Hi everyone, I completely forgot to
introduce myself in the first blog that I posted. I am currently a junior at
the University of Texas at Austin, an Asian American Studies Major and gender
queer. My ethnicity is Khmer-American and my family emigrated from Cambodia as
refugees in 1992. Well enough about me, I am here to talk about queer issues
and the community that I share with so many people in the United States.
The link above is something that my
mentor and teacher (Shane) posted in hir’s Facebook wall and I grew to liking
the article very much. The article itself talks about the act of “calling
someone out”, and how recently the author has been trying to change it to “calling
in” (or create a new tool that we can use to go against the system, because “our
work does not have room for binary thinking”). The old process in which the
author speaks of “calling someone out” is currently used as a way to tell
someone that they are saying/doing something hurtful to a certain community
that is disenfranchised. This method the author points out can be counterproductive
(does not foster what we really need in our community) in which the person
feels attacked and does not necessarily grow from the experience. This community
that has been built is meant to sustain and nourish everyone who is trying to
go against the system. The process of “calling someone out” does not allow for
communication of why someone who is in that community is making those mistakes.
However, the author does come up with a solution called “calling in”, this
method is meant to allow for people in the community to be welcoming of someone
who makes a mistake and that humans are not perfect. The author also points out
that the process of “calling in” really brings to light that as minorities we
live in a system in which we are supposed to follow rules and hegemonic racial
formations. However, as we are unlearning the system that oppresses us, we must
also allow for ourselves and others to make mistakes because it’s a relearning process.
When I read this article in the beginning,
I questioned whether or not I could follow this new model. The act of calling someone
out was so commonly used in my circle of friends who fight their everyday
oppression's. When I first encountered someone calling me out, it always felt
uneasy and I felt ashamed for something that I did. It didn't allow for
dialogue and shut me out of important conversations that I needed to grow. From
personal experience if someone did a calling in I would have felt more
comfortable to make mistakes, but also unlearn the hegemonic system that I grew
up in. I believe this would have established a faster relearning process of how
things can be and should be in the future. This would have taken the blame off
of me and re-centered it around passion, compassion and fruitful understanding.
I would have been able to come to terms with the new world in which I am now
seeking and probably will never find, but I do know that this new method could definitely
open new doors for how we treat the same people who feel our everyday
oppression's. To show them a new door in which they can start their own journey
of understanding.
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