Reflection on a perceptive from the other side

In Wimsatt’s article “In Defense of Rich Kids”, he says that not all white rich people are the same. This is true of all people.  He makes a good point that we need to realize we are categorizing all rich people to be the same.  He writes about how he feels he is dismissed and I would say discriminated against, because he is a white rich person.  I think that it is important for us to look at diversity issues from multiple perceptive.   As Wimsatt states he has money and he gives it away to fund social change.  He says “I know how to change history and I know it takes money” (pg 508).  He said that it takes billions of people from all backgrounds to come up with strategies to save the planet.  He is not saying he is more important than poor people but that rich people are people too.  He is the one coined the phrase “Cool Rich Kids”.   His message is not to forget about rich people and think they are all the same.  They can be part of the solution and they can change things.  You sometimes need to have capital to make changing and he is working to get more rich people involved in making these changes happen.

I think his message is a good one to reflect on.   I do not think it is fair to pick on rich people, some of them did not choose to be rich.  I think there are more people than we realize like him that are contributing their money to improve the lives of others.  It is not fair to put them all in the same category.  He is doing something and as I mentioned in previous posts everything has a ripple effect and if he can influence other rich people to do the same as him then the effect is greater.

Even though Wimsatt talks about the need for money to make changes there are also other things you can to stand out against racism.   On page 513 of the book it lists a number of things that you can do, the ones I really like are; take risks, teach your children about racism, interrupt jokes, respect, and understand.  I know that it is hard sometimes to take risks but to really change society we need to take these risks.  Speak up when you see racism.  Stop jokes when you know they are going to be a racial putdown.   Teach your children about racism and encourage them to speak out about it.   I know that I am going to work on making these changes myself, it will not be easy but I understand it is the only way that we can change things.

  One of the strategies that Kivel writes that you can use when addresses issues of racism is to use the “I” statement.   In using the “I” statement you are not specifically attacking the person who is being racist but you are letting them know how you feel about it.   When you speak out about racism then you are making a difference and you may be encouraging other people to do the same.  This is the way that we can change how society addresses issues of racism and discrimination.  We all need to work together to change it, rich, poor, black, white, young, old, and we need to teach our children and students to embrace diversity.

As Sengupta states in his article, no one is innocent.  I like this statement because it is not pointing the finger at one category or singling out a group, is statement that no one is innocence.  It simply states that we all should be working together to stop racism and discrimination.  Maybe instead of pointing fingers at groups we can focus on how we can solve the problem.  Everything that we do to speak out about discrimination and racism is step toward changing history.

Reading 53 – Wimsatt, William Upski – In Defense of Rich Kids

Reading 54 – Kivel, Paul – Uprooting Racism: How White People Can Work for Racial Justice 

Reading 55 – Sengupta, Shuddhabrata – I/Me/Mine – Intersectional Identities as Negotiated Minefields