Insight- A valuable skill that must be learned

Michele Russo

Color Blindness is the New Racism

Dictionary.com defines insight in a variety of ways.  Some particular pieces of the definition that stood out to me were as follows...."an instance of apprehending the true nature of a thing," "the recognition of sources of emotional difficulty." As a Registered Nurse, I speak to insight quite frequently.  Although I am currently working in the school setting, I remain working per diem at Butler Hospital.  Throughout my 9 years of working within this institution I frequently encourage my patients to have future insight into what their treatment can provide them with. Although I speak frequently to focusing on the 'here and now,' I applaud them in times when they express future insight and recognition.  I have always thought of insight as a particularly positive and healthy tool, in which all beings require in order to see the world as a whole.  Although I perceive insight as a tool, I never quite came to the realization that developing insight truly means having a skill...A skill in which must be learned and modeled in order to be achieved successfully.  

Armstrong and Wildman speak in great detail about instilling the concept of "color insight" into our daily vocabulary.  "Colorblindness is the new racism" was quite an interesting read, to me.  I must admit that after a while, the term "whiteness" was really starting to erk me.  Something about it makes me cringe a bit.  I can't quite pinpoint what it is about the term, but I find it sort of...well...insulting.  I felt at many times, my stomach starting to turn every time that word was mentioned.  Whiteness.  I don't go around saying "Asianness" or "Blackness" or "Latinoness."  Why must the term whiteness be continually utilized?  I found myself feeling judged...even targeted, a bit in this article.  Are we whiteness folks that terrible?  I wondered if I was the only one feeling this particular way.  Something about this term, makes it seem as if we are defined as naive and sheltered folks who can not seem to notice what the color of our skin has to offer us.  

Peggy McIntosh's comment regarding white privilege on page #63 stood out to me as she described white privilege as a "knapsack of benefits in which the holder can remain oblivious."  A knapsack of benefits?  What exactly is she speaking to?  It wasn't until I myself completed the powerline exercise on page 72 that I noticed how heavy my knapsack really is.  If those particular pieces is what privilege is composed of, then I guess I am more privileged than not- meeting 6 of the “privileged” criteria.  Interesting to complete this exercise, I thought.  

Did anyone else relate to the racial observation exercise?  Did anyone else sit back and think about our everyday lives and what our surroundings look like?  The student who spoke of the nail salon really hit home for me.  I totally related and it quite surprisingly made me sit back and think of myself in a different light.  It’s true that the majority of nail salons are composed of Vietnamese workers.  They work extremely hard and extremely long hours.  I found myself thinking about nail salons after reading that particular section.  I tried to think of a time when I went to a nail salon and it was not composed of all Vietnamese workers.  I truly can not recall a time….out of hundreds of times that I have entered nail salons.  I can relate my experiences to the student who spoke to that, in the sense of feeling as if the workers felt as if she and her mom were “inferior” to them.  How terrible.  This triggered a similar response I had to Johnson’s article and the particular question that I pondered…”Can’t we just all get along”  Why is this still occurring in our world?  Just as the "All Lives Matter" article pointed out that we don't treat all lives as though they matter equally. Why do some view themselves as inferior to others? Or why do people feel as though others are inferior to them?

I end this post with a particular line that grasped my attention….”do not be afraid.”  Do not be afraid to address the fact that we continue to live in a world in which many are lacking true insight and have yet to develop this particular skill. Do not be afraid to recognize sources of emotional difficulty.

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.

Who's ready for this!? :)

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