Thursday, February 17, 2011

on being uncommon


Over the years, people i have known of various acknowledged minorities i have made common cause with, would sooner or later reach a point where they had to acknowledge (or rather, avow) how THEY had experienced a quality of majority-oppressiveness that i, as a straight white anglo male, could only know vicariously at best. I was on their side, plainly: but i could have chosen otherwise.

Deep down i disagreed. I knew it would only be worse, seem more arrogant, to protest. Later i was able to explain to myself: not every minority is visible or has a name. What minority was i? A minority given to finding patterns not always obvious or accepted--such as seeing how there is not THIS prejudice against skin color, THAT prejudice against sexual orientation, ANOTHER prejudice against gender, & STILL MORE prejudices wherever fences are erected & walls made strong.

There is only one injustice, born of the failure of reciprocity, & not a single human on earth has missed being made the recipient of it, sometime in their lives.

Hatred of the Other.


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