The Middle Layer is where I live...in-between the extremes, without a label that fits.

Friday, December 26, 2014

Opinions and Assholes

I wrote this late last month, right after the Ferguson riots. I have no idea why I didn't share right away, but here it is...

Opinions and assholes… They are both all over social media in the wake of Ferguson. Here’s my unpopular opinion on the topic: it’s not a race issue, it’s a culture issue. 

There are equally dangerous cultures of all skin tones, but in a country that is fueled by the need to cling to the tribal ‘us versus them’ mentality skin color is simply the easiest way to define who is different. And due to the history of our country starting out as white and European, non-whites (aka POC, the latest PC term to describe non-white people) have traditionally been the easiest to identify as ‘other.’ Whether we are talking slavery and Jim Crow laws or Japanese internment camps in the post Pearl Harbor days, the body one inhabits is the easiest marker of ‘other’ that can be used to define the in and out groups. 

A history of being viewed as less than in society can and often does change the culture one experiences. These cultures often become hostile, aggressive and angry. 

Here’s where my opinion becomes really unpopular: The hip hop culture is one that breeds violence, misogyny and rampant consumerism.

But, how is this different than upper-class white people? It’s not! 

Campus frat boys are just as dangerous as any thug on the street in a lot of ways. So, why are we focused on the thugs and barely whispering about the keg chugging rapists of the Greek system? Why do we care more about the riots in Ferguson than we do about the last time a sports team’s defeat had similar results? Because it’s easier to focus on what the ‘other people’ are doing, than own up to the wrong doings of people that look like our sons and fathers. It’s a lazy way of thinking about all of these issues. 

When we as a culture stop making it a race issue and start addressing the cultures of violence that permeate all skin tones, we might have a chance. But until then, I’m a white person with privileges that others don’t have and I will always be vilified for it to a certain degree. I can’t understand what it’s like for a POC to grow up in the world… 

But here’s another layer to the equation that I haven’t heard anyone else express: why are we all so hung up on our cultural identities? 

I am white, cis-gendered and heterosexual. That does not take away from, nor add to my personal identity as an ally for those who are non-white or transgendered or homo or bi-sexual. We are more than our labels!  And the sooner we learn to disassociate from the need to belong, the easier it will be to finally find a community of people with whom you can truly bond. When you strip away those labels you are on the path to a more genuine experience. This gives you the opportunity to be exactly who you are without feeling the need to hide or exaggerate parts of your personality in order to be a part of the group. 

This also means learning to see past the labels of others in order to allow them that same freedom of expression of self.  It means learning to treat others equally and without judgment based on the body they inhabit. 

It also means calling out those who display attitudes of negativity, exclusionary beliefs and who foster the culture of violence that has overtaken our society. That means telling someone making a rape joke or a racist joke that it’s simply not funny. That means reminding people that their words are fueling rape culture or homophobia, even if you know they are not a rapist or a homophobe. 

We are so immersed in this culture that things are said as a reflex of sorts, a cultural perspective that may not even be how we truly feel. We need to recognize and respond to these things in ourselves and in others if we are to change the culture. Every word matters. Every life matters. Let’s stop making it a race issue and look at the cultures across the country for which violence is the primary outlet for expression. 

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