I share the perspective that oppression “designates the disadvantage and injustice some people suffer not because of a tyrannical power...but because of the everyday practices of well-intentioned liberal society.” (Young) Yet, I was profoundly struck by Andrea Smith's statement, "[o]ur survival strategies and resistance to white supremacy are set by the system of white supremacy itself." The implications of being so immersed within the system that we are only able to see solutions using the same tools of that system are significant. Thinking of protests within this new lens, shifts my perspective.
Smith’s idea of making revolutions fun is enchanting. It may seem discordant, to think of fun when lives are on the line, yet isn’t the idea of fun also, by being so antithetical to oppression and so out of the box of the usual tools, powerful? Isn’t this the same premise to the vital importance of Black joy? It also brings to mind Tricia Hersey’s The Nap Ministry (Links to an external site.). This organization promotes the idea of regular napping and resting as forms of revolution. The idea is meant to break away from the capitalist notion that we are only as important as our productivity, while also working outside the oppressive systems typical tools. After all, as Smith pointed out in her talk Indigenizing Salvation, we obviously do not know how to dismantle these systems or we would have already done it. Napping more seems like a good way to try “revolution by trial and error.” (Smith)
My earlier life is a long testament to the belief in grind culture. I have simultaneously held multiple paying jobs in conjunction with multiple unpaid jobs, like being a single parent and caring for dying family members. Only very recently, have I begun to see the power in resisting this constant overworking, over-functioning, and overcompensating. I have always been hyper aware of what I could lose in dismantling our systems of oppression, but without the endless cycle of work and exhaustion, I hope to make needed space for the creativity of new solutions that focus on what we have to gain.
Secondly, the notion that we can be limited to using tools of the same systems of oppression with which we fight provides clarity on another irony: why the police’s response to protests against police violence is more police violence. It is confusing that the police seem to not see the irony of confronting people gathered in solidarity against police violence with tear gas, rubber bullets, dogs, riot gear, and LRADs. Isn’t this response reinforcing the need of the protest? However, the idea presented by Smith that “...[f]or the system of white supremacy to stay in place, the United States must always be at war,” could be the key. After all, if patriarchy worked to get people to accept hierarchies, and therefore laid the foundation for colonialism; wouldn’t it follow that if the premise of our country is based on the need for perpetual war, that would acclimate us all to the “necessity” of such militaristic responses to community needs? Basically, isn’t violence our country’s legacy?
Even more obvious to me, is the connection to Young’s work, Justice and the Politics of Difference. She demonstrates how oppression of systemic violence contributes to society’s complacency with violence against particular groups when these violences are not seen as matters of social justice, become acceptable through social context and therefore tolerated. This allows them to maintain the violence and for the perpetrators of violence, like police, to receive "light to no punishment.”
Can seminary be a place to begin the terrifying work of understanding ourselves as Smith says,”in a radically different way?” Attempting her idea of a “radical deconstruction of what it means to be human” seems like it will require spiritual grounding, a supportive community, and intellectual curiosity. How much of our own experiences within a heteropatriarchal world, within our social locations of intersecting privileges and oppressions, have had the intended impact of prohibiting us from “developing and exercising...capacities?”
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