Thursday, September 2, 2010

Walking together towards social justice


"If you have come to help me you are wasting your time. But if you recognize that your liberation and mine are bound up together, we can walk together." -Lila Watson

Are you involved in any public service or volunteer work? Have you worked with non-profit organizations is the past? Have you participated in rallies, demonstrations, or other activist movements? At the very least, do you donate to non-profits occasionally? I suspect the answer is yes -- especially since you’re reading this blog.

If you have any interest in social change, take note of the above quote. There’s a difference between seeing the beneficiaries of any philanthropy, volunteer work, or non-profit services as “charity cases” and seeing them as simply - human beings. There’s a difference between wanting to help someone through feelings of pity or compassion, and wanting to do the right thing because of a feeling of empathy, because you truly understand their struggle.

Do you see the poor, the abused, the marginalized as people you have to help? Do you ever think the poor are weak, helpless? If you do, you’re seeing yourself as a savior, and seeing the poor as people who need to be saved.

Such a viewpoint is not simply inaccurate, but actively harmful. By thinking of yourself as a savior, you’re building a barrier that separates yourself from the poor. The “savior complex” means that you start to think of the poor as the “other.”

Instead, think about adopting a different attitude, viewpoint, and worldview. Instead of elevating yourself to the status of “savior,” take on a simpler approach -- that of togetherness, community, friendship, mutuality. Believe that you’re working with the poor to achieve the same goal: to improve this world we live in, and to contribute to social justice. See yourself as a friend, a brother, a sister of those you previously wanted to help. Develop empathy, where you are actively working to understand the lives and struggles of those who you hope to work with.

If you want this perspective, what is most vital of all is to gain experience working directly with poor and marginalized communities. Get out into the Bronx to tutor kids. Attend a migrant workers rally and listen to their stories about employment inequality. Work abroad with a (trustworthy, effective) local community-based organization in India or Uganda. Live with a host family, and understand their lives. Become a community organizer. Don’t separate yourself from the poor. Work with them.

My most meaningful learning experiences have come from working directly with the poor, and listening to their stories. I’ve spoken with immigrants from Haiti, homeless individuals attempting to find public housing, drug addicts seeking rehabilitation, disabled individuals on housing vouchers, men with a past criminal record attempting to find a job. I’ve spoken with a range of low-income and disadvantaged people and I can tell you one thing: I could have been in their shoes. There is literally nothing that differentiates me from a poor person, except luck - the household I was born into, the community I grew up in. These experiences have taught me to have empathy, not sympathy. They’ve taught me not to see myself as the savior -- because I’m not.

Only if you work alongside the poor will you understand that you are not the key to their liberation. But you can make a difference. You can bring your skills and experience to the table and join them in the journey of achieving their goals. You’ll understand that “helping” someone is not the key to social change -- but that empowerment is. You’ll see that poor people are incredibly resourceful, motivated, smart, talented, resilient, courageous, and making do with what they have. But you’ll understand that the system is biased against them -- and that’s where you come in. You’re not there to give them charity, but you’re there to help twist the system to achieve greater social justice. You’re here to empower people so they can better face the challenges they encounter in life.

There is a role we can play -- but it’s not the role of “savior.” And only by developing a keen sense of empathy with poor communities and by tearing down the barriers that separate “us” from “them,” can we find the key to achieving social justice.

Contributed by: Akhila Kolisetty

Akhila Kolisetty is a Legal Assistant for a civil rights law firm in Washington D.C., where she works with clients who have experienced housing discrimination and assists lawyers in fair housing litigation. She recently graduated from Northwestern University with a B.A. in Economics and Political Science, and has worked with a range of human rights non-profits. She is passionate about expanding access to justice and legal services for indigent populations worldwide. Read her blog at Justice for All and catch her on Twitter at @akhilak!

3 comments:

  1. Excellent work by Akhila. It is only by experience one can understand the problems ,discrimination and the insults felt by the u derprivileged and deprived ones. She has rightly pointed out the she was lucky enough to be born in a home where was provided better chances to equip herself.It is rightly pointed out that empowering the underprivileged is the priority so that they can help themselves thereafter. But it is a slow and patient process where one has to work with dedication and determination.Manjunath .P

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  2. Great post as always Akhila. I think that a shift in mindset from sympathetic to empathetic is absolutely critical to affecting change. Your approach now becomes focused differently and you better understand the plight and situation from that individual's perspective.

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