In Chapter 8 of “Privilege, Power, and Differences” Johnson explains some of the strategies that dominate groups to avoid having to deal with and solve the problem of oppression. Some of his examples involve members of the dominant group blaming the victims of oppression for that they are under. Here are some examples and my reflections on them:
Some whites might say “{insert minority group here} can raise their status in society if they simply work hard, get educated and stop committing crimes”. The issue with this approach is two fold. One, it assumes that members of a minority group are all lazy, uneducated, criminals. Second, it assumes such opportunities to do so are as easily accessible to the minorities as they are to the oppressive group. Finally, it ignores the fact that even those that are hard working, educated, law-abiding citizens still face racism in day-to-day life.
An even worse example of not acknowledging the problem is the “Its better this way”. This approach can involves members of the dominate group claiming that separation of races is good, since most people would prefer to live among there own kind. Those that claim this may avoid the negative label of “racist” by asserting that segregation can be done so everything is “separate, but equal”. As segregation in the US in the wake of Plessy v. Ferguson showed us, being separate means being unequal.
Even if a person acknowledges racism is still a problem, they may remove them selves from responsibility by claiming that they are not racist, sexist, or any of the bad “ist”. However, most of these people do little else to stop those who are oppressive and there for still contribute to the cycle of oppression.
I think the biggest thing we can do is to observe that racism exist, that it is still a problem, and research how we as individuals play a part in oppression.
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