The Equity Book Group discussion
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Lady Q
Lady Q
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I did my dissertation on the individual and social inequity in a a small town in the South. I, as expected, found those who have more, get more opportunities to education, wealth opportunities and general "respect." Strangely, however, I found it was women who reached out to challenge this, even if it their attempts are flawed with the feeling that they are benevolent givers. Check out Bourdieu. He talks about volunteerism as way of excusing the existing power structure that is unequal by its nature. Bourdieu is dense but they're are good readers out there.
Basically, it's who has it and who doesn't. And judgements of both. Those who have often "give" but is it authentic. Could it be self-serving for the "haves." deciding who makes into the club and who doesn't. A game?
Mod
I would recommend Paulo Freire's The Pedagogy of the Opporessed as another sociological and philosophical perspective on the "haves and have nots."
David
Lady Q is a story of struggle from a young Latina women who was the victim of physical, emotional and psychological abuse. Her perspective on gang life and how she had to face violence in the face and walk away from education and extracurricular activities for the life drugs and violence seems like the narrative of those who "do not" make it. However, I think that Lady Q's story and experience will challenge our assumptions about those who "do not make it" and humanizes those who larger society deems as those "who do not make it." Patholozing Gangs sometimes takes us away from the larger structural and cultural/historical causes of why gangs exist in society, therefore, I caution us from agreeing with knee jerk reactions and positions that pathologize all gangs as criminal and bad since often time the students/youth that are there were once probably pushed out of mainstream participation in institutions like school.