“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” ~ Frederick Douglass
I believe racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, and other “-isms” are tools to prevent competitive groups from acquiring resources i.e. land, wealth and power.
“-Isms” eliminate the competition from outgroups (for example, minorities in America) by getting them to believe they are unworthy of and can’t have access to wealth, land and power. Another way is to have outgroups participate in actvities where they are inherently disadvantaged. Two great examples are the failing American educational and criminal justice systems.
Watching outgroups fail reaffirms the ingroup’s (White Americans) supremacy and their belief in their right to acquire resources. It’s a psychological manifest destiny.
Eventually, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy where the outgroup fails and ingroup succeeds. All of the resources will continue to go to the ingroup while the outgroup is constantly asking for permission, begging acceptance and fighting over crumbs. Sounds familiar?
As Malcolm X said, “Nobody can give you freedom. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. If you’re a man, you take it.”Take yours.
Success as you define it and unapologetically living your life is a true act of revolution. You are defying 400 years of inferiority conditioning.
A revolution always begins between two ears. Start your revolution today.
BBG
As an LGBT member and an AA female, I loved this posting. Kudos for having the fortitude to make these ideals public.
Thank you. This is why I am not offended or amazed by bigots and racists. They are trying on hold on to their power. They will do so systemic and systematically.
We can’t expect people who benefit from our disenfranchisement to hand equality to us. We cannot participate in a system that is inherently designed for us to fail.
It’s up to us to decide not to participate and create our own paths and power.
“Success as you define it and unapologetically living your life is a true act of revolution. You are defying 400 years of inferiority conditioning.”………
Success should only be as it is defined by the individual; my point exactly. Thanks for the support and love of the LGBT community, we can never receive too much.
You are correct, the *-ism* are nothing more than to keep everyone in their ‘place’; unfortunately, some things will never change.