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Home › Blogs & Talk › Virgie Tovar's Personal Blog › The Master's Tools

The Master's Tools

Sun, Nov 21, 2010 at 03:09:52pm   ►by Virgie Tovar   ►

Today, what are the master's tools? Where is the master's house? Who lives in it? Is it the same old crusty white folks? If so, do I want to live in the master's house? Do I need his tools? I liked the idea of screwing the master's tools (or at least destabilizing them) and opting for my own DIY, perhaps gold-encrusted fur-lined fabulous tool kit.

Tool 1: Sacrificing short-term advancement for long-term justice. You'll know it's justice if it's hard to do, makes you want to puke a little, and could seriously lose you some esteem in the eyes of colleagues.

Tool 2: Realize that injustices look and feel differently and may shift entirely depending on where you are. I learned this one from Amy Sueyoshi. The oppressed in one arena can become oppressors in another. Though women are oppressed by patriarchy, women of color are oppressed by patriarchy and racism. If they're in a space together, that means that women of color need more consideration to make sure that they are not silenced. In a room full of heterosexual women of color, queer women of color need more consideration to make sure that they are not silenced.

Tool 3: Learn to decode oppressive rhetoric. Racism and white supremacy are particularly well-coded, I've come to notice. Because racism is such an integral part of US history, it's had a long, long time to go from bruality to subtlety. I always tell folks of color, if it feels like racism it probably is racism. Once you've learned the power of decoding then you're ready for Tool #4!

Tool 4: Call that shit out. The more I call people out for their inappropriate sexism, racism, sizeism, the better I feel and the more ashamed they do. Even if they don't change their minds and they're simply silenced, I consider that a win.

Tool 5: Understand what privilege actually means. Many times folks of color in the academy are silenced through the assertion that "we're all here therefore we're all privileged." Privilege is about UNearned benefits. I'm not sure what part of the legacy of racism that has kept folks of color barred from wealth and opportunity on our way to the academy has made our place in the academy unearned. If you know, please send me an email: virgie@mail.sfsu.edu. Please include citations.

I have lots more, but I'ma cap it at 5. 

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Comments

Legit

Mm I love the simplicity of this post. It's true, Freire said it best when he said the oppressed become the oppressors. We live in such a binary where it's all about being at the top and not the bottom. Oh boy do I love calling folks out on their shit. You're right, we can't change minds but folks at least need to hear all sides and perspectives. You've made a good point about education being earned which therefore makes it unrelated to privilege--I've never seen it from this point of view. I agree with you but only to a certain extent. When I talk about education and my privilege, although I have earned it, I consider my peers who definitely deserved a higher education but couldn't afford the costs. The UNearned benefit for me was the help and love of my parents to put money aside for my own benefit. It's in that way I consider my education UNearned and how I view my privilege of learning. This brings me to a totally different topic about how education SHOULD be accessible to all. I'll save that for another discussion.

Nico Placido on Nov 28, 2010 12:44pm

Amazing!

I absolutely loved this post! I re-read it several times trying to think about a thoughtful comment to leave but I think you covered it all. The more I move up academically in the world the more I am reminded that I am not expected to belong, my peers and professors largely do not come from the same experiences (not all but most) and it can be very isolating. I think this is the tricky thing about academia: on the one hand we are pushing ourselves into the world and therefore are allowing to make ourselves visible as "successful" people of color, and yet on the other hand, the more we move up the more disconnected we become from our communities and the more we run the risk of becoming part of the oppression. Anyway I am incredibly thankful you wrote this, it is insightful and honest

Vanessa Torres on Nov 29, 2010 06:04pm