cross-posted on racialicious
(Note: These are my undeveloped thoughts about Occupy Wall Street, which may be unfair to many people. I would love to have my views checked and challenged by anyone who might see things differently. Thanks.)
For the past few months, the vague idea of a revolution had been constantly on my mind, and though I didn’t know how exactly it would be carried out or what specific changes it could achieve, it seemed like the only way out of the ridiculous state of our country. So it should have seemed like a serendipitous turn of events event for Occupy Wall Street, the vague idea of a revolution incarnate, to pop up in New York and very rapidly gain widespread support. Yet for some reason, I felt very hesitant to sign onto the movement in any way. I would never want to discourage or discount the efforts of people who recognize the need for change in our country and actually take a stand for it. But try as I might, I couldn’t seem to connect to the whole thing. It wasn’t a matter of being jaded or cynical – my ideals easily and constantly compel me into action, but nothing about Occupy Wall Street seemed to compel me. In fact, what I was seeing and hearing about it made me feel even more disempowered. I didn’t know how to explain it exactly, but thought it might have something to do with:
· the fact that it was popularized by admittedly privileged organizations and individuals
· the empty and misleading symbolism of “Wall Street”
· the demographics drawn to it and the exclusive methods of communication used to reach out to them
· and the disconnect I observed between this movement and the historic work of marginalized communities throughout the country, especially in this city, which continues to be carried out day by day with very little attention.
Struggling with these feelings and recognizing my own biases, I approached the protest as open-mindedly as possible. I showed up at Liberty Plaza last Friday night, with some people from my program, and we made our way through the almost theatrical encampment at Liberty Plaza and sat in for the occupation’s general assembly. Once there, however, I realized that the representation was even more limited than I had expected. The crowd was overwhelmingly and undeniably white and, from the looks of it, “hip” in a way that privilege enables people to be. All the moderators were young, educated white people, as were all those who seemed to be playing a more direct role in the assembly.
As one who has been subjected to spaces dominated by white privilege all my life, I felt a guttural negative reaction to the scene, and could not help but feel oppressed by it, despite my hope and desire to feel solidarity with the people there. I can’t fully explain or justify my feelings, and I know a lot of it is a matter of my own biases, which have developed through a long process of struggling against white dominance and power in my own country, city, school, etc. and having to overcome feelings of Otherness in all spaces. I don’t want to take away from the presence of people of color at the protest, who I am sure have been actively involved and dedicated to the process. In my personal experience of the protest, however, Occupy Wall Street was just another place in the world where I felt marginal and tokenized, where the terms of the game were once again being dictated to me by the white majority.
I recognize that these feelings are personal and in need of more critical exploration, and I’m sure many people of color would disagree with me completely. Aside from these feelings, my hesitance toward Occupy Wall Street has to do with my own vision of an American revolution. I believe that a true revolution cannot be carried out by those who are comfortable enough with the power structures that exist. It cannot have been initiated by a privileged organization of educated people who are shielded from the worst aspects of our unjust society, who have plenty of options in life and to whom the fact of oppression is not much more than an intellectual entity. A true revolution must be carefully and gradually mobilized by those who have been most oppressed and marginalized by the current state of our government and economy, whose continued existence in this world really depends on a radical change. Otherwise, we are replicating the structures of power that continue to oppress us.
It was shocking to me to see how poorly immigrant communities and communities of color had been included in Occupy Wall Street. I guess the reasoning or justification is that, since all the dispossessed masses and people of color are covered by the “99%”, this protest is all-inclusive. But the fact is that amongst that 99% exist great inequalities of their own and extreme gradations of wealth and privilege, which are inextricably tied to race, despite the general assembly’s blatant attempt to suggest we live in a country “formerly divided by race” (Read this: http://henaashraf.com/2011/09/30/brown-power-at-occupy-wall-street/). To act as if we share one experience and one problem and therefore seek the same solution would be a terrible lie and an extremely weak and superficial grounds for collective action, especially if the voices that have begun to dominate the movement have the least to lose if the movement were to fail. It’s great to feel solidarity with one another against the people who rule over the 99%, but within the 99% are plenty of people who rule over the rest in their own way, and this makeshift solidarity can only go so far.
The fact that there is no clear demand reveals the lack of urgency on the part of those who are shaping it. It’s a movement fueled by ambiguity and theater, and it’s hard to say that this movement could survive the process of forming real demands that can significantly improve the lives of the 99%. The reality is that there are a lot of VERY urgent demands out there, which have been very carefully researched and formulated by marginalized communities, but this movement seems to have all the time in the world when it comes to deciding on what it really wants to take action for. I saw signs about college graduates not having jobs and signs protesting the lack of funding for art students, and it is great that these people are taking a stand to change a world that does not allow them to achieve their dreams even though they did everything in their power to make it happen. But while those people might be unemployed or underemployed because they can’t find a decent job in the field of their choice, on the other hand there are people cleaning toilets and being subject to all sorts of abuse, who have never had the option to pursue their dreams, and as evidenced by the turnout, don’t have the time to come perform their feelings about the injustices they live.
After the general assembly, we stopped by a dinky little sushi restaurant nearby, where an Asian immigrant woman was working frantically into the late hours of the night to prepare noodles and make the last of her day’s earnings. It struck me that this woman, working around the clock and living a life in the United States that could not have been the life she had imagined for herself, could not participate in, much less lead or help determine, the movement being carried out a block away in her name - a movement which would more readily include her as a nameless point in their argument than a voice in its future.
Judging from the reports I've seen on democracy now the majority of the participates are white and I can assume the status of privilege in the group. The article brings up a good point of being different tiers within the 99%. this is a problem because not all the solutions can be answered from only one groups experience. We as people of color need to show up now and let our voices heard like the five who changed "formally" to "despite." As much as this movement goes across racial lines it cannot let itself be dominated by one group, but I feel that is not what is happening, in a way it's too soon to really tell the intentions of those "in charge." The newest declaration is more cleaned up and is more solid. As i have said to a couple people already: when white women are being pepper sprayed it echoes and catches media attention and lets those who have access feel a little more like some one on the margins. let's see where this goes, as for myself i am joining the movement to express my complaints with this current system and i bring a certain experience that relates to others in my cultural group. We should not see this as a reason to shy away but rather an opportunity to let our voices be heard in the movement before its too late.
ReplyDeleteyup, lets blame the pale people who bothered to take the time to care about the status of others for not being colorful enough. oh, and let's imply that it's a problem that these pale people have bothered to observe that the people around them are being treated unfairly. yup, that's great. in fact, it's the pale peoples fault that not enough colorful people have worked to spread the word in their respective communities. let's not even mention the level of violence that the black and blue's are willing to inflict on the colorful people, that they otherwise would not be as likely to commit against the pale people. AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteWhoa that last comment was hateful. In no way was this article blaming "pale people" so let's debunk that right now. Otherwise that comment seems ignorant, and I'm sure you're not an ignorant person. And its full of a lot of misconceptions. People of color, please don't call us colorful, that has a negative connotation, have been talking about this around their communities, but I would hazard to say a lot of us are in line with this article's thinking. It's hard to see this forum being dominated by people who enjoy white privilege without their being a real space for those of us who do not enjoy it to step up and speak. These things need to be addressed. Let's put de-institutionalizing racism on the table, we are the bottom of that 99%, who are suffering the most from poverty, from lack of education, we live in under-resourced neighborhoods. If this is going to be a "grassroots" movement it has to start at the bottom. The way this movement is moving is top-down. They're having after-parties in williamsburg, are you serious? That's a trendy neighborhood for people who are a lot better off than the poorest of the poor. This is not an attack on white people. And the sooner people open their ears to the talk about what racism has done to our society, the faster we'll start to address those issues. If every time someone pulls the race card everyone is up at arms, how will anything ever change?
ReplyDeleteRenaming the players as "pale" and "colorful" really shows me where you're coming from. It would be great if race were that simple and random, and I really wish I was just a crazy person taking issue with such a superficial matter... but "pale" is a different thing from "white". If you take a quick look at our nation's history, the quality "white" (value, blessing, god-given-right-to-rule??) has been the term LEGALLY used by white people in America since white occupation of America, white enslavement of blacks, white manifest destiny (colonization justified by the supreme quality of WHITE), white-only immigration policies....(+ so much more i can't possibly list) and NOW, white control over who makes it in this economy, who gets represented in the media, who gets represented in the government, who gets fed into the prison industry.... I could go on. Using their institutionalized white power, white people have decided how you have to act, sound, and look (answer: white) in order to have any chance of making it in this country. Occupy Wall Street is a space like any other, which has been dominated by white voices from the very start, and that has determined the future of who is able to become a part of it. These movements aren't as simple as telling people they're welcome. People who have been marginalized and have constantly been forced into situations where they have to act/look/sound white, will not respond well to a space that claims to be for their shared liberation, when it's just a perpetuation of the circumstances that have oppressed them throughout their life. AND to be honest, if you have been involved with social justice activity in new york, you'll know that people of color have been the ones carrying the cause of economic equality before it became a trendy white thing to do, so please stop with that self-righteous bullshit.
ReplyDeleteWhy does everyone divide over historical racial issues? Racism is partially being propagated by minorities that harp on the past and want compensation for some perceived wrong a hundred years ago. The face of the world has changed based off of conquest, this is a simple fact that people need to get over.
ReplyDeleteAs for OWS, I think that the movement is birthed in good ideas, then went horribly wrong. I'm not even sure what they really stand for, it seems that every person out there has a different issue. More importantly, to me it seems that they come to bitch, moan and complain, but not present a comprehensive, reasonable solution. I was taught by my father and then by the military that if you want to complain, you need to present a solution too, otherwise you're just bitching and bitching never accomplished anything.
I think that there are valid issues that they raise with the way the US government and economy work. However, these issues are created by the capitalist economy that has also allowed many of us to be successful and live in freedom. People complain about the abuses of power in the US, but don't bother to realize that in the majority of the world, such events wouldn't raise an eyebrow.
I think that the baseline is that the US system is imperfect, but is there a better option? Would we rather live in Communist China where the government mandates how many children you can have? Or maybe in a dictatorship where you can get shot for going out and protesting? How about Somalia, where there is no real government and power is directly related to the gun in your hands? I have been all over the world with the military and with private companies. The US is certainly not perfect, but there are much, much worse places and, as countries go, it's pretty damned good. I think that before people block streets and bitch, they should maybe try to live in another country for a year and see if the US system is really as bad as they make it out to be.