[341] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
racism, classism, environmental justice...
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Aimee L Smith)
Mon Apr 30 15:04:16 2001
Message-Id: <200104301903.PAA25394@m56-129-10.mit.edu>
To: asarahm <asarahm@MIT.EDU>
cc: mit-talk@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 30 Apr 2001 13:00:40 EDT."
<200104301700.NAA15270@cephiro.mit.edu>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2001 15:03:43 -0400
From: Aimee L Smith <alsmith@MIT.EDU>
First, the latest reminder that sexism is alive and well at MIT. Nu
Delta has some very nice fliers with wooden rulers on them that have a
female teacher with her blouse hanging open and skirt slit to
her waist. It says on the blackboard behind her "Get Nu'D." Clever
really. And makes me fill with pride to be a TA at this oh so fine
institution of higher learning when this is how women are depicted
in fliers. If you had anything to do with this flier, here is a
very personal "Fuck off and I pity your mother for having the poor luck
of ending up with a child like you!" going out to you! I highly encourage
everyone who has half a conscience to rip them down and stand up for creating
a welcoming environment for women as educators, students, and staff.
And I am hoping Nu Delta will issue an apology to the entire campus for
subjecting us to this not-so-subtle sexual harassment (which the Supreme
court would back me up on... this "speech" is not protected in the work
place for reasons of equal access...)
As per affirmative action, race, class, gender...
I agree that class reasons serve to create and perpetuate
barriers and it can also be argued that much of the motivation
for racism and sexism is to scape-goat one weak group to appease a
less weak group, such as working-poor African American men vis a vis
working-poor white men. I think it is important to know that both are
structurally manifested and that white people who are poor suffer
disproportionate disempowerment of their communities, attacks on
their health and safety, etc and that people of African descent,
Africans and Latinos/Latinas of means can still be subjected to
disproportionate abuse on account of racism (such as getting a
disease and there not being a tested treatment for people of African
origin.) Racism, etc. allows the correlation between class and race
to persist in spite of equivalent levels of potential in
all race/ethnic/religious/gender groups. Classism is just as wrong
as racism and sexism. They are simply different and manifest themselves
differently in people's lives. Class can be transcended (although, the ill
feelings and low self-esteem can persist if my parents are any indication),
and barriers to race and gender can be surmounted and/or circumvented
with enough persistence and luck. But this isn't about comparing sufferings,
it is about saying ALL are wrong. MIT is supposed to be need-blind, but then
some claim they give "legacy" students a second look, and I can only
imagine that the look is a lot longer and harder when large money gifts are
involved, and I have even heard that there is some peeking in on the
need status in recent years in an effort to raise more money.
I would also argue that a person raised in poverty with "equivalent"
performance
to someone from a wealthy suburb is better "qualified" in having to have
made up for a lot of deficiencies in educational background on their own.
But I am not a "Marxist" because there are also other axes of oppression
that can either be independent of class (s.a. a rich woman who feels compelled
to let her husband rape her due to her oppression as a lesser being relative to
her male husband or successful Black musicians who may or may not have a lot of
money who can't come onto the MIT campus without being made to feel mighty
unwelcome, the African American male brain surgeon who can't get a cab in New
York city after 9pm, Arabs who are accused of being a terrorist, police
harassment
and on and on...)
I believe in weighting people from all forms of disadvantaged backgrounds
more heavily for equal performance, whether for class reasons, surviving
a disability, or being subjected to discrimination for one reason or another...
it is *not* reverse racism to say that equal performance means the wealthy,
white male should have a lesser shot than an equivalent performer who has
statistically been subjected to more difficulty, whether for class, race,
gender, religious discrimination or some mixture of the above.
Basically understanding race, class, gender and other forms of oppression is
a life-long project that each of us really should take on. Being of any
or many "oppressed" groups does *not* make you a victim and a tool, but
understanding where and how these barriers come into play can help each
of us sort out how these oppressions affect us whether unfair advantage
or disadvantage. I also agree that surrounding yourself with as many
different perspectives and experience sets is a great way to speed up
this process, and that is why I value a diverse student body and
that is why I would like to see a more diverse grad student body and
a MUCH more diverse faculty and administration.
All injustices are unacceptable! And note, it is easier to be a rich,
"straight" white man in the US who is a citizen and a protestant (check out
who the US presidents have been for a quick demonstration), nevertheless we
all,
everyone of us, have hard struggles to face in life and we all have the ability
to harm each other in personal ways and by perpetuating structural patterns of
harm.
This *doesn't* mean we are all evil and should go kill ourselves. This *does*
mean that we all work with extremely limited and skewed data sets that can
contribute to harm and so we should make it part of our personal growth to
expand those data sets and be as honest, fair, and just as possible, all the
while knowing we will never be perfect. (That is OK! Even MIT students
are allowed to make mistakes! )
I am signing off this list for now in hopes of getting some other work done
besides trying to make a more survivable climate here at MIT for undergrad
women than I found in my undergrad experience and for the rest of women
here at MIT, myself included. Maybe you think I am a wacko, maybe you agree
with
a grain here or there, maybe you appreciate someone else saying something for
a while
so you didn't have to, whatever it is, I hope it was helpful to someone and
I hope one day all such discussions will be moot... which sounds utopian, but
if you really think about it, we each can identify with being harmed in
one way or another on account of some unfair reason... know if we simply backed
each other when we saw it happening to someone else, then it would all be
over immediately (or at least as soon as we learned enough to *recognize*
these things when they happen right in front of us...) That is my hope for
the future, that empathy will conquer all!
In hope,
Aimee
