Thursday, September 29, 2016

September Blog Post- Samantha Haskell

“It didn’t occur to me at the time that my taking up space, my sense of “authority,” and my comfort with speaking in generalities could be connected with my race, class, able bodied and citizenship privileges located in the predominantly white middle-class university setting, or could serve to marginalize and/or silence women of color, working class, poor, and/or immigrant women, and/or women with disabilities,” (Russo, 2013). This sentence holds a high amount of importance due to the fact of how much information it holds. If I were trying to explain to someone the power a privileged a person can have and how it can marginalize those who do not share their privilege, I would read them this passage. It is important to understand the power one has just by the color of their skin, their economic class, their gender, etc. Once someone is aware of their privilege they can then use it to help others. Beyond that, it also makes one aware of when to be silent. It is important and necessary for change to speak up about injustices, but it can be just as powerful to step back and have those who are experiencing those injustices to speak for themselves.

This statement has made me think differently about the course material by critically thinking about different cultures and my role and lack of role in these cultures. I only recently learned about white privilege and the importance of not speaking for others. And even more recently leaning that these concepts are neither good nor bad, but that they just are.

When I first learned about these concepts I was confused because I thought that if I was talking about a movement or a social injustice on a high platform, that I would be doing a service to that community. It didn’t cross my mind that I could still help these movements without offering my voice.  As a white person who has only seen police brutality against black people on Facebook, why do I have a right to speak about this on a high platform? I don’t. There are plenty of black people who are suffering from this, have things to say on the matter, who can speak on the matter. I need to step back, help where I can, but not speak for others.

It is important that those who are oppressed speak out because their cause earns more report. Seeing a white person talk about the injustices of police brutality against black people doesn’t look as meaningful as a black person speaking out. It could raise the question, “what does that white person know about this?”

Linda Alcoff writes about this is their article “The Problem of Speaking for Others”. Alcoff states, “…both the study of and the advocacy for the oppressed must come to be done principally by the oppressed themselves, and that we must finally acknowledge that systematic divergences in social location between speakers and those spoken for will have a significant effect on the content of what is said”(Alcoff, 1991). What this quote means is that when someone who is oppressed they need to be the one who speaks for an impact to be made.

I chose the original quote from Russo because I felt that it is important to be aware of one’s privilege and ability to speak for others, especially when talking about communication and culture. While you may be able to speak for someone it always best to step back and ask yourself whether or not you should.


                                                                 Sources

1) Russo, Ann. (2013). Between speech and silence: Reflections on accountability. Reflections at the            edges of sound, 34-49.


2) Alcoff, Linda. (1991). The problem of speaking for others. Cultural critique, 5- 32. 

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