Surrounded by awful people

[obfuscate]

Last Friday, when I got home from class, I posted the following to facebook:

What a neat experiment it would be if we all took some time each day to be aware of our privilege and consider how that might affect our interactions with people who don't have said level of privilege.
It was a passive aggressive snipe. It was a coward's snipe. Because I

Comments

[oakparkgirl]

Amen sister! Only I see this on FB amongst my family, who may not all consider themselves privileged but are, because they are on a personal computer using the internet. I finally called my mother out on it in a private email thread. I can't tell you how disappointed I was when she finally stopped pussyfooting around and admitted she is "tired of her tax money supporting immigrants and lazy welfare queens." I didn't bother bringing up how many able bodied people on her side of our family in Indiana have collected some form of welfare without really needing it, and getting away with it. How am I, the child, more aware of my privilege than the elders in my family? It is mind boggling

[obfuscate]

Also had what I thought might escalate into ugliness on Twitter when two of my friends started judging David's upbringing.

wtf to this forever. Who are these people?!

[juniperesque]

Well, if it makes you feel any better, just because they're your classmates doesn't make them your peers.

Since I work in social services, I am committed long-term to working with and for poor black people (and poor people generally, though if I wish to stay in Chicago, most of the poor people are black people), but it does boggle my mind to meet people in my field who have racist attitudes. There are plenty of conservative Republicans in my field, which is not too surprising considering that many people view nonprofit work as paternalistic and Advancement Services folks tend to be the more stereotypically number-crunchers rather than the dreamers/doers in direct service. But even most of the folks I don't agree with politically don't tend to be racistsWhile I struggle with classism in a way that is probably typical, I am feeling it more acutely in the apartment-hunting process and I have a lot of cognitive dissonance surrounding my actions in relation to my own privilege

[obfuscate]

I'm not sure Keith has actually encountered it a lot - his students are a much more diverse group on pretty much every conceivable level, so you don't get that sense of oneness to lull you into the comfort of saying something completely offensive.

Thank you for sharing that you've encountered the same kind of thing - it's nice to know it's doable. Because honestly, some days I seriously consider changing my field to get away from these people

[cos]

Whoah... I don't think I knew you were taking classes or what they're in or where, though now I know something about the people taking the with you. You haven't posted in years! Glad you're back, even if you're only back just this once :)

[noodledays]

hey, many happy birthday wishes to you! I hope you're having a great one. :D