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The Power Hungry

Nearly 53 years ago, a man stood at the Lincoln Memorial, and said a speech that could apply directly to the present day in 2016. On this site, this man said, “[we] can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality; And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality.” Today, Martin Luther King’s words still have much weight, especially in an era where police brutality is scarily becoming something of the norm.

In Toronto, we have Toronto Police Service Officer James Forcillo who was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter, but guilty of attempted murder towards a young man posing a threat on a bus. Over two decades ago, we have the Rodney King beating by police officials. And, also within the past 20 years, we saw innocent Robert Davis attacked by police? Why?

The first answer that comes to my mind – wielding the perspective of a police officer’s subconscious – is “because we can.” Indeed, you can. Anyone can. But should you? That is obviously the question that is being failed to ask. Obviously, you should not.

53 years ago, Martin Luther King spoke about the injustices being served and the justice not being served to African Americans, with the topic of “police brutality” being specifically named twice. While the Los Angeles Police Department’s motto is “To Protect and Serve,” we see that there is neither valid protection from the unjust police nor the rights being served; all that is served are beatings without righteous cause.

Now, after working in produce for nearly four years, I can easily say that not all cases of apples, oranges, sweet potatoes, watermelons (or any other type of produce, for that matter) come without a bad product. There will always be the rotten fruit. However, it seems to me that, whether we are talking about the injustice of police brutality, the racist comments of politicians, or the invitation list of the 88th Academy Awards of 2016, the one word question that always arises is, “Why?! (with both punctuation marks required)”

I titled this piece, “The Power Hungry,” because it was the only reason that made sense. Some, not all, police, politicians, officials, etc. are merely power hungry. I have seen discrimination myself. Why? Because those in power can do whatever (they think) they want, and (they think) they get away with it. Once again, “why?!”

Every time a topic of racism comes up, it feels like we are living in Groundhog Day insofar as we have been and seen and heard this all before – no change has been made. “Why? (with the exclamation mark purposefully taken out)” Because of the power hungry and unjust. A fireman can go up to a building and start drenching it with water without it being on fire: does this make sense? A jury can sentence an eighteen-year-old female for helping a kitten out of a tree: does this make sense? Another example is unnecessary because the aforementioned ones do make sense to get my point across. They don’t make sense in regards of justice, but insane things like this can happen. “Why?” Because we give too many people too much power. That, I believe, is the problem with society. It’s not who we give the power to, but how much power we are giving those who are supposed to be serving and protecting us.

Thus, I have a dream. And that dream is for this world to get its act together. How difficult is it to simply be good? Indeed, we may encounter frustration from slow walkers and drivers who may not know the rules of the road, but I say be thankful for having legs to walk on and cars to drive in, while others may not be so lucky.

I applaud Christopher for taking upon himself the daunting task of addressing the topic of the seemingly ever-prevalent racism within our society. The topic of racism, or more specifically, power struggles, is never an easy one to approach. Although I acknowledge the difficulty of placing the responsibility on one overarching explanation, I do believe both Christopher and A.C. do a wonderful job at getting to the core of this issue. Ultimately, as both Christopher and A.C. begin to touch upon, hegemony, or more specifically, cultural hegemony, is at the core of this issue.

Being both a Sociology and English major, I have the benefit of intersecting these two subjects simultaneously when addressing both literature and social issues. With that being said, perhaps the most significant aspect I have taken away from my sociology courses is how essential hegemony is in shaping our society. Hegemony accounts for the taken for granted assumptions rendered normative by dominant groups of society which function to render the subordinate groups of society as such. Moreover, cultural hegemony, more pertinent in this case, accounts for the rendering subordinate of all other cultures, by one dominant culture.

It is by no means surprising that this is the case when discussing racism. After all, racism is essentially the positioning of White over Black. Similar to the metaphor employed by A.C., it is the domination of Tim Hortons over local and diverse coffee shops. But if this is the overarching issue at hand (and temporarily ignoring the plethora of other variables that contribute to this issue), what is the solution?

As Christopher reveals, the plethora of sociological research that seems to suggest a variety of solutions, either has not been implemented, or not successful. Still in 2016, racism persists. Despite this, each time I think of hegemony in relation to racism, I think of Jacques Derrida. Surprisingly, I was first introduced to Derrida's work in a Critical Approaches to Literature course. Though very dense, Derrida essentially is known for deconstructing oppositional binaries and reversing the hierarchy that positions one higher than the other. It seems to me, that solving racism lies in taking this approach and applying it. Although I recognize this is easier said than done, I believe that this is truly the only solution, even if it seems like an impossible one. Only until we deconstruct this hierarchy of White over Black, and render both hegemony and this hierarchy irrelevant, can we solve this issue of racism.