By Professor Cecili Chadwick
The article that appeared in The Cougar Chronicle’s first issue, entitled “Social Justice at the Forefront,” is written to describe the recent changes made to the Gender Equity and Pride Centers on campus.
The article’s author, Katlin Sweeney, said that one of the reasons the centers have teamed up is to “refocus their images and encourage students from all backgrounds to explore what each group has to offer.” Part of this change includes rebranding the spaces as “ASI Community Centers.”
“The Pride center is not geared only towards LGBTQA students and the Gender Equity Center is not solely for students who identify as feminists or seek to combat injustice,” said Sweeney.
The question I have in response is: can social justice ever be at the forefront when we put it behind the promotion of inclusion and community? I assure you, this is a real question with real political implications.
Social justice acknowledges that gender, sexual orientation, ability, class and race are not only a matter of difference; they are a matter of dominance. Our move to celebrate difference and diversity is lacking without an understanding about why we need to celebrate this difference in the first place.
One of the great cultural lies we buy into is the notion that we can have it all and that oppression is only a matter of perspective. Oppression seems to be more about how you feel instead of where you are in the hierarchies of race, gender, class and sexual orientation. As an example, we buy into this idea that white people can feel victimized by the assumption that they are racist and heterosexual people can feel alienated in a center that doesn’t also celebrate their “straightness.”
Under this model of inclusion and community, feminists at the Gender Equity Center might be reminded to not “impose their feminism” on people who come by to hang out. So, the argument for inclusion means you should make men, white people, heterosexuals, and allies feel “safe.” The problem I have with this is that these groups are not in any real or imagined danger on the basis of their identity; it is a reversal of the original mission of a Women’s center or a Pride center on a college campus. The goal is to make a safe space for marginalized or oppressed groups – a political space where sexism, racism and homophobia will not be tolerated as it is in most spaces on campus.
To perceive racism, sexism and homophobia as a problem of tolerance is really an effect of ideology. The systems of oppression that produce harassment, exploitation and violence are not simply a matter of perspective; they are a matter of politics. Just because you are uncomfortable in a space doesn’t mean you are a victim and it doesn’t automatically make you right. Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean the system is working against you.
I am supportive of community and inclusion, but I do not think we can put it in front of social justice without losing some of the political significance of these centers. Social justice must come first. With that said, just because the image of the centers is changing it doesn’t mean we cannot and should not continue to bring social justice to these spaces. Politically speaking, we need to continue to bring our feminist, lesbian, gay and queer politics to the community centers and show each other that power is not only possessed by leaders, but it can be exercised productively and politically by all of us who continue our commitment to social justice at the ASI Community Centers.