Happy All Saints Day, everyone.
Summary of Sunday discussion 10/29
We had a great discussion this week about:
Step 6: Respect the inherent human dignity, and cultural values and practices of everyone.
An ally recognizes that no one should be required to fundamentally deny or change their culture in order to achieve economic opportunity. An ally who is economically privileged must be careful not to assume that all people living in poverty want to "be like them" or "look like them." She should not impose her cultural values or practices during the struggle for economic rights and opportunity.
This can be a complicated issue, because given the dominant middle class, white, english-speaking culture of most workplaces, many of us have had to make some cultural accommodations to "achieve economic opportunity." There's also a long history of immigrant groups acculturating to US (Colonial British?) cultural standards in order to fit in and get along. And many of us have had experiences internationally or even locally where we have adjusted to others' cultural patterns out of respect.
So we discussed how adapting to another's culture out of respect is not a bad thing at all. But when the dominant culture demands, sometimes violently, that others deny their culture, it is wrong. When certain cultural values are deemed to be "bad" or "deviant" (think about grammar, or styles of dress, or food choices) when in reality they are just different, then power is being exercised. Finally, we listed to the story of Yassmin Abdel Magied, an Australian activist who shared how her efforts to be a "model minority" did very little to protect her from racist abuse when she made controversial public comments. You can read her story here: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/fight-racism-model-minority-yassmin-abdel-magied
Reading reflection for the coming week 11/5
We will be wrapping up our discussion this Sunday, and I plan to bring muffins to share with the group (read Step 7 to understand why!). So here's a few final reflection questions:
1) How do you see yourself "doing" allyship? What are your unique gifts that you bring to work for social justice, and how could you deepen relationships with people who are different from yourself in order to continue that work in solidarity?
2) What motivates you to seek to be an ally? What do you stand to gain from a more just world? What do you fear losing if your privilege gave you less of an advantage?
3) How do you find and nurture hope in yourself?
4) Would you like to have coffee and/or a beer with me? Seriously, I'd love to sit down with anyone on this email for a chat about what your experience has been participating in the series, reading the book, or even just getting these emails. This is the beginning of what I hope to be a lifelong educational journey for me. So thank you for being my guinea pigs, and I'd love to hear any and all feedback, including where I might have been able to be more impactful or clear or supportive. Let me know your drink of choice!!
Annaka
Summary of Sunday discussion 10/29
We had a great discussion this week about:
Step 6: Respect the inherent human dignity, and cultural values and practices of everyone.
An ally recognizes that no one should be required to fundamentally deny or change their culture in order to achieve economic opportunity. An ally who is economically privileged must be careful not to assume that all people living in poverty want to "be like them" or "look like them." She should not impose her cultural values or practices during the struggle for economic rights and opportunity.
This can be a complicated issue, because given the dominant middle class, white, english-speaking culture of most workplaces, many of us have had to make some cultural accommodations to "achieve economic opportunity." There's also a long history of immigrant groups acculturating to US (Colonial British?) cultural standards in order to fit in and get along. And many of us have had experiences internationally or even locally where we have adjusted to others' cultural patterns out of respect.
So we discussed how adapting to another's culture out of respect is not a bad thing at all. But when the dominant culture demands, sometimes violently, that others deny their culture, it is wrong. When certain cultural values are deemed to be "bad" or "deviant" (think about grammar, or styles of dress, or food choices) when in reality they are just different, then power is being exercised. Finally, we listed to the story of Yassmin Abdel Magied, an Australian activist who shared how her efforts to be a "model minority" did very little to protect her from racist abuse when she made controversial public comments. You can read her story here: https://www.teenvogue.com/story/fight-racism-model-minority-yassmin-abdel-magied
Reading reflection for the coming week 11/5
We will be wrapping up our discussion this Sunday, and I plan to bring muffins to share with the group (read Step 7 to understand why!). So here's a few final reflection questions:
1) How do you see yourself "doing" allyship? What are your unique gifts that you bring to work for social justice, and how could you deepen relationships with people who are different from yourself in order to continue that work in solidarity?
2) What motivates you to seek to be an ally? What do you stand to gain from a more just world? What do you fear losing if your privilege gave you less of an advantage?
3) How do you find and nurture hope in yourself?
4) Would you like to have coffee and/or a beer with me? Seriously, I'd love to sit down with anyone on this email for a chat about what your experience has been participating in the series, reading the book, or even just getting these emails. This is the beginning of what I hope to be a lifelong educational journey for me. So thank you for being my guinea pigs, and I'd love to hear any and all feedback, including where I might have been able to be more impactful or clear or supportive. Let me know your drink of choice!!
Annaka