Question E: Chapter 8 Denial

In Chapter 8 of Johnson’s book, he discusses the fact that denial is a major problem and that denying oppression is essentially denying your privilege. If this happens then it’s getting the privileged groups off the hook because the privileged won’t have to deal with any other issues if they deny oppression. In order for oppression to be solved people need to realize first that there is a problem and when someone is denying that there’s a problem then it makes it really hard to solve something.

I like when Johnson used this example “Racism and sexism used to be problems, but they aren’t anymore.”(p.108), as denial because he couldn’t be more true. I see this basically everyday with privileged people in dominant groups, mostly white middle-upper class, for the most part they don’t view these two -ism’s as issues anymore and think that we as a society have already tackled the problems. People can’t be so blind and it’s ridiculous how people can live in such denial, clearly we as a society have made significant steps in both of these issues but there is obviously still work to be done. In order for any issue to disappear, all members of a society need to be on board and everyone need to work for that end goal where everyone is viewed as an equal.

Something else that I found very interesting in this chapter is when Johnson talked about a woman he once knew who “often remarked with a sense of envy on the qualities black people have had to develop to survive in the face of centuries of racism. She sees in them a strength and depth of soul and feeling that she’d like to have herself.” (p.109) I don’t really understand what this woman’s views are even about, how can you wish to put yourself through what black people in past centuries had to go through. Everything that they went through was horrible and I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone, and the fact that when the topic of racism came about she’d immediately turn to a list of “black advantages” is mind boggling to me. I don’t see any advantages that can really come through all of the oppression that black people had been put through.