Saturday, February 26, 2022
Do I Have the Full Picture?
No one on this planet is omniscient, therefore we will always encounter sides of the story that we have never heard before. Each of our stories is unique, our identities one of a kind, but we also belong to various groups across our social schema. Since everyone has an individualized perspective, I do not think any of us have the full picture. I am learning everyday about new ways in which the limited scope of my white experiences prevents me from ever being able to truly experience what it is like to live from the perspective of my Black and Hispanic counterparts. In addition, I am becoming more aware of the different attitudes that have been bred about people from other races within my own race. Despite the fact I don't know what it is like to not be white, I am not excluded from showing empathy. Through conversations, historical analysis, and self-reflection we can begin to understand what motivates the feelings that people harbor within. These conversations need to happen across separate cultures as well as within individual classes. Instead of removing ourselves from the past and boasting upon the fact that we ourselves have never personally owned slaves, we must recognize the long-lasting impact that the institution of slavery has made in our society. Our past generations have put the new generations of POCs in the position they are in today, so we cannot just move on from it. We owe it to our future children to have discussions. We might not ever grasp the full picture, but we can build relationships and learn how to make up for our empathy limiting mistakes in the present.
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Hey Tori! I really appreciate how you acknowledge your "white experience" and while I agree that it limits your ability to truly understand the experience of POC's, I really like how you are aware of this and like you said becoming more aware about the attitudes that have been systematically implemented into every part of our society towards people like me. I also really liked the part of your blog where you emphasized that while you or any white person in our generation has enslaved a person of color it is important to recognize the lasting effects of that system and how it affects people's attitudes and beliefs today. The only way that we can improve our thinking is to keep our hearts and minds open to everyone and their personal experience while taking the time to research and find a better understanding of why and how things occurred in the past. Thank you so much for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Tori! I'm very thankful that you acknowledged your white experience, because I'm half white and I acknowledge my experience also. I'm not ashamed to be white, but I'm ashamed of what the white culture has brought up. At the same time, I'm half Hispanic so I know what it feels like to be a minority in this world. I don't have the full experience, so I don't even know the whole picture myself. I feel like for anyone to get the full picture, we would have to all come together and do what's right. I hate that we live in a world where many people define us from the color of our skin. It's okay to see color, it's okay to see differences, it's okay to ask questions, but it's not okay to hate on someone for who they are. I really enjoyed reading your blog. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteHi Tori, I appreciated reading your reflection. Like you I will never know what it is like to not be white from lived experience, but rely on empathy. I feel that the closest I can come to living the experience of others is through literature. Television and film are also tools in trying to gain the full picture of what it might be like to experience the world from a different perspective, but they lack the personal introspective possibilities that books have. I have recently been reading a lot of historical fiction and non fiction personal narratives relating to the intersectionality of color and gender in the per-emancipation American South.It is only a tiny piece of the full picture, but I feel that the more history I read the more I will be able to understand the context of the present. I agree that we must be able to have discussions about the past in order to have a better future.
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