Mr. Justice and the State of Progressive Politics
Posted on VidaAfroLatina.com on October 22, 2008

It never ceases to amaze me that some of the most ignorant and insensitive words I have ever heard have come out of the mouths of progressives. I often find it depressing and challenging, but yet simultaneously insightful and strangely motivational. Each time feels like I’m staring into the progressive movement’s reflection. Although I may not like what I see, it’s important that I see things clearly…as they truly are.

While typing away on my laptop, like a good urbanista, at a neighborhood café, my work flow was completely disrupted by an irate patron, who, of course, decides to sit all of his anger and rage in the seat next to mine. As I attempted to keep working and save my left eardrum from permanent hearing loss, I caught some snippets of his conversation. From what I could gather, a woman had cut into his space as he attempted to parallel park.

“I’m all about justice,” he yelled, “and when and injustice is done it just infuriates me.” Of course I proceeded to roll my eyes in annoyance because: number one, he was so loud that no one at the table could concentrate, and number two, I couldn’t take listening to one more person relating the most mundane occurrences of everyday life to injustice.

Just as I was getting back into my work, “Mr. Justice” decided to revisit his tirade, only in a slightly less elevated tone this time. “She is obviously uneducated,” he explains to his female companion. “Anyone who has taken a driver’s course knows that when a person’s turn signal and reverse lights are on that he must clearly be backing into the space… What ghetto trash! She could barely speak English… Did you see that bandana she was wearing on her head?”

Instantaneously I was taken aback and I could feel my heart beating faster and face getting hotter as he continued to go on about the “uneducated.”

“You know, like all the uneducated people that live in the middle of the country … all the ones who voted for Bush,” he retorted.

At this point I could no longer stand to listen to another word. I turned to my left, facing the man and told him how appalled and disgusted I was by his comments, which were clearly racist and classist. Visibly stunned by my boldness, he and his girlfriend sat there with wide eyes and open mouths as I continued to speak. “Did it ever occur to you that people have less education than you because they have not had the same access to education that you have had?” I questioned indignantly.

At this point “Mr. Justice” responds, “I’m not racist. I train others in diversity at my school.”

“Of course you do,” I replied, “because clearly you’ve got it together. You have reached a place of enlightenment where you refer to people as trash.”

What “Mr. Justice” doesn’t know is that he is a victim of oppression. Oppression that allows one person of color (I believe him to be of Arab or Middle Eastern descent) to discriminate against another. More specifically, this oppression is now referred to as horizontal oppression.

As a diversity trainer, what he should also know is that there are secondary forms of racism such as classism and sexism that we all exercise and typically do not work to confront on a daily basis. He was quick to assume that this woman was “ghetto trash” and “uneducated” because she didn’t speak “proper English.” The real truth is that he knew nothing of the woman nor her background, but automatically placed her in a category due to the stereotypes he has been inundated with since birth.

The disparaging remarks about the “uneducated” I found to be extremely disturbing because, as evidenced by my coffeehouse justice fighting “friend,” a degree does not equal intelligence nor compassion.

The real injustice was not that this “ghetto trash” stole his parking spot, but that we live in country where your tax dollars determine the quality of education you will receive. Therefore if you are working class or working poor, your child’s public school district receives less money and resources consequently producing higher dropout rates and fewer college graduates than middle and upper class communities.  And that in this society it is “acceptable” for someone with formal education, to look down upon another person who was informally educated or is without a degree.

It frightens me that race and class color everything in the U.S. to the point where one assumes that it is because of one’s race, class background, and education that he or she would steal a parking space!

In a time where the word change is on everyone’s lips and a Black man is widely regarded in many progressive circles as the one to lead our nation through this change; I can’t help but wonder if the only thing Sen. Obama’s election would change is the color of our next president’s skin.

As I look into the movement’s reflection, I examine every line, wrinkle, and blemish and the sight I see scares me.

My greatest fear is that by electing a Black man to the presidency, we, as a conscious community will grow as complacent and ignorant as “Mr. Justice” and not continue to work to identify oppression and heal the wounds of centuries of race and class manipulation.

We must remember that the election of one man or woman does not automatically equal change. We all, individually and collectively, must work harder for that change.

Aisha Brown is proud Afro-Latina entrepreneur of Panamanian descent.  Through her consultancy Global Awareness Project Consulting, she addresses the impact of socio-economic and socio-political issues, phenomenon, and concerns on communities of color worldwide. She can be reached at aisha@globalawarenesspc.com