Q Chats | Anti-Racism | Week 5
Q Christian is a community comprised of people with diverse backgrounds, differing theological beliefs, and a variety of ethics. Q Chats are designed to be a deep dive into self-discovery by learning from one another, and spiritually growing side-by-side. Q Chats cannot be effective without you! We invite you to participate. Share your thoughts, stories, and perspectives. Your influential voice can make a difference in the lives of others.
How do you recognize privilege even within a community of minorities like Q Christian Fellowship?
Bukola Landis-Aina
Because we have to be aware that when people have multiple marginalized identities, this greatly amplifies their experience of marginalization in society. If we do not recognize that there are minorities within the main minority group, we will ignore the unique needs and experiences of those individuals. We have to extend radical welcome in such a way that invites everyone with their whole selves included, seen and cared for.
Sarah Ngu
I recognize that I am seen as a ‘model minority’ in many ways, as an Asian American who is educated and has savings—in contrast, to the 29% of Asian Americans who live under the poverty-line in NYC, where I live, whose stories are erased under the banner of ‘model minority.’ It’s important to understand that the concept of the ‘model minority’ was formally utilized in the 1960’s by the government to use Asian immigrants as a way to point the finger at other minorities, specifically African-Americans, for not being as ‘successful’ as those model-minority-Asians.
Erica Lea-Simka
As a hearing English-speaker and an American, I recognize my privilege to always have access to Q Christian Fellowship events and resources in my country of citizenship and first language.
Jessica Wang
Even as a person of color, I need to acknowledge my privilege within communities of color. I need to acknowledge that being followed by police or being avoided on the street is not something that I need to deal with on a daily basis. Within the Asian American community, colorism is rampant and wide-spread. I remember being raised with the idea that I shouldn’t befriend a Hmong child simply because they were not East Asian. When I went on a trip to South-East Asia with my father expecting to receive cheap lodging in exchange for some menial labor, I had to acknowledge my privilege as a citizen of an already developed country and the largely negative impact I can have on local economies in developing countries if I am careless about the way that I travel. I needed to acknowledge the white superiority complex, despite my not being white, that we are all susceptible to when we travel or volunteer. Even in the LGBTQ+ religious community, our media representation is exclusively white people, and we need more people of color who are also queer and religious.
Laura Beth-Buchleiter
To identify margins among the marginalized, we need to realize that privilege is not two-dimensional. The relationships between the privileged and the “othered” are complex. I have often found myself talking with cis, straight, people-of-color about LGBTQ+ inclusion–sitting in a marginalized place–only to have the conversation turn to systematic racism at which point I need to recognize the shift of privilege dynamics in the conversation. Essentially, it is not something that is recognized and then set aside. We need to condition ourselves to be constantly accessing and reassessing our social context.
Kevin Garcia
By listening to people who have further marginalized identities than me. My POC friends, my Ace friends, my disabled friends, my women friends, my old friends... I listen to people and I constantly ask if my presence is causing harm, or hurting someone, or making someone uncomfortable. Asking, "Should I pass the mic to someone else right now? Is my story the dominant one? Just the mere consciousness to ask those few things can really make you aware of what privilege you hold, even amongst a marginalized community like ours.
