Last Talking Points!

Allan Johnson "Privlege,Power, and Difference"

Premise

• privilege
• saying the words
• voacbulary
• oppression
• racism
• sexism
• hatred
• acceptance
• positive attitude
• proactive decsisions
• solutions

Argument : Johnson argues that the more society pays attention to problems of privilege and oppression the more aware and proactive we will be toward breaking the cycle that causes privilege and oppression.

Evidence

1. "Dare to make people feel uncomfortable, beginning with yourself." (Pg. 145) This supports Johnson's argument of recognizing the problem because he asks people to recognize the problem themselves and then make other people aware of it. He wants people address uncomfortable issues such as race so that other people will think about the issue and reevaluate how they view and think about the issue.
2. "You don't have to mount an expedition to find opportunities, they're all over the place, beginning with you." (pg. 142) Johnson does not expect us to go out into the streets, market places, and malls and scream that racism and sexism is wrong, he just wants us to start with something small within ourselves and help change. He wants their personal outlooks to change and reevalute issues before helping other people reevaluate theirs. There are many opportunities to help others change their ways of thinking, you do not need to look to hard.
3. "As powerful as systems of privilege are, they cannot stand the strain of lots of people doing something about it, beginning with the simpliest act of naming the system out loud." (pg. 153) Johnson is trying to say that if lots of people start to realize that our society has problems then society will be forced to change. Society is made up of a lot of different people and because of the diversity it will allow us to change the problems. All we need is the support from the people.

Comments

I really liked this Johnson piece because he wasn't asking us to change the world, just change ourselves first then help others. One thing I didn't understand was when he used the words "tin cup approach" and "Buisness case argument" , what did he mean by that? It was really easy to read this article and after reading it , it made me rethink how I look at society and how many problems are really in society. If people focus on changing themselves first then they can focus on changing society after.

Talking points #9 Our Guys

Bernard Lefkowitz "Our Guys"

Premise

• privilege
• legal system
• mental disabilities
• Glen Ridge
• Jocks
• Social Status
• High School
• Hatred
• blind eye
• inequality
• high school

Argument

Lefkowtiz argues that because residents in Glen Ridge gave privilege to a specific social group within the community it felt the need to consider memebers of the group victims of a criminal offense instead of being considered the perpatradors. A community with odd values only instills those odd values in their children.

Evidence

1. "I began to frame Glen Ridge as a story of power and powerlessness." Lefkowitz began interviewing different people in the town and it seemed that those who had power and were privileged viewed the boys as victims. But those that did not have too much power and were not privileged viewed the boys as disgusting beings. Lefkowitz saw the inequalities between the different social groups in the town and based his book off of it. Because Leslie was mentally retarded and not privileged they boys took advantage of her, just like a hunter would take advantage of prey. The strong were the hunters to the weak in Glen Ridge and if you were not strong then you were not considered important.
2. "The list, more often than not, omitted the young woman in the basement and her family." The town's sense of the crime was completely warped. They believed that the boys that were being accused of sexually assaulting Leslie were the victims. Not the mentally retarded girl who was desperate for friends, so desperate that it took her a while to tell anyone. The privileged saw the other privileged boys as victims when they were the ones who caused the problem in the first place. The town's values were messed up and that made the boys think it was okay to commit such a horrible crime.
3. "Maybe the silence of Glen Ridge students was a symptom of grief and shame, colored by self-interest."The jocks told other jocks about the crime they committed and yet no one said anything. Until one boy finally had a conscious and told the principal. The people in the school that were aware of the crime were too shameful to talk about it with anyone and too wrapped up in the jocks. The jocks controlled everyone, they wanted people to like them and they knew they could have complete control over people. They believed no matter how many people they told that it would not become public. Not until someone had a conscious and knew that what they did was wrong.

Comments

Reading this article was definately a shock for me. I was in awe at how Glen Ridge held the boys up to be some type of god. They were good at sports, SO WHAT?Being good at sports does not give you the privilege to walk around and do whatever you want, but it does in Glen Ridge. This crime was only committed because of a long history in Glen Ridge of privilege to the Jocks. If someone was brave enough to stop the jocks from being so high up on the social ladder then this never would have happened. Not only is it the boys who committed the crime fault but it is also the towns fault for not taking action to put them in jail. Granted it was a delicate crime, that does not matter a girl who did not know any better was degraded and sexually assaulted. Yet all Glen Ridge could see was someone accusing "Their guys" of being bad. It was a very good article that showed how bad privilege can be and how corrupting it can be to students.

Talking Points on Tim Wise

Tim Wise " White Swim In Racial Preference"

Premise

• racial preference
• history
• segregation
• privelege
• invisibility
• ignorance
• hard work vs. privelege
• college
• statistics

Argument

Wise argues that white privelge is still present in society and school systems and because the white race is not willing to acknowledge their privelege over blacks then nothing will change.

Evidence

1. "In other words, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that white America is the biggest collective recipient of racial preference in the history of the cosmos. It has skewed our laws, shaped our public policy and helped create the glaring inequalities with which we still live." Wise is saying that because white privlege is very prominent in society it has helped shaped the ways we live our lives and the rules we live by. Because white are given more priveleges then blacks, it the white men and women who had a say in how our government fuctions and what rules it is acceptable to live by. White people shaped what people believe is acceptable and unacceptable because they have more power then black people.
2. "Privilege,to us, is like water to the fish: invisible precisely because we cannt imagine life without it." White people are so used to being privileged that we simply do not even recognize it anymore. An example of this is everyone takes walking for granted but once someone is in an accident and is confined to a wheel chair that is when they recognize that walking was so good. White people rarely ever are put in bad situations that make them recognize and appreciate their race but black people can see the white privilege and they are forced to deal with more inequalities then whites.
3. "White preference remains hidden because it is more subtle." Since the time that African Americans were brought to the colonies in America they were always forced to be considered lower then whites. The african americans were enslaved simply because the Europeans ran out of their own servants and needed some people to complete cheap labor.Now the white people who have privilege do not see that they have privilege but the second a black person is given a better privelge then a white person it becomes a HUGE deal. White people can control black privilege but black people can not control white privilege because it is too powerful.

Comments

I really liked this article because it is very relavent in my life. When Wise began talking about how white people make fun of blacks because it is easier for them to get to college I never really looked at the other side of the picture. Black people have a life that is completely different then whites and getting into college is just one thing out of a billion that is made easier for them. Shamefully, I admit that I used to say rude comments like that about college and admissions but now I completely look at the situation differently. Just because I am white I recieved privileged all my life, black people do not recieve the same privilege and are faced with inequalities every day.