When analyzing the texts
from this week and personal experiences, I could not help but think of
privilege in terms of race/ethnicity and class and the ability the middle and
upper class white folks had to leave their “designated spaces.” Not to
perpetuate the idea of segregation and having separate appropriate spaces for
specific identities, but a type of “safe space” is often needed for folks who
are marginalized and not generally comfortable and accepted in most other areas.
Heap presented this idea
within the LGBTQ and People of Color communities in both chapters five and six.
However, the problematic aspect of this privilege, whites being able to enter
traditionally non-white and/or non-heterosexual spaces, is that they do so
solely for their benefit and at their whim. For example, Heap mentioned that
white, middle/upper middle class folks went into Harlem and African-American
nightclubs and venues to partake in what they thought to be perverse and
sexually deviant behavior. For them, slumming was a nightlife activity that did
not seem to interfere with their day lives or others perception of them during
the day. Yet, at night they could be as sexual or even sexually active with men
and women of color without it being a large issue. Therefore, they utilized
spaces that were for people of color, “blacks and tans” as Heap states
throughout. Initially white folks did not enter the spaces without some sort of
judgment and usually racially loaded perceptions. For example, in chapter five
someone comments that going into the cabarets, “you go sort of primitive up
there,” (Heap, 196). In my opinion, this comment reflects implicit negative
stereotypes about African American folks simply by the language used.
“Primitive” implies less civilized, not modern, lesser, etc. However, despite
having these ideas about those who participated in the nightlife scene, white
folks wanted to be involved solely for their entertainment. White folks were
selectively associating themselves with people of color and viewed them as spectacles
to watch for pleasure or involve with for their own personal pleasure.
These observations lead me
to think of issues of selective association for benefit reaping in my own
communities, whether CU Boulder as an institution or in the larger boulder area.
I came across and article a while back that made me draw connections between
folks claiming a certain race or ethnic group for benefits and the questions of
“who can claim a race, what amount qualifies a person to be a certain race,
etc.”
Elise Hu wrote an article
for National Public Radio (NPR) entitled Minority
Rules: Who Gets to Claim Status as a Person of Color? The article itself is
focused on “Massachusetts Democratic Senate
candidate Elizabeth Warren…[and her] claim of Native American ancestry.”
According to Warren, she is 1/32 Cherokee and actively claims that identity.
Despite her self-identification as a Native American woman, many people
question the boundaries and rules to claiming marginalized identities for
seemingly personal benefits. I connected this with the idea of students who
apply for scholarships, grants, and other forms of financial aid and claim
“Hispanic” race identity yet would in almost any other situation identify as
white. I find this very problematic because, like I mentioned above, white
folks who do this are doing so solely for their own benefit and continue to
marginalize those who have and always do actively claim said identify. It is
similar to the theme of selective association in terms of slumming and Harlem.
People of color and LGBTQ/non-heterosexual or gender conforming folks who are
proud to identify in specific ways in respective space then have someone come
into that space and utilize it only when they benefit yet receive none of the
stigma of the marginalized identity. This can be incredibly frustrating because
they are also the people who help perpetuate your marginalization.
Whether it be
partaking in almost exclusively “black and tan” nightlife entertainment,
claiming racial/ethnic identity for financial gain or political benefits,
middle and upper middle class white people cannot freely enter spaces for gain
that they would otherwise never associate with. It is problematic because it capitalizes
on certain aspects of a marginalized identity without having to deal with the
negative and constantly hurtful effects of being in a marginalized group. As a
white person, already holding institutional and systemic power, then adding in the
layer of class privilege, it is in very poor taste to so negatively and
consciously use the power that other people do not have to benefit yourself and
consequently further oppress others. http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/16/152822762/minority-rules-who-gets-to-claim-status-as-a-person-of-color
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