Category: Social Justice

“Politically Correct”

There has been a few comments I’ve heard students make recently about being “politically correct” and what I  infer from their impressions of this term is that being “politically correct” is somehow hindering their ability to be themselves and speak their minds.

First of all, “political correctness” is non-sense. It’s an idea propagated as a weapon to demonstrate that someone else is being too sensitive. That somehow someone is letting the decency of their humanity get a little too in the way. There is a good argument for why not to use it on epinions.com. Maura Cullen (@DrMauraCullen) also has a good explanation of the term in her book 35 Dumb Things Well-Intended People Say.

These comments usually come up during conversations about George Mason University’s Civility Project. When presented without context, students sometimes seem to believe that Civility is a concept designed to eliminate their ability to speak freely. As the conversation ultimately leads to the first amendment, I speak about the right to free speech being balanced with compassion and understanding of the impact that our speech has on others. I believe that is the basis for civility projects across the country. It’s to challenge people to think about what they’re saying and how that speech is impacting those around them.

Is this justice?

In April 2000, my dad was shot and killed. I’ve been through a lot of different phases related to this incident and I’ve obviously had a very different life because of it. The police caught the young men who shot my dad about a week after it happened and they went to prison. It was for a few years, the longest sentence was 30 years. As far as I know, the death penalty never entered into the conversation at the trial. In hindsight, I’m glad that it didn’t. At the time I was very conflicted and part of me believed that the death penalty was a means of serving justice and the another part of me believed that it was state sponsored murder.

Speaking in my own experiences and reflecting 11 years after my dad’s death, I don’t believe it would have made me feel any closure to know that the men involved were dead. I haven’t spoken to anyone else who has had a similar experience to mine to know what they would feel, but I’ll go out on a limb and say that I don’t think it provides many people with closure. I don’t think it provides society with closure. I believe that the death penalty is a relic of the old testament. At its core it is an eye for an eye policy. It is state sponsored murder.

I know there are varying beliefs related to the death penalty and its relevance. I’m simply presenting mine. In the wake of the uncertainty of Troy Davis’ execution I needed to make a decision. There are movements going on and activism is taking place. I want to be a part of that change because I don’t believe that murdering criminals does anything for our society.

American Civil Liberties Union

The Innocence Project

My moment of hesitation

As a heterosexual, able-bodied, white cis-gendered male, I have a lot of unearned privileges in society that were taught to me through everything I interacted with. Whether it was media, school, etc. One of the only areas in which I don’t carry privilege is in my spiritual identity. I identify as an atheist. (An identity that I’m still exploring and potentially adjusting)

The only time ever that I felt hesitation in declaring my identity was during an exercise at a training retreat that I was taking part in. We all stood in a circle and stepped into the middle of the circle if we identified as {insert your social identity here}. In attendance at the retreat was every one of my new colleagues and all of our supervisors. I had yet to have a full conversation with everyone and suddenly became nervous when asked to step into the circle if you identify as atheist.

Now, I had no reason to be nervous. I was in a room of open-minded people who appreciate diversity and multiple perspectives. And yet, I still feared for the slightest moment that I would be judged for my identity. That is based on the inherent Christian privilege of the United States that implies that anything not Christian is wrong.

Due to my other social identities, I hadn’t felt that sense of not-belonging before and it wasn’t until much later when I was reflecting on my identities that I realized what that moment meant. And if I can feel momentary hesitation and fear about identifying as an atheist what does that mean for someone who identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, genderqueer? What does it mean for someone whose identity is visible? What about someone who is African American, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, Asian American/Pacific Islander? This line of questioning shook me to my core. It opened my eyes a little more to the socialized oppression and privilege prevalent in our society in ways that I previously had not experienced due to my visible privileged identities. It led me to want to become an activist and advocate. It shifted my perspective and professional identity. It made me strive to learn more about myself and our society. It made me engage in social justice advocacy and education.

For these reasons I am grateful for my moment of fear.

Present v Future

Most of us teach and are taught that it is only the future that really matters.

-bell hooks – Teaching Community

bell hooks is right. We spend an immeasurable amount of time thinking about the future. In high school, it’s all about making it through and graduating and “freedom.” In college, it’s all about making it through to the real world and getting a job and making money. We often do not take the time to live in the moment and engage in what we’re doing now.

This is one of the things that I’m working on. I want to live more in the present when I can and be engaged with those around me when I know that things are changing. I think the concept is simple, but the implementation will be difficult. Don’t look at the time when you’re out with friends. Don’t think about all the things that you could be doing instead of sitting in class. Find joy and purpose in the things that you’re doing and learn.

bell hooks also talks about learning being treated a means to an end rather than a lifelong process. A little of that may have to do with the traditional pedagogy of study, homework, study, tests, study, repeat. Students have no choice but to view learning as a chore in that context, but shifting into being present could change that. I view learning as something that should continue long term no matter what degrees you may or may not have hanging on the walls (or sitting in an envelope on your bookshelf). It’s an important part of life that gets lost when we ignore the present in favor of the future.

I’m not Caucasian

“…conventional American racial categories are rooted in colonialism, slavery, and an elaborate ideology developed to justify a system of racial inequality. Given racial categories’ sociohistorical rather than biological roots, the notion that “races” describe human biological variation has been officially rejected by the American Anthropological Assoication. As we critique outmoded systems of racial classification, we must also question the labels we use for “races.”

-Carol C. Mukhopadhyay

Mukhopadhyay went on to explain in her essay that the word caucasian was developed in the eighteenth century by as anatomist who claimed that the people from the Caucasus mountain range were the most beautiful people in the world and then he decided to label all fair skinned people caucasian. This is why I’m do not identify as caucasian.

There is a lot power and privilege tied up into that particular word. The word is a relic of a now outdated concept that passed off the social construction of race as biological difference. The fact that we still use caucasian as a valid term when we have moved away from the other outdated labels represents the white supremacy still inherently present in the United States. As a society, other groups have changed their labels to more accurately reflect the social construction of race, but white folks are still clinging to this faux-biological label and the idea of superiority that is historically tied to it.

I was in the process of joining NASPA in November of 2010 and their registration form for membership only offered Caucasian as racial category for white people. I sent in an email to their membership committee, a representative replied to my email and said that he’d discuss the concern at their next meeting. I have yet to hear back, but the point is, I’m choosing not to identify as Caucasian because it historically represents ideas that are no longer relevant or even scientifically viable.

EDIT: As I thought about this post after it was published, I realized that this has more meaning in the context of what has happened with President Obama and Donald Trump this week (which I commented on yesterday). I think given the very public new context, examining the language we use and the ways in which we use it to wield power over people is important. Some may claim that Caucasian is just a label that we use, but given its historical context, it is more than that. Constantly evaluating our language and the historical context that it brings to us is an important part of moving forward to a socially just society.

Birthers Continue

President Obama recently released his long form birth certificate, which (unsurprisingly) matched the birth certificate that he released on his website during the 2008 campaign. The pressure had been mounting over the last several weeks with Donald Trump, Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich weighing in with additional pressure. @baratunde from Twitter posted a YouTube video describing his feelings which is beautifully spoken, poignant, and strikes at the heart of the argument. President Obama was coerced into proving that he belongs. He was coerced into proving that he is “one of us.” So our President released his long form certificate of living birth and justly exclaimed that we have better things to pay attention to.

Once that happened, Trump decided it was appropriate to announce to the press how proud he was of himself. The subtext of Trump’s exclamation is how a white man without any knowledge or experience in politics is able to pressure a man of color (the President of the United States of America) into proving his worth and belonging.

Shortly after President Obama’s announcement, Trump declared his pride. Then he asked for President Obama to release his high school records to prove that he belonged at Columbia and Harvard. Trump wants Obama to prove that he didn’t push aside deserving white people to get a racially charged leg up on his peers. Trump is making this argument in order to divide. Trump wants people to believe that President Obama doesn’t belong and hasn’t ever belonged. When no one has to question Trump’s belonging due to his appearance.

It is disheartening that Trump now wants President Obama to release his academic records. Our past President, George W. Bush, who had sub par academic performance and was able to attend Yale and Harvard due to old school affirmative action, known now as legacy. Former President Bush never had to prove his belonging in the Ivy League to the voting public. But now, Trump wants President Obama to prove that he belonged and that he wasn’t given a pass to join prestigious institutions because of his complexion.

I, like @baratunde, am disheartened and saddened that Trump was able to wield his privilege as he has. He was able to assert that he belongs and that the President of the United States of America, does not belong. This birtherism nonsense is another example of how we need to stand together and fight for the rights of those who are marginalized and pushed aside as less than in our society. We have to stand together because if we don’t we’ll be pushed back into the past.

Acronyms and Accuracy

I’ve got a few pet peeves and this one developed last semester during a Gender Issues class. We were talking about (hyper)masculinity and its affects on students who are gay. We were talking about how that sense of masculinity was tied into the homophobia that we see on campus. The conversation diverged for a moment when someone used the GLBT acronym and we had a small conversation about how that particular acronym isn’t always the correct term to use. In this case we were talking specifically about homophobia of men which does not always apply people who identify as transgender.

LGBT and GLBT are both commonly used acronyms within higher education and student affairs. One of the things that I have noticed is that when people use the term GLBT, they are talking about people who identify as gay or lesbian. I recently saw a tweet asking about recent LGBT identity development, which doesn’t define much about what that person was looking for. Being Lesbian, Gay, and/or Bisexual is usually described as a sexual orientation (although there is research suggesting that might be a little different) whereas the term Transgender is an umbrella term that applies to many different gender expressions. The identity development of sexual orientation and gender expression are vastly different and I don’t think the two should be lumped in together.

The support for gay and lesbian students is very different than support for transgendered students. It’s even different for bisexual students (which in the Cass Identity Model, is a “stage” before synthesizing gay or lesbian identity into the whole person)

As student affairs educators, it’s obvious that we need to be aware of the language we use. I think we should expand this awareness to our acronyms. It’s important that we say what we mean. If we’re talking about sexual orientation we should do that. If we’re talking about gender expression and identity then we should do that. Being supportive of our students means being cognizant of the language we’re using and being accurate in using that language.

Free Expression?

There has been a recent news story about some racist and homophobic images and words being painted in the Free Expression tunnel at NC State University. In having a discussion with my staff about what the Free Expression tunnel means to NCSU and how valuable it is to the university, we all ended up in the same place. We all understood that there is, in a way, a price to pay for free speech. The sometimes means having to see things that are intentionally, decidedly hateful.

My closing statement about the discussion was that the Tunnel represents the culture of NC State in some way. The images, statements, and art that appear there are all reflective of NC State’s student culture. I argued that the image that were painted on the walls of the tunnel wasn’t actually free. That image and the thinking that imagined that are locked up in hate. That thinking is locked up in the socialization of race that created a sense of difference, inferiority, superiority, entitlement, and hate that has ensnared our country since it’s “founding.”

That thinking is what needs to change. People need to drop their stereotypes and meet someone who is different from them. We need encounters with each other to understand that these social constructions are ridiculous. The culture is what needs to change.

A letter to a Senator

A letter that I wrote to my State Senator:

Senator Stein,

My name is Aaron Hood and I am a graduate student at North Carolina State University. I’m writing you because North Carolina prohibits gay couples from marrying. I find it disheartening that two people who love each other are barred from entering into a legal relationship that our society has chosen to define as the ultimate commitment that one person can make to another. Marriage has become the way in which many relationships are defined in North Carolina and our fellow citizens who identify as gay or lesbian cannot define their relationship using this societal norm.

Several people who are my colleagues are prevented from being married to their partner for reasons that have absolutely nothing to do with their love for each other. These issues that stand in the way of gay marriage are simply issues of ignorance and fear. People fear what they do not know. What they think they  don’t know is how gay relationships work. I think that there is an assumption that somehow gay couples are vastly different from heterosexual couples, but the emotions that guide gay couples are exactly the same. They are emotions of passion and love that make people want to commit to sharing an entire lifetime with another person. Amid the issues within our global community, I can see no reason why demonstrations of passion and love should be prohibited or even limited.

I’m not a lawyer; I do not know the steps, logistically and politically, that it will take to repeal any laws that ban same sex marriage or what it would take a gain support for same sex marriage. However, I ask that you consider working to encourage love among our fellow North Carolinians during your time in the state senate. Because same sex marriage truly has everything to do with love, anything else is just conjecture.

Sincerely,

Aaron Hood

Social Justice Leadership

I presented a programming session at SAACURH 2010, the resources that I used are outlined here as is a PDF copy of the presentation.

My presentation basically talked about working toward understanding social change and social justice and applying those concepts to residence hall leadership. Janet Helms and Keith Edwards both imply that one can use their privileges and power to act against the systems that provide privileges that everyone deserves and confers dominance that no one deserves.

Presentation

Sources