subjugate them. Not "master" them. LEARN FROM.

It is time, brown people, that we see how beautiful we are. How rich our culture is. It is time that we look at these tools that were put into our hands at birth, the master's tools, and decide that they aren't going to dismantle this house, this system. We have to go back to our roots. Re-discover our values. OUR values. Not the white man's values. And if we can't find answers...we need to create new ones. We need to create new solutions for this nation's problems. Not rely on a constitution written by white men 200 something years ago. Not try to write policies and adhere to laws when that whole system needs to be toppled and recreated. Not try to fix a system that was doomed to fail due to the principles it was built upon. We need to create something new. We aren't going to salvage this one- not with all the racism, classism, ableism, sexism...etc.

Folks, we have got to stop valuing white heritage, values and characteristics over our own. We have got to stop this cycle of assimilation and acculturation or we will surely perish. Vanish. We have got to help each other remember who we are. Even white folks. What is "white" anyway? Someone I really respect once told me that whiteness is a set of privileges, not a race. Where do "white" folks come from? What is their real history? I encourage folks to check out the People's Institute and to read articles like: The Point is not to interpret whiteness but to Abolish it.

We have a LOT of unlearning and reconstructing to do.

* Toi S.'s blog Philosophactivist

Tags: Activism, Class, Community, Mobility, Opinion, Politics, Race, Social

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Comment by Compound Egret on May 16, 2012 at 12:36am: What I was getting at with the Korean example was capital. Building it and the need for it. Other groups of people build capital in businesses (like swapmeets) and use that money to boost their group with stuff like community centers, more businesses which give new cousins off the boat jobs, newspapers in their native language, etc.

Comment by Toi S. on May 11, 2012 at 10:33am: CE- I spoke what I spoke. Everyone is entitled to do just that. If you think it's ranting, that's fine. Black folks have been told this by white folks forever. On the daily. If the expression of how we're feeling oppressed and how we need solutions is "ranting"- so be it. I'm not going to apologize. Don't you get sick of apologizing? As the token journalist ...or academic...or organizer in predominantly white spaces---I'm done apologizing.

And no. There's no right answer. Like I said- everyone has their own solution. Black Panthers had theirs...MLK, Jr. had his and even still, Bayard Rustin had his- no one was more right. Now when the ideologies come together and we have dialogue...we can come up with multiple solutions that fit multiple situations that can be applied in multiple manners. When someone tries to cram one "right" answer down a bunch of people's throats---there's an issue. My post is a call to awareness..."wake up. put down the tools."

I don't really get what you're saying with the Korean lady...I don't really see how it has anything to do with my blog about not being tied to our roots and assimilating into a system built for white supremacy. So she sold you some socks. So a black person from a black neighborhood owns a black business and sells to someone who isn't black ...are you saying I'm saying they are losing their "blackness" because of this? Well, no...that's not what my blog was about. Just so you know.

and as far as criticism of buying hardcore into capitalism, academia, and the erroneous idea that we are going to be "upper middle class"- *shrugs. Master's tools, just like I said. I look around and see some people of color more invested in white supremacy than white folks...and it's devastating. So I wrote about it.

Anyways, thanks for the dialogue. It's been interesting...journalists don't get to "answer back" much.

Comment by Compound Egret on May 11, 2012 at 12:03am: I think broad brush criticism of people who are trying to "get that paper", "get these degrees" or become one of those dreaded "upper middle class" people is no good. I asked you about opting out because I was curious about what alternative you were going to present. You presented some good ideas in your response, but I think you were just ranting in parts of your initial post. Now there's "no right answer???"

Is the Korean lady sitting in the local swap meet speaking 95% Korean to her Korean friends, reading Korean newspapers and magazines all day and selling me the 5 pack of socks at 5:00 losing any of her inherent Korean essence by doing this?

Comment by Toi S. on May 9, 2012 at 8:27am: First things first...dialogue- which is why I write. Actually, I became a journalist purely out of necessity. I'm an organizer, an educator, and an advocate first and foremost. I saw these conversations being had in little bubbles here and there...so many people think they're the only one seeing this. And in some places, maybe there are seriously only a handful of folks who can take their mind off surviving enough to see this and write about this. But, I've also seen folks working three jobs who have an analysis and are doing what they can so...<shrugs> Can't generalize.

I'm advocating for opting out of a mindset...a hierarchy...a patriarchy,etc. that's been handed to us. No, forced upon us. I'm advocating for going back to roots and de-assimilating...de-acculturating. This can look like- a community garden, a free school, healing yourself however you see fit, healing your community however you see fit, going to school, not going to school, becoming a healer, educating yourself, educating others, etc. There isn't a "right" answer. Sure you can live off the grid- you'll notice that I didn't say that. I also didn't say anything about opting out of a monetary system. I don't see this as feasible right now. I've seen people do it. But, if it's not something the average person can do- it's just not something I'll promote. I support people who can do it- I just am not going to go tell hundreds of poor folks to put solar panels on their backpack and live in tents, etc. I've only ever seen this work out with privileged folks who start out with money to reject.

First things first, though- awareness. Brown folks are so bogged down with struggling and the perpetual foot on our neck that we rarely get to take a breath and step back and see what's going on. Many of us know something about what's going on...but might not have time to devote to devising solutions. If brown folks came together and thought of ways to change this system from the inside out...maybe even just implode it and start anew (I have a feeling it would be the former though)- that would be incredible.

I want to say to compound egret--- we can provide for ourselves, we have and we do. Government aid/public assistance has been dwindling for decades. Poor folks have been providing for ourselves for a long time. All of us at the margins know how to make things work. Make a dollar out of fifteen cents. Find health care when many hospitals and doctor's offices are bent in some of us not having access. Gain access to food when we are underemployed but make too much for food stamps. Not by hunting---hunting in urban areas? Haha. I'm a practical person.

Also, we don't NEED internet access. I don't NEED internet access. I just started blogging a year ago! What did I do before that? Newspapers, newsletters, zines...and before/during that...dialogue in the community. There are so many ways to get the word out. We've gotten stuck thinking that twitter,facebook,e-mailsetc. are our only form of communication. I happen to know that (especially in dealing with the folks in the community that I'm most interested in dealing with- e-communications are not that helpful).

I'm always trying to make these discussions accessible- whether that means translating to spanish (where I live, Spanish-speakers are almost a majority), or whether that means doing community involvement forums or just going out into the community.

Also - I surely am not upper middle class. I'm below poverty level. I don't see how me having access to a computer makes me- or can be conceived as being- upper middle class. I know folks in much worse off situations than me with ipads, iphones, etc. that I can't even conceive of being able to afford. That doesn't say much, though.

Bartering is interesting. I've seen it work in communities in Oakland, Austin, NYC. England. But what does "work" mean and to who? We all have different ideas on that...which is why I don't write to tell people what they "should" be doing or how to do things. I say...just DO SOMETHING.

-- One thing I notice- class discussions always seem to conflate discussions about race in my opinion. This is coming from a person who has these discussions a lot in different states and settings. The two intersect and both deserve to be talked about but for some reason- when you try to talk about both at the same time- race always takes a backseat. This is just a sidebar.

I'll write another post that's a little more streamlined than this comment in a couple weeks. (sorry for the delay- but like I said...I'm an organizer,too, who is tryin' to scrape by like the rest of us).

I challenge anyone reading this to think about what a solution would look like to you if you think there are any solutions. I listed what I've seen and some of what I've taken part in...

Comment by Compound Egret on May 3, 2012 at 1:40am: Any ideas for opting out of the monetary system and gaining power at the same time? You can say you want to opt out of someone else's system, but you still need, food, clothing shelter, electricity, and uh...internet access.

Isn't doing a blog post, in english, on an internet site, especially one like this, kind of upper middle class to some people? Even moreso if you used your own personal computer as opposed to one at the library.

Are you talking about living off the grid completely and hunting and bartering for everything? Does the person with 20K of savings have less power to affect change in his own life than the nomad with a backpack full of clothes, a sleeping bag, and a dutch oven?

Comment by Major Le'Antwon Grace on April 30, 2012 at 5:37pm: what do we do. how we change and stop the downward sprial.

Comment by Lunakiss on April 30, 2012 at 11:53am: I hear you and I agree with what you're saying. What are your suggestions on going about in doing this?

Question is for anyone to answer.

Comment by Spookycreep on April 28, 2012 at 6:15am: I can relate to this article. This is why I hate the Tyler Perry movies black middleclass, bullshit like that is the ideal to shoot for. I don't believe in that "he who dies with the most toys wins" or that the primary function of a man is to be a work mule. Where do these upward mobile types think they are getting off to? There's got to be more to life than the accumulation of a bunch of bull shit that does more harm than good and keeps you awake at night wondering how in hell you're going to pay for all it.. Some one needs to tell these people that living in boxes destroys the soul.

Your article is amazing. Take our culture and sell it back to us... so fucking true. and sad.

Comment by Chris Asrk-pa El on April 27, 2012 at 4:12pm: I hear you loud and clear brother, but as long as you have these chemical agent suppressing the actual agents there will never be a unified community within the united states.

The masters have invested too much for all of use to come to our senses at the snap of a finger, plus there are layers and layers of control methods to keep us dumb & fighting for most of our days.
But I have also noticed that some chosen people are waking up and fighting back against these oppressive rules the masters have planned for us and it will take a strong majority of us to make an impactful difference to these fascist laws being put in place but I have hope the people will shake the chains of want and embrace the light of need.

'They want us to be slaves but we need to be free.'