By Irene Sanchez
Xicana Ph.D.
The first time I heard the song “Not Like Us” by Kendrick Lamar, the lines that stood out to me the most were the ones in the title of this blog post “No, you not a colleague, you a fuckin’ colonizer”. I heard the song around the time I was going to be standing at Compton College to do a keynote for their Raza graduation. That same week I did the speech at that graduation, Kendrick Lamar would drop in and give a speech at the larger Compton College graduation ceremony.
Kendrick Lamar is someone I admire for his unifying messages and for representing and being proud of where he’s from, but also for his refusal to let others claim things that aren’t theirs to claim with his powerful assertion “They not like us”. I know his music and the messages in it are why I always have at least a few students who want to discuss his work/contributions as part of various class assignments including tying his lyrics back to concepts and themes in Ethnic Studies. I am sure this song is one I will hear quoted more than once in the upcoming fall semester.
I am reminded when I see these words that there are people in academia and outside of it who will claim to be the only ones with the knowledge. They will steal your ideas, your language, essentially they will steal your style and maybe your life experiences too. They will then claim it as their own because they can. Who will stop them when they know not many of us make it into these institutions or privileged spaces to begin with? The powers that be only let a few of us in at a time and instead of opening doors to let others in, often these folks who take on the ways of the colonizers by becoming gatekeepers, only letting folks in if they are in elite places or have positions in society that they can benefit from.
I saw this years ago when I wrote about the word sCHOLAr here on this blog and how it was used in academic spaces sometimes by those who never were exposed to or lived that life. I received a few angry messages as a result. I still feel much of what we see on social media as a sub-culture of Latina culture is from barrio culture and those who claim it sometimes look down on those who actually live it and/or don’t do anything to support youth from these neighborhoods to have access to opportunities. I often would think that some may do this type of appropriation because they know no one will stop them if they are in positions of power or the first and only in the positions they hold. They may have even been the type of people in school that looked down on those who lived those life experiences and yet now years later can do their nails a certain way and throw on hoops as if that somehow makes them more “authentic” to make a claim to something that isn’t theirs. There is nothing wrong with representing who you are and where you are from. For example if you were a nerd or school girl, own it, and be proud of it. You grew up in a fancy neighborhood and now you are brought to this work for liberation to use your privilege for good, awesome. If you lived in a better socio-economic position than others, be real about what you experienced and trust that people will care about the real you if you’re being real and not simply trying to appropriate others experiences in order to capitalize and be the one and only.
Appropriation of ideas happens often in academia. I recall a time when I began to share my research for my Ph.D. on community college students sometime in the early 2010’s when I was writing my dissertation. I had people message me to challenge me about my work as if I didn’t have a right to do it because they think they were doing it first or because of the institution they were at thought they themselves were better/more smart. I found myself having to subtly check them and explain that I myself went to a community college (for five years) and I was motivated to do the work I was doing because of what I experienced. It had nothing to do with what they were doing or had done. The messages I sent requesting one person who claimed they did it better stopped after I asked if they had suggestions to make my work better. I told them I was open to feedback, but I saw how they weren’t really interested in helping me. I realized when they didn’t respond that they wanted to have power over me and silence me. This happened again at a conference when I became a single mother while still a grad student. I saw a Chicana professor I admired back then come into my session during Q&A and as an audience member asked me a question as I held my first son who was only about 7 months old, this Chicana professor interrupted me because she thought she had a better answer. I went up to her after still a little awestruck she came into the session and she cut me off to make it clear she only came into the session I was in because she needed to set up for her session which was in the room following the one I was in and talking to me was preventing her from more important things. The intention was never to learn or build, she showed with her actions how she meant to silence others and exert her power.
Other places inside/outside of academia I have dealt with these colonizers types were from certain kinds of men (and their supporters), often and sadly other Chicanos/Latinos who claimed to be decolonial and dedicated to social justice publicly, but behind closed doors say and do cruel things like “fuck Chicanos” or “you’re a fucking nobody” or “fuck East LA” (where my parents are from), or “You’re all about that IE (Inland Empire)” (trying to insult where I am from).Throughout graduate school I knew of others who whispered behind my back (never to my face) that I was ghetto and I wasn’t academic enough. I shared this story with my older son the other day and he was in shock especially when I told him how I cried calling my mom (his grandma) when I told her I wanted to drop out because people were calling me ghetto and my mom said “If they want to see ghetto I will show them ghetto and leave them on a corner there in East LA”. I laugh now thinking back on these types of people who claim to be one way, but sometimes hide details like going to private schools that cost as much as college tuition or living in rich communities that most of us couldn’t dream of living in, but then claiming to be from neighborhoods that are far from where they actually live. None of these things about the lived experiences of those who are privileged are bad in themselves, it becomes a problem though when it is omitted to gain power over others by claiming narratives and experiences that aren’t theirs to claim .
Perhaps colonizers whether in academia, the music industry, or anywhere else, feel entitled because they have more followers, more money/wealth, perhaps they are more assimilated and aligned with the dominant group and when convenient won’t dare to ever admit it. Maybe they work in elite institutions or attended them, and have a” better title”, that they actually begin to internalize and think somehow that makes them more important than others from different communities even if they may have a few things in common such as race or ethnicity.
“They not like us”
Perhaps they are the types that claim they too are dedicated to social justice and yet they remain silent on the genocide in Gaza and situation in Palestine. Perhaps they called for students to be arrested recently as they exercised their first amendment’s rights and maybe they were the ones who didn’t give orders, but they stood by and did nothing while it happened. There are those who backstab, lie, and then make life harder for people they claim as colleagues. They are men who look like relatives, like ones I’ve dealt with yet again more recently that claim women like me are “unqualified” to be professors, something I have had to deal with practically my whole life, but more since I finished my degrees, and again now in my current job due to bruised egos or insecurities they hold.
Colonizers are the ones who will also take the work and words of others and claim it as their own, never giving credit to those who did the work. A colleague would cite their sources.
Those who act in the ways of the colonizer are engaged in a power struggle and always looking to better their own positions and bank accounts even if it means adopting the language of liberation to publicly claim one thing and behind closed doors do another.
The award winning writer Isabel Wilkerson writes in her book Caste The Origins of Our Discontents, that many people uphold the caste system especially those not at the top, “When you are caught in a caste system, you will likely do whatever it takes to survive in it. If you are insecurely situated somewhere in the middle-below the very top but above the bottom-you may distance yourself from the bottom and hold up barriers against those you see as below you to protect your own position. You will emphasize the inerhited characteristics that rank higher on the caste scale” (pg. 327).
Isabel Wilkerson writes in Caste about how Latinos (and Asians) are the middle caste in the United States and although she didn’t elaborate to much on why, by the end of the book and after sitting in deep reflection if you’re really trying to understand, you realize she doesn’t have to do that work for you. If you are aware of these things and the history of the U.S. (and of the Spanish Colonial period), you will see it very clear and if you don’t, you need to do the work to try to see it more clear especially if you are truly dedicated to not only being anti-racist, but also wish to work towards dismantling the caste system.
You can’t dismantle what you don’t want to see fully because it is also what you benefit from.
In the book, Inventing Latinos A new story of American racism, legal scholar, Laura E. Gomez writes “Overall, the system of racial classification, rooted in American history, exists to maintain white supremacy”. She goes on to show how Isabel Wilkersons words speak truth about the middle caste, “…I consider how Latinos’ claim to at least some European ancestry provided a wedge to claim an in-between racial status, with whites above them and Blacks below them in the American racial hierarchy.” Following the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Mexicans were technically classified as white in order to be admitted as “citizens”. They were not treated as such though under U.S. law, but later in court cases, Mexicans/Latinos were able to use this classification to gain some legal ground, something other groups did not have access to.
During the period of Spanish colonization, people could change their caste ranking if they were working on behalf of those in power and many who would call themselves Californios did just that. Jose Maria Pico was a guard at the San Gabriel Mission when Indigenous people rebelled against Spanish Colonization as highlighted in the Lost LA episode titled “Borderlands”. Although Jose Maria Pico (father of Pío Pico) was not white and was originally classified as “Mulatto”, he was able to re-classify himself and his family’s caste because he helped to uncover the plot for rebellion at the San Gabriel Mission. He chose to uphold the racial hierarchy that caste had put in place and was rewarded for it. Others were also able to reclassify as Spanish (White) if they had political or economic “success” under this system. In other words, the Californios (Mexican Americans) and now Latinos can be rewarded for upholding white supremacy.
When a person upholds the power structure they will be rewarded. We learn this consciously or unconsciously, and it has been that way for centuries. People also learn pretty fast that if they challenge it, they risk losing their status, their jobs, or privileges.
So what does a colleague look like?
Do colleagues look like those in “social justice” dedicated organizations and institutions who invite colonizers in power to their large conferences or events to celebrate them even though they are facilitating and funding a genocide? Do colleagues look like academics or social justice “influencers” who profit from oppression, gatekeeping, and appropriating ideas of social justice and liberation when their actions show that is the opposite of what they truly stand for? Do colleagues look like those who publicly celebrate Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) in academic and other spaces, but then while out of the public view they.continue to make environments hostile for the people to work and learn in?
Think about these words “They not like us”, then decide not only if “they” are being a colleague or a colonizer, but reflect on if you are or have been as well in any space you are in, not only in academia.
Be a good colleague and surround yourself with those who are as well.
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