As much as I hate to admit it, diversity in academics is very rare. Only recently have steps been taken to include more diverse perspectives in everyday classes. This is a fantastic step in the right direction— but it isn’t the full journey. Even the diversity that has been introduced to our classes is limited. Speaking from personal experience, as the years go by, I have been assigned more and more literature written by black authors. This is great! 100 years ago, this would not have been heard of. Heck, it was unheard of 34 years ago when Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference was copyrighted. In it, Lorde comments, “The literature of women of Color is seldom included in women’s literature courses and almost never in other literature courses, nor in women’s studies as a whole. All too often, the excuse given is that the literatures of women of Color can only be taught by Colored women, or that they are too difficult to understand, or that classes cannot ‘get into’ them because they come out of experiences that are ‘too different.’ I have heard this argument presented by white women of otherwise quite clear intelligence, women who seem to have no trouble at all teaching and reviewing work that comes out of the vastly different experiences of Shakespeare, Moliere, Dostoyefsky, and Aristophanes.” (117)
The situation is quite simple. If you can teach Shakespeare, you can teach Maya Angelou, Alex Walker, and Lorraine Hansberry. If you can talk about Shakespeare’s life and how he rose to fame, you can talk about the significant evidence that he was bisexual. If you can make high schoolers read thinly-veiled phallic humor, you can make them read about the experiences of a transman. It’s not a question of if you can, it is a question of if you have.
You can not expect women of Color to educate you on their own work, or the work of other women of Color. To put the burden of education on their shoulders is wrong— it is not their job to teach us how they have been oppressed. There is no reason that a white woman can not learn— and therefore, teach— about the oppression a Woman of Color faces. However, a line must be drawn. White women can teach about the experiences of a Woman of Color, but they must be careful not to appropriate these experiences and claim them as their own. You can not fully understand what you have never experienced, and it is cruel to appropriate another’s experiences for your own personal gain. It hurts those you are trying to help— those you are trying to understand.
In the same sense, do not erase their anger. The oppressed have every right to be angry at their oppressor. This anger is strong and ancient. It will not disappear because of half-hearted apologies. Still, it is important that this anger is used in constructive ways. Do not be afraid of anger, “[f]or it is not the anger of Black women which is dripping down over this globe like a diseased liquid”(Lorde, 285). To quote Lorde, “ Anger is an appropriate reaction to racist attitudes, as is fury when the actions arising from those attitudes do not change.” (282) I would argue that not only is anger reasonable, it should be encouraged. Or, at least, it should be encouraged when it is the kind of anger that motivates you to produce change. Purposeless anger and guilt are worthless— feeling bad does not change the world. Actions that stem from such feelings is what changes it.
The question remains— what can we do to write these wrongs? In the words of my friend Ron, “We can take baby-steps.” Do your classes lack diversity? Encourage the teachers to pick up new authors and topics (as long as they fit the curriculum). Become a teacher yourself. Teach the lessons you wish you were taught. Become an author. Write about your unique experiences. Listen, rally with, and help your fellow people. Most importantly, be a better you.
“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”- Mahatma Gandhi
- What would you define as “purposeful anger” and how does Lorde show this in her work?
- What does Lorde suggest we do to rectify the lack of diversity in academics?
