Assignment A- Privilege, Power & Difference

Wow! Talk about eye-opening!  To me, this article truly fit the definition of eye-opening.  I felt as though Johnson was really preaching to us all, that "racism" and "discrimination" are almost inevitable.  Anyone else feel this way?  There were several pieces of this article that stood out to me...the first being the undying question on page 1 "Can't we just get along?" I mean, how hard does that sound?  Johnson goes on to speak about how we as humans are truly brilliant creatures- our intelligence and our capabilities go above and beyond what other species are equipped with.  There is just one problem....we just can't all seem to get along and we judge and we discriminate and we don't embrace one another's differences.  Whether or not this is done purposefully is up for discussion.  However, Johnson later goes on to state that this is undeniably a "legacy in which we all inherited," and that it was really something that was "passed down from generation to generation. (Johnson...pg 15)"  Interesting enough...I feel he is right.  We tend to stigmatize and identify people by color, sex, occupation etc., instead of by other adjectives such as kind, loving, giving, intelligent beings.  We can't help but identify others that way because it has been ingrained into us...maybe not by choice, but more so by chance.

As Johnson went on with his article, he mentioned a time he was sitting at a restaurant with an African American colleague of his, who also happened to be a female....(double whammy I guess!).  He couldn't help but think to himself about the differences between the both of them in terms of their "privileges." He mentions that he would probably get waited on faster than she would.  She may fear walking to her car at night, more so than he would...etc.  He yearned to ask the question..."can we just talk about these things?"  However, he refrained from doing so in order to refrain from an uncomfortable situation, because again it seems we are ingrained with the fact that this is all "acceptable and that we don't know how to talk about it. (Johnson- pgs 8-9)"  How sad that truly is.  Funny how my first thought was..."Wow.  It's like the expression, 'let's address the elephant in the room'...." and how Johnson later went on to speak of this as "the elephant."  

Another interesting topic to me was when Viola from the film Shakespeare in Love was mentioned and how in order to fulfill one of her dreams to act on the stage, she had to present herself as a man, instead of as her true self...a female; as acting on stage was a privilege for men and men only (Johnson- pg 35).  Anyone else stop and think of the Disney movie Mulan with this one?  Or is it just the fact that I am surrounded by all things Disney with my two littles and that is why this movie all of a sudden shot into my brain that a wave of lightening?  I couldn't help but think of Mulan, who wanted so badly to take her father's spot in the Chinese military that she impersonates herself as a man, in order to be able to serve; as females were not allowed to do so.  Again, bringing to light the topic of discrimination and privilege...in a Disney movie of all places.

My first blog assignment is truly one of thought and reflection.  This is what I took away from this very intriguing article.  [To me] Johnson argues that we are all "stuck" in our ways of discrimination and that we must come together as a society to change what has always been considered acceptable.