By now, many of us have seen the KONY 2012 video, created by an organization called Invisible Children which in the past week has received considerable criticism from where the money is being spent and who and how the facts and story is being told. First of all, I am not an expert or would even consider myself fully knowledgeable of the what is happening in Uganda, but I am aware that it is a complex situation that cannot accurately be articulated in a 30 minute video. A accurate understanding of the situation is simply a google search away.
More importantly, the purpose of this post is not to criticize the content of the video, but to bring this discussion back to why America needs Ethnic Studies, or spaces like it. The reason being, is that, simply put, KONY 2012 is a prime example of the exercise of white privilege, in that they, without considering their own positionally and experience, take on the voice of narrating the experiences of the Ugandan people. This is no different from the white historians that have misinterpreted and misarticulated the histories of people of color. This is no different from white scientists who associated race and the size of skulls to intelligence. Furthermore, this reinforces the social and monetary capital that whites had historically stolen, abused, and manipulated to place privilege upon themselves. The privilege to have voice, to consume spaces and positions of influences at the expense of hearing other people's voices. Voices and perspectives that are authentic and true to their own narratives are instead silenced. Furthermore, it is the voices of whites that society continues to place value on over people of color and oppressed groups.
This is no different from the white historians that have misinterpreted and misarticulated the histories of people of color.
I am not implying that people should not address injustice unless it concerns the communities they belong to, I am simply asking,"Where are the authentic voices?" Where are people that can authentically speak on these issues or why is it that those who have spoken out do not receive as much media attention, reposts, or retweets than those (KONY 2012) who have misarticulated the issue. Have we, as a society, digressed to simple-minded bandwagoners that co-signs anything that goes "viral" or becomes "popular"? Have we been bamboozled by the fireworks and theatrics of Hollywood-documentary-like dramatization? Have we lost our ability to use our heart as well as our mind? To feel but to also consume media with a critical eye? If this is the case, then there is a lot of work to done, both on a personal and institutional level.
Have we lost our ability to use our heart as well as our mind? To feel but to also consume media with a critical eye?
And so I return to the question of why we need Ethnic Studies. Contrary to what Arizona politicians that supported SB 1070 might think, Ethnic Studies or spaces like it attempt to allow authentic voices, people of color, to articulate their own stories. To rewrite history as it has been written in the past and to write history as it exist in the ongoing present. It is not writing for the sake of simply having ink on pages of books but to transform Eurocentric perspectives that dominated the way institutions had affected people of color. It is about, yes, redistributing power. The power of voice that in turn influences attitudes and minds, which in turn influences action. Action, that is hopefully concerned with equity and social justice.
-ARISTYLES
