Talking Point X – Johnson

Johnson expands on the points of saying what things are and don’t avoid saying it. He shows ways in “What Can We Do?” on how to address the issues of discrimination and inequalities. He makes mentions of identifying what your class and privilege might be but not to take things personally. The most important thing is to try to make a difference and let go of those thoughts of how there’s nothing we can do to fix anything. There are a number of issues coming up here… here’s a few.


- Speak out about things that make you feel uncomfortable or angry. Keeping them inside only hurts you and thoughts you might have or want to world to hear will go unnoticed.


- Don’t be afraid of anger, use it as a tool to get your point across, make a subject personal and cause it to be heard. Be angry because at times it will cause people to see how passionate you are a bothers you.


- Stand up and fight against discriminations, if someone calls someone else a racist, sexist, or gender slandering slur call them out on it, make a difference for equality among orientations, genders, and races.


- Most importantly white privileged need to recognize their roles, even if it’s difficult for them or if they don’t even want to recognize them. Johnson makes the case that no higher social class or power stays in power forever, things are always changing.


These ideas apply to people who never want to make a change, people who complain constantly about the problems that plague them, whether it’s social, economic, or political. Like for example Americans who complain about the taxes yet do nothing to change the problems that are causing them to feel the way they do. Americans tend to take things lying down and it would appear to me anyways that people no longer have back bones or integrity. If something makes you upset change it and if you’re going to complain and whine yet make no attempt to change the issue that be quiet and just waste away. It might sound harsh, but it tends to be true in my eyes.