S.C.W.A.A.M.P and Johnson

    The S.C.W.A.A.M.P activity in class was an excellent segue to connect to Privilege, Power, and Discrimination by Allan G. Johnson. While doing the activity, as groups, we brought so many different ideas, thoughts, backgrounds, and personal experiences while coming up with points for each letter in S.C.W.A.A.M.P., which stands for straightness, Christianity, whiteness, American-ness, able-bodiedness, maleness, and property ownership, which are all the great pillars deeply valued and perceived in our culture. Leslie Grinner did a fantastic job with connecting all of these points to how much they are deeply cared about in the society we live in today. 

    Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan G. Johnson is a piece on how to think critically about inequality, oppression, and racism. White privilege and power have always been a deep-rooted issue in the United States, along with the invisible systemic racism and sexism that lies in our corporations and big companies. Not only is it just racism and sexism, but class is a massive issue across all communities. In the introduction, Johnson does an amazing job of describing how, even though we as a society are very aware of racism, oppression, sexism, etc., we still are in denial and continue to ignore huge societal issues. "All of us are part of the problem" was a solid way to start the paragraph, but I enjoyed the bluntness and the truth of the statement, and he is right. There is absolutely no way to avoid that as long as we are alive and breathing. As a society it is crucial for us to understand our roles both as a society and individually to create a change! 

    In chapter one, he again talks about how oppression, racism, privilege, and differences among individuals play a more significant role in inequalities than we may think. Misconceptions about certain races, genders, and disabilities contribute to the ongoing battle in the split in our society. Assumptions about how surface-level these issues are so far from the truth. These issues are so deeply embedded into our worlds that we no longer know any different and assume that these are normal. Everyone has a much different background from the next person; how you grew up, where you grew up, what your parents did for work, and where you went to school are just some of the many questions people begin to ask when you meet them. In my FNED 101 class, we had a discussion about just based on someone's name sounding more ethnic people immediately assume you were not born in the United States, which most of the time is not valid, but again, misconceptions start to swirl, and the waterfall of invasive questions begins to come up. 

    "The trouble we're in privileges some groups at the expense of others. It creates a yawning divide in levels of income, wealth, dignity, safety, health, and quality of life. It promotes fear, suspicion, discrimination, harassment, and violence. It sets people against one another" ( Johnson 9). At the end of the day, there is no escaping how broken the system is, and as much as we try to fix it, it never feels like anything is getting better. No matter where you are, discrimination is everywhere, no matter the time or the place, there will always be a thought, comment, or statement that will raise eyebrows. Showing a blind eye or feeding into it continuously worsens the issue. Not to forget, Women are faced with systemic problems almost every single second they are breathing, but again, that is something that has been suppressed for as long as the beginning of time. This book was written by a very well-educated white man, even though he is white, and recognizes the disgusting systemic issues and wants to set the record straight and explain it in a way where he is not blaming one certain group. 

    The paradox is that privilege doesn't make you happy or fulfilled in life. Johnson says that he hears most men deny their existence of male privilege because they believe you cannot be both privileged and miserable. Belonging to a certain category of people who may be more privileged than others proves that you have more odds in your favor, but you still have to be at peace with your inner self. Most people with privilege do not even realize the amount of privilege they have. That is why all the guilt comes from " White privilege comes at a huge cost to people of color and on some level white people must struggle with this knowledge" (Johnson 39). White people will continue to ignore the facts and continue to disassociate themselves from the problem or continue to ignore it as a whole like they usually do. 

    As a society, we need to be better, more proactive, and less judgmental. We are all doing our best, and treating people with kindness goes a really long way. People need to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable and approaching the problem head-on instead of avoiding it. You never know what is going on in someone's home life or in their head.