![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Occupy Privilege!
Dec. 4th, 2011 03:31 pmAs I discussed in a previous entry, the more I look at the Occupy Movement, the more I think it's powered by white people who are only now realizing that white privilege doesn't buy what it used to. Then they find that not only are they not guaranteed college, jobs after college, and financial stability, but now the cops are spraying and beating them like they're... well... not white! The shock. The indignation.
I can't really be shocked, though. I mean, I know a lot of people are still in denial about what the enforcement of our political and economic system looks like, but people of color in particular have never had that luxury. We can talk all we want about how not all cops are bad, but if the best cops we can hope for are ones that do not actively abuse protesters and merely stand by while other cops do... well... I think we'll see the rest of the 99% catching up with what poor people, homeless people, and people of color have known about police all along.
The Zimbardo Prison Experiment isn't just a freaky footnote in psychology courses. It's real, and some people have been living it this whole time. No wonder they're looking at the Occupy Movement (both those watching at home who are shocked that the police are being scary, and those in denial who insist that the police are just misunderstood) and shaking their heads at all the privileged people just now getting a taste.
The challenge is going to be remembering these lessons when middle-class white people have gotten what they need and poor people, people of color, LGBT people, etc. have not (because I firmly believe they will be the last). The challenge is going to be remembering what it was like to have to fear police repression once things go back to how they were and it's just happening to Those Other People again.
On a more personal note, Indianapolis has a second occupation movement going on, and I want to be around just because it is apparently not usual for conversations about privilege to be had. I want to be there for it, but I think before I can do that that I need some kind of taste of what I could be building. I want to go to a space where solidarity is a Thing. I want to talk to people who believe that compassion can be a way of life. I want to participate in a decent group founded on a consensus model.
If I want those things, though, I guess there's nowhere I can really go for them. I don't know if I'm qualified to help build them, but I guess I have to. Do I have the energy? Do I have the expertise? Can I do that?
Maybe there's an occupation near me that I could visit to help out a little before I go back to try and build something decent on the crumbled nasty wreckage of Indy's first attempt. I could use some inspiration. It's hard to let my local organizers give me that, because the more I think about it the more unsure I am that they would understand what inspires me at all.
I can't really be shocked, though. I mean, I know a lot of people are still in denial about what the enforcement of our political and economic system looks like, but people of color in particular have never had that luxury. We can talk all we want about how not all cops are bad, but if the best cops we can hope for are ones that do not actively abuse protesters and merely stand by while other cops do... well... I think we'll see the rest of the 99% catching up with what poor people, homeless people, and people of color have known about police all along.
The Zimbardo Prison Experiment isn't just a freaky footnote in psychology courses. It's real, and some people have been living it this whole time. No wonder they're looking at the Occupy Movement (both those watching at home who are shocked that the police are being scary, and those in denial who insist that the police are just misunderstood) and shaking their heads at all the privileged people just now getting a taste.
The challenge is going to be remembering these lessons when middle-class white people have gotten what they need and poor people, people of color, LGBT people, etc. have not (because I firmly believe they will be the last). The challenge is going to be remembering what it was like to have to fear police repression once things go back to how they were and it's just happening to Those Other People again.
On a more personal note, Indianapolis has a second occupation movement going on, and I want to be around just because it is apparently not usual for conversations about privilege to be had. I want to be there for it, but I think before I can do that that I need some kind of taste of what I could be building. I want to go to a space where solidarity is a Thing. I want to talk to people who believe that compassion can be a way of life. I want to participate in a decent group founded on a consensus model.
If I want those things, though, I guess there's nowhere I can really go for them. I don't know if I'm qualified to help build them, but I guess I have to. Do I have the energy? Do I have the expertise? Can I do that?
Maybe there's an occupation near me that I could visit to help out a little before I go back to try and build something decent on the crumbled nasty wreckage of Indy's first attempt. I could use some inspiration. It's hard to let my local organizers give me that, because the more I think about it the more unsure I am that they would understand what inspires me at all.
