This past year has been one of tremendous personal, social and political growth. I've realized a lot of things about myself, other people and American society in general. Being here in Brasil is helping me take a step back from a lot of the things that I was learning before I got here and throw a shit load of perspective on it. Lately, I've been thinking about micro and macro levels, relevant to me, and from this point forward, I will try to clearly state when I am speaking from which one.
Micro: For all intents and purposes, let's stick with Swarthmore*. For the past two years, Swarthmore has given me the space to seriously take a look at America, the one I'm from, the one where I study and my travels between the two. In the midst of all of this motion, I picked up language that gave me the tremendous power to articulate my hunches about race, class, gender, sexuality, etc. and in turn gave me the tools to work threw it on personal and interpersonal levels. By the latter part of my journey, I made a conscious decision. Instead of wading threw all of the [insert system of oppression]-ist shit out there (Read: any [insert identity that benefits from said system of oppression] space), I would work inwards. Try to learn the history of, remove outer, imposed poisons, build and strengthen what we have, and last, but not least, love it/me/us for what/who it/me/we are. Not bad progress for ~3 years, eh? That despite** existing at the intersection of all these oppressions, I will find the beauty and strength in it.
Macro: But what about my privileges? Whether I like it or not***, the nationality on my passport reads American. I have an American passport. That is some serious shit, be a human on this earth, in 2009 and have that paper as ID. Not only that, but I am American with some education privilege (cause we know that is not ubiqutously a means of social mobility, but more a means of maitaining the status quo) and serious social mobility as a result of it. I know, I hear the chorus of voices... working class, womyn, black, these are all things that seriously alter what being an American means for me. And I agree with you, they have. But I can't hear those voices when I am walking across Praca de Se no Pelorinho and the first of several 8, 9, 10 year old Black children taps my arm and begs me for food because she is hungry. I can't hear that voice when I am scolded for trying to wash my own dish and told that the maid, well within earshot, and the only other Black person in the house, will do it. Is the solidarity that I center my life and politics around felt when I don't give money and I don't wash that dish? Of course not. Shit, I would not feel that.
So, the Choice: Ok. Now what? There is a lot of shit to be done in the United States. But if we are honest with ourselves, there is so much more to be done outside of it (which is so painstakingly obvious, and something I cannot forget here in Brasil). I'm really trying to push you and push myself. I have not experienced poverty in either context, so my voice should really not be at the center of this conversation. So then, I speak to those, like myself, who are further from the re-centered center of this struggle and conversation than they realized: If you fancy yourself an activist. If you like to think of yourself as giving a shit, as wanting liberation for all poor people and all people of color, I have some questions for you (and me): Are you macro or micro? Can you really be both micro and macro without reinforcing what you are trying to deconstruct? Realistically and responsibly, is it possible not to be both micro and macro, given our context and the lofty goals we have in mind? How do we resist getting sucked into the micro, while recognizing the real everyday struggles (and liberations) that micro can bring? How can we work on a macro level, without losing hope or becoming paternalistic (for example, an accessible possibility for me and any other American with education priviliege. How? Will the non-profit idustrial complex please stand up?)?
So, the Answer: I honestly have no fucking clue.
* For those of you unfamiliar with it, imagine very white, very wealthy and at the same time a very small, very strong (activist) community of color.
** Hate using despite here, but for the point I want to make, kind of necessary because of the context in which I understood myself.
*** I know we all had/have ish idenitifying as an American. Especially before November 4th. Because if you have been historically and systemically denied the rights of an American, are not culturally accepted as an American, and rotinuely excluded in the American dominant discourse, how could you possibly be an American?
** Hate using despite here, but for the point I want to make, kind of necessary because of the context in which I understood myself.
*** I know we all had/have ish idenitifying as an American. Especially before November 4th. Because if you have been historically and systemically denied the rights of an American, are not culturally accepted as an American, and rotinuely excluded in the American dominant discourse, how could you possibly be an American?
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