Brown Loafers

I happened to take a minorities class, the sociology of minorities, mostly because of my major but also because of my lack of authentic empathy. Yes, I am a woman, and that does fall into its own grouping of oppression, but there is so much more to know and understand about what it means to be a minority.

Looking around the classroom, it’s what you’d expect from a class in Portland, mostly vanilla looking white people, a few token black people to make it less embarrassing that there’s basically only white people sitting in the front row with Macbooks and a new pack of pens, and then the usual assortment of other anonymous individuals who aren’t white but aren’t jarringly anything else to pin them down. It should be noted that though it’s not “politically correct” to look around a room and place everyone in a box based off their appearing physical traits, we all do this anyways it our heads so I’d rather just address it straight on so we can talk about it openly.

The most dynamic part of the class though is the teacher that walks in, this beautiful, confident woman from Zimbabwe who still speaks with an accent that lingers from her native tongue. What a relief. I would hate to watch another middle aged white man talk about the history, experiences, and pain of people who he’s never even met. Not that it can’t be done respectfully, but how could we expect to offer this class without giving the opportunity to teach it from the standpoint of someone who has lived it, overcome it, and fought for it.

Class starts and she is amazing, briefly covering her credentials but then delving in to her passion for sociology, what it means to analyze the world through this lens, explaining that this class is not about the grades but leaving with a new perspective and more knowledge regarding the human experience as someone who has always been invisible and as someone who has always been shamed. It’s heartfelt and genuine and our first assignment is to research and present a current event in the world while relating it back to the struggle of the oppressed group involved.

When presentation day comes there seems to be a slightly uncomfortable pattern emerging. There is this one person who raises their hand during every presentation to add in more information, very specific information, as if he had been given a list before hand and studied every single topic beforehand. Good for him. He must retain easily, or he spends too much time studying facts. Either way it started to become apparent that this certain individual liked to refocus the classroom on himself and what he adds to the conversation to the point where he would guide the discussion in a new direction just so he could recite yet another fact, another date in history, another misconception that he himself had uncovered.

So what? There are lots of know-it-alls, this isn’t new, though always annoying, no harm can come from someone who insist on controlling a room—or is there? Let’s look at this from a sociological perspective, for the sake of the context. To build the profile of the individual we’re talking about, picture white male, mid 20’s, tucked in baby blue button up with brown loafers. He’s got a leather satchel and legs crossed at the knee. He’s white which and a male which means he’s always been prioritized as a top member of society. He’s obviously takes academics very seriously so we can assume education is most likely valued in his family. He also has no problem speaking out in class and sharing his own opinion which could lead us to believe that his family also raised him to be assertive, to stand out, to draw attention to himself and his opinion. Sound Familiar? Through all this all I could think about was the irony of the situation.

Looking at it from a very basic standpoint, here we are in a class about how society perpetuates minority groups and yet the only person talking is someone who has never seen struggle a day in their life. Not to discount his concern on the subject, because I’m sure he wouldn’t be in the class in the first place if he didn’t see the inequality, but he is the inequality himself. For most real minorities and minority groups, their presence in society isn’t valued, education may be valued in their families but they will never have the resources to provide their children with upward mobility, and they most definitely aren’t taught to stand out and take over a classroom let alone any situation.

I’m glad schools are trying to address the flaws in our society and educate all students willing to sit down and listen, but here we are preaching to a choir of students who pretend to understand but have never experienced this type of oppression and fear in their lives and never will, myself included. I didn’t come here to give a solution because I have no idea and it isn’t my decision to make, but if we are serious about change then we can’t just create a curriculum from a mediocrely academic perspective and say it’s getting the job done. This isn’t something you can lay out on a lecture power point and type up in Cornell style notes, people are afraid, people are hiding, and people are dying.