Talking Points (#10)

What can we do?

Becoming Part of the soultion

By: Allan Johnson

Johnson argues that they problems of racism, sexism, and any other discrimination issues need to be fixed and we just cant sit back and wait for change to happen. We need to take part in the change or else nothing else will happen. These issues will only change if we all work together at it and until then we will not see any issue get any better.

"Privilege is a feature of social systems, not individuals. People have or don't have privilege depending on the system they're in and the social categories other people put them in."

I really agree with this quote because I feel like being privileged is not about you as an individual, its more about the groups you are in and what makes you look better than others. Social categories can also determine if you are privileged and i don't feel that that is whats right. I do agree however, that is not about a person as an individual its more about what group you are in.

"Very often those who have privilege don't know it, which is a key aspect of privilege."

I would say this quote is true but in some cases may not be true. I feel that some people know they are privileged and act like it too. But i do feel that some people don't even realize that they are privileged. So yes, i would agree with this quote but there are some circumstances where this may not be completely true.

"When people join together to end and from of oppression, they act with courage to take responsibility to do what is the right thing, and this empowers them in ways that can extend to every corner of their lives."

I think that the more people who work together to make something happen the more successful it will be in the end. If we all put our minds to changing all the stereotypes and discrimination that goes on in the world today then we would be much happier people and everyone would be treated equally. I feel that some people are all talk, they say they want to change yet nothing ever comes out of it. I think it does take courage but if you put you mind to changing the way things are today then we would all be living in a better place.

I really enjoyed reading this article, i thought it was a good one to end the class on. We have been talking about these issue all semester long and it all connected. I thought it was a little long and i'm pretty sure i fell asleep a few times while reading it but overall i thought it was a really interesting article to read!