It's a lot easier for people with power to deny a reality than for those who live that reality. With class, racial and familial privilege comes the power to irrevocably deny what on the surface seems obvious to many people. As time progresses, I am finding myself more and more obliged to detect people wearing these goggles and a) ask them to take them off for just a second (like in this column) or b) attempt to smack them off of their faces (in conversation). The later one gets me a bit more heated than the first but nevertheless, helping people see the possibility of becoming more "politically erect" instead of the mindless, meme-ing politically correct young Americans we've been trained to be is something that keeps a pep in my step and a venom on my tongue that I'm not letting go of anytime soon. On a college campus like Tufts,' where people's presumed liberal politics translates into at best inaction and complacency and at worst an appropriation orgy that commandeers conversations to benefit the wearers of denial goggles, some of us find ourselves tasked with snatching them off. It's a matter of dignity.
Denial can take many forms, from not tackling an issue directly or honestly to simply not giving a damn.
So, who has their denial goggles on this week?
No need to fear, we've got plenty of fresh denial here:
Barack Obama is in denial about the reality of persistent and powerful institutionalized racism in the "greatest country on Earth." The "My Brother's Keeper" initiative aimed at supporting Black and Latino boys and young men that I touched on last week is admirable, but stressing the importance of personal and parental responsibility isn't enough when you have laws and policies that keep you in the place you're so desperately trying to get out of. To be President of the United States, you first have to justify the placement of a permanent pair of denial goggles on your face for at least the next four years. I commend the president for stepping up to the plate, but because the pitcher is in large part the U.S. government, this can easily dissolve into a strike.
AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) is in denial about the force of generational change in attitudes and how long they can keep the elephant in the corner. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke on Tuesday at the AIPAC Policy conference, saying, "The Palestinians need to stop denying history." I sincerely hope that the dedication and strength I see on this campus to end Israeli Apartheid is telling of a greater shift in refusing to accept this hypocrisy. Ironically, one of the AIPAC banners at the conference had a picture of one of my friends from the University of Pennsylvania on it, who happens to be black, embracing a Jewish man with the slogan "I am Pro-Israel, I am AIPAC." I tried to smack his goggles off. He has yet to respond.
My friend is in denial about the overarching reality of white supremacy. On a banner, as an American, his brown body is progress - in the West Bank, as a Palestinian, his brown body is shark bait.
Too many of us are in denial about our power as individuals to make change by putting what's important to us on the line for what we know is right. It's simple: pretend that you can't change the system, and then watch as the system changes you.
I am in denial about the likelihood of you taking your tightly twisted and safely secured denial goggles off - after all, the real world can be hard to look at sometimes.
And the good struggle continues.
Jonathan Moore is a freshman who is majoring in political science and American studies. He may be reached at Jonathan.Moore581594@tufts.edu.
