Oppression by the Once Oppressed

It seems that it is often the case that once a historically oppressed group gains a position of power, regardless of how small that field of power may be, there is a tendency to oppress those ‘others’ with less power existing inside their sphere of influence. Works like “Blow Back” or other may support the idea that the projection of power is a natural thing, that the once oppressed have a naturally tendency to project power over others once they are able to ‘push’ their right to rule. But, are we not better that this, are we not more developed than some such creatures hiding in the dark woods waiting for either a little red ridding hood or a wood cutter to come our way?

I had never noticed it until I come to the place I live now. Having a new family and buying a home in an affordable area of the city, I had thought that the diverse ethno-demographics of the area would contribute to a wonderfully supportive and inclusive environment. This has not been the case.

I first talked about the exclusion of groups of people to my local city councilperson. Upon that time he told me ‘it does not matter what color people are before the get elected to office, once they are in office they are all the same color – money green.’  I guess it was that I am a hopeful romantic, but surly there is something more to the political landscape that only green trees, with green, and green elected representatives, no? On the other hand, perhaps I miswrote the world and it should more correctly have been written with a ‘D’ at end instead of an ‘N’?

I went again to a man who was elected to represent, I guess, all the people of his city council district as asked about including the Latino, in someway, in the governmental and city owned corporations he has some sway over. Rejection, yelling I was told ‘I can hire any g_d#@$@ person I want’ and after I pointed out that the largest single group of his constitutions were Latino, and not black as his staff would suggest – I was shown the door. Was this really the some person who said, on a radio interview before an election, that he did not need the Latino because he had the Filipinos? Then, like a replay of “A Raisin in the Sun” goes about hiring only women of other ‘brown’ groups any only men of his own?

Over the years, the interactions with the membership of the local Black Power Elite (elected, appointed, or self-appointed too it would seem) has been many things but hardly friendly, inclusive, or supportive. I remember being told by one of our local elected leaders “you better not say anything about my district” and his in the city council chambers. Moreover “You don’t need to be here because we gots you people covered” by a member of the black power elite on a local planning group. Even by members of religious organizations – saying things like “we got us ours now you go get you yours” as if it were some kind of crazy battle for the scraps of social, economic, and political power the masters hand you for all other people to share. It goes on and on from there, local elites of the Black and Gay and Educational communities refusing to even allow that anything of exclusion much less racism was taking place in our area.  It this want we have become, so far advanced that each of us project power over others as soon as whatever group we ourselves belong to (or have attached ourselves to) gains the ability to oppress others? All say, it seems whatever they want about representation yet even by the most liberal among them – to ask, to beg that the Latino too be given a far level of inclusion (much less real equality) appears to be - just to much. In addition, to request than there be an open and non-threatening forum for these topics to be discussed? Forget about it, not one group appeared to be willing to even bring up the topic must less insure that the members of the forum (much less the audience in attendance) reflected the true condition of a democratic society and reflectively reflect the gender and ethno-demographic periodicities of the district, city, or county.

From Black envelopes used by a local redevelopment corporation to the exclusion or near exclusion of the Latino on their board (even though it was said in 2006 that 63% of the people living in their sphere of influence were Latino) to the refusal to return phone calls or respond to emails – the repression of Latino voices abound. And the few getting some support, any support from the city/county/state – seem to dare not say a thing about the gross under inclusion and representation of the single largest minority group in our city, state and nation.

And so, the question: It is normal, or even generally typical, for groups, once they gain a disproportionably large percentage of power (say like the 1% of Americans who make more than 1,100,000 dollars a year) to act in the future only the interest of their group over the general betterment of the shared human environment? And if so, are we not really simply saying that might makes right and that the strong and powerful have the right to do whatever they want to those weaker or meeker than themselves? As well, if that is true, then why do we have prisons so full of people who simply were putting this seemingly acceptable model “might makes right’ into practice; doing upon to others whatever they wanted to because they had the power to do it? Does a condition of poverty make the power to harm or put hardship onto others somehow more wrong or illegal, does having huge amounts of wealth make the self-serving behaviors of some somehow more okay or right?