Spring Break
Letter to the Editor
Pride on campus: No discrimination against those with "two legs"
Issue date: 2/16/09 Section: Forum
This letter is in response to Mr. Wicks' letter to the editor on Thursday.
Wicks states that OSU has "pride centers" that attempt to empower minorities. Perhaps this is splitting semantic hairs, but OSU has no "pride centers" per se. It has the Pride Center, which works around LGBT communities. It has the cultural centers, which work with communities of underrepresented ethnic minority groups. There are other resource centers too, like the Women's Center and the Sustainability Center, but no "pride centers."
Nevertheless, I will assume Wicks actually meant the four cultural centers and the Pride Center.
Next, Wicks states that these centers confer unearned pride to their communities and ultimately diminish the ability of those communities to be viewed with respect. He attempts to demonstrate unearned pride by saying that it is similar to his "being proud of the fact that I was born with two legs or brown hair."
But Wicks fails to mention the very real difference between having two legs and being, for example, LGBT. You are not called names, threatened, assaulted, killed or otherwise discriminated against for having two legs. You do not have to learn survival or assimilation tactics from a young age because you have two legs. Having two legs is not a slur. There are no popular jokes using stereotypes about having two legs. Society doesn't treat people with two legs with disgust or malice.
Thinking that minority ethnic/racial identity or sexual orientation affects people in the same manner as having two legs only works if you willfully remain ignorant of the way power, privilege and difference is constructed in our society. To then say that folks who are proud for their oppressed identities are simply being boastful is both disingenuous and rude.
I would encourage Wicks to take any one of the number of courses at OSU that discuss the history of power and privilege in this society, or perhaps to have a chat with any of the centers he alludes to.
ML Sugie
graduate student in
applied ethics
Wicks states that OSU has "pride centers" that attempt to empower minorities. Perhaps this is splitting semantic hairs, but OSU has no "pride centers" per se. It has the Pride Center, which works around LGBT communities. It has the cultural centers, which work with communities of underrepresented ethnic minority groups. There are other resource centers too, like the Women's Center and the Sustainability Center, but no "pride centers."
Nevertheless, I will assume Wicks actually meant the four cultural centers and the Pride Center.
Next, Wicks states that these centers confer unearned pride to their communities and ultimately diminish the ability of those communities to be viewed with respect. He attempts to demonstrate unearned pride by saying that it is similar to his "being proud of the fact that I was born with two legs or brown hair."
But Wicks fails to mention the very real difference between having two legs and being, for example, LGBT. You are not called names, threatened, assaulted, killed or otherwise discriminated against for having two legs. You do not have to learn survival or assimilation tactics from a young age because you have two legs. Having two legs is not a slur. There are no popular jokes using stereotypes about having two legs. Society doesn't treat people with two legs with disgust or malice.
Thinking that minority ethnic/racial identity or sexual orientation affects people in the same manner as having two legs only works if you willfully remain ignorant of the way power, privilege and difference is constructed in our society. To then say that folks who are proud for their oppressed identities are simply being boastful is both disingenuous and rude.
I would encourage Wicks to take any one of the number of courses at OSU that discuss the history of power and privilege in this society, or perhaps to have a chat with any of the centers he alludes to.
ML Sugie
graduate student in
applied ethics
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Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Cara
posted 2/16/09 @ 9:01 PM PST
I <3 you.
Thank you for being articulate and amazin'. I really appreciate the time and effort you took to question this Mr. Wicks person's authority on what pride is. (Continued…)
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