Woke

“But when we shut each other out we make clubs of people who are right and clubs of people who are wrong as if we are not more complex than that, as if we are all-knowing, as if we are perfect. But in reality, we are just really scared. Scared that we will be next to make a mistake. So we resort to pushing people out to distract ourselves from the inevitability that we will cause someone hurt.”

–Ngọc Loan Trần, Calling IN: A Less Disposable Way of Holding Each Other Accountable

Lately, I’ve been chewing on some thoughts about how us social justice oriented folks can be really nasty to each other, as well as to folks that we consider to be new to “the work” and how that nastiness shows up in interactions. At the moment, I’m less focused on the more overt forms of intentional belittling or diminishing of another person, and more focused on the subtle ways it can show up.

I’ve also been thinking about social justice elitism, and how exclusionary our thinking can be when we enter with that framework.

Woke

I’ve also been thinking about the concept of being woke. The red pill-blue pill analogy is one that I’ve often heard, reflected on, and even used when thinking about my own journey, as well as in the context of my teaching roles. Once we become aware of and begin to recognize certain patterns of injustice through some critical incident or some other dissonance-creating event, it becomes harder not to notice those things.

You take a pill, become aware, and now you know. However, I’ve been thinking more and more about the reality that sometimes we’re let down, and sometimes we let others down on our social justice work journeys, and after really sitting with things and trying to extend the analogy I landed with the following:

Perhaps we do take a pill, but that pill is only for whatever it’s for, and not for all things. Perhaps there are multiple pills we must take. For instance, I can feel really aware and comfortable with speaking about and acting alone, and in solidarity with others on addressing oppression in one area, while at the same time, being partially aware, completely oblivious of what might be taking place in another area.

Basically, I’m ending with an admission that I am not now nor will I ever be “woke” enough; with a commitment to acknowledge my contradictions but still push myself to get closer to understanding the ways that I’m part of the problem as well as how I can be a part of the solution.

I’m ending this entry with a recognition that learning is continuous, and a reminder of the importance of staying humble and responsive on this journey.

Ubuntu,

From Aspiring Humanitarian, Relando Thompkins-Jones

Subscribe to My Notebook

Enter your email and click subscribe to receive new entries by email.

Email Address

Subscribe