Lee Mokobe’s poem about what it feels like to be a
transgender was so powerful. Her use of imagery in the poem and the passion
that she spoke with emphasized the truth and importance behind her words. A
part of the poem that I found especially enlightening was when she described
her “coming out”- or lack of. “Naturally,
I did not come out of the closet. The kids at my school opened it without my
permission.” Her comparison of a house to her body did an excellent job of
explaining what it feels like as a transgender. She explains, “It had nothing
to do with hating my body, I just love it enough to let it go, I treat it like
a house, and when your house is falling apart, you do not evacuate, you make it
comfortable enough to house all your insides, you make it pretty enough to
invite guests over, you make the floorboards strong enough to stand on.” Her
poem in relation to identity theory offers a view point of the struggles and
societal opposition a transgender person will go through by defying society’s
attempt to choose one’s identity.
Mia Birdsong offered an interesting perspective that
addressed the ways in which the story we tell about poverty is not true. This
story she talks about is the one in which we tell ourselves that if you work
hard enough, you will become successful. In saying this, it goes on to imply
that those who are not successful simply did not work hard enough. “We have a
wide range of beliefs about what that something wrong is. Some people tell the
story that poor folks are lazy freeloaders who would cheat and lie to get out
of an honest day's work. Others prefer the story that poor people are helpless
and probably had neglectful parents that didn't read to them enough, and if
they were just told what to do and shown the right path, they could make it.”
When it comes down to it, what separates the rich from poor is luck, among
other factors. Birdsong goes on to mention how she is the exception. I really
liked her solution to how to help put an end to poverty. Instead of relying on
wealthy people to solve the problem, she suggests to turn to poor people
themselves. She says, “The quarter-truths and limited plot lines have us
convinced that poor people are a problem that needs fixing. What if we
recognized that what's working is the people and what's broken is our approach?
What if we realized that the experts we are looking for, the experts we need to
follow, are poor people themselves? What if, instead of imposing solutions, we
just added fire to the already-burning flame that they have? Not directing —
not even empowering — but just fueling their initiative.” This is such a
powerful statement because it challenges society’s view of poor people’s
capabilities. The answer to the problem of poverty can actually be solved by the people in
this population.
Fueling their initiative. That statement is so powerful. Persons of low income do not need a "savior" as many higher class people believe. They simply need an opportunity, a chance, to move up and make headway into a better life. A life that they deserve an equal chance at having. If more people viewed the topic of poverty and saw low income individuals as Mia Birdsong did, then, as she stated, we could make great progress in closing the wealth gap and, hopefully, ending poverty. People of low income are not simply "victims of circumstance", they are victims of an age old system of power and oppression that is so ingrained into our society that we don't even recognize it. Hard work only pays off when hard working individuals have a fighting chance.
ReplyDeleteJoanna,
ReplyDeleteI also found Lee Mokobe’s poem very beautiful and powerful. I loved how vividly she described her experience. I found the story of her transformation very touching and eye opening. I truly believe that we have to hear more stories like these in order to have a deeper understanding of what transgender people experience. I think a big part of the bias and judgment that is often associated with someone being transgender is lack of understanding. I’ve heard people say they view transgender people as “confused” or “going through a phase”; this is beyond offensive. Often times though people view transgender people this way simply because they can’t understand or even imagine what feeling transgender would be like. This is why people, like Lee, sharing their stories is so important right now. People need the education so that they can understand.
The fake story of poverty that Mia Birdsong is referring to is one that I grew up hearing personally. I grew up in a upper middle class neighborhood and although it was never upfront told to me that “poor people are lazy” or “poor people want to live off of welfare because it’s easier”, these messages were passed on implicitly. I was confused by them even at a young age because I didn’t understand why some people would “want” to be poor. As I became older I started to understand what was really going on. I figured out that the wealthier people I was surrounded by growing up only told themselves those lies so that they could feel like they earned their own wealth. Because if poor people worked just as hard and wanted to move up the ladder but couldn’t, then the poor person and the wealthy person were just separated by luck. Wealthy people want to believe that their wealth is more than luck and to believe this they have to put down the other group. This is a sad reality that plays out in our society too often. We need to change the story.