A Lesson in Power

Draining.

That's the best way to describe my day. Good, full, interesting.... draining.

I was sitting in the backseat on a way to a meeting at the hospital with two colleagues of mine, both immigrants working in the professional world. Both educated, smart women. The conversation started with buying used cars and quickly turned into a conversation about racism. Both of these women who I have come to know and love this semester had numerous stories of blatant racism when buying cars, renting apartments, and reporting vandalism to the police. I was enfuriated. I was also silenced. What can you say when you, as a member of one of the most privileged classes in the world, are faced with stories like these? Sure, I was empathetic, I was on their side, but I couldn't do anything.

I've taken race relations and power & privilege classes; I've heard these types of stories. They've always made me mad, but now it's my friends we're talking about. And it's not okay. I may be in one of the groups of "power" as a middle class white American, but I felt powerless today listening to these women share their experiences. They've lived through war, communism, horror, refugee camps, and now as citizens in America they are still discriminated against.

"They think I'm stupid just because I'm an immigrant."

It breaks my heart. It drives me to action. I long for a time when social justice is not a noun, but a verb.