I just wanted to discuss Thomas’ great final point – “it’s so much easier to talk about this shit when you’re black.”  It not only provided a good laugh but it was a perfect last comment.  It raises questions that I have been grappling with all semester long, which are: WHO can talk about these issues and how does the language change based on who is talking?  I am very interested in racial relations, gender rights, and equality movements and trying to decipher how far we as a society have actually come in terms of these struggles.  However, due to the nature of these struggles, it is difficult to express oneself in a clear and honest way.  There are a multitude of dynamics that must be navigated when approaching these highly emotional subjects.  In class today, I asked the question: who has the right to empathize?  I would like to add another question as well: who has the right to judge progress?

I was very impressed with the dynamics of the class this semester: everyone listened and was respectful of others’ opinions.  Nonetheless, I was always very careful of what I said because, as a white female, I sometimes questioned my authority on any subject in the class. [By authority I mean in terms of others because I realize that none of us can actually claim authority on the subjects we discussed.]  This then ties into the Piper article where she says that African Americans often feel the need to prove they have endured suffering when sometimes they haven’t.  Therefore, any student in the class could have felt uncomfortable claiming any authority over a thought or point, but that is not always given attention.  Even in this blog post, I am thinking of my words more carefully than I would normally in order to express myself on one hand in a provocative way as to encourage discussion of this subject, but on the other hand in a very neutral and unoffensive way.  I haven’t come to a conclusion on any of this but I wanted to put it out there and hear people’s feedback!