Power. It’s all about power—and powerlessness. The predatory
sexual assaults of Donald Trump are being met by moral outrage. Some, however,
separate this behavior from his general outlook on all things, including business,
international relations, class and race.
The point is this: oppressive systems of sexism, racism,
classism, ableism, nationalism, militarism and other isms are
interrelated. They are all forms of
oppression of the powerful over the powerless.
Oppressive systems do not just cure themselves. The power cycle
continues, holding oppressed captive, keeping us from life-giving partnerships.
We have come a long way, of course. We see women and men
side by side at the new anchor desk, co-parenting, and sharing work
responsibilities. And yet we know that
we continue to live in an atmosphere of rape. We see African Americans leading
corporations, as presidents of universities and of this nation, but also as
victims of oppression in the criminal justice and economic systems.
Hurricane Matthew roars through the Caribbean and up the
Atlantic coast, causing terrible property damage and some deaths in the United
States. Meanwhile hundreds die in Haiti, the poorest nation in this hemisphere.
It is dangerous to continuously be among the oppressed.
In the power cycle, those with power can at first ignore people,
groups or nations with little or no power. Hence a Donald Trump seeks to
project wealth, size (property, buildings, name on buildings), being a
“winner.” Those in power can—at least for a while—ignore small nations, people
of other religions, migrants at the borders.
But it is in the ignoring that those who think they are powerful remain
the most ignorant. So a political candidate knows not one name of a leader of
another nation, while people in small, less powerful nations know substantially
more about “great” nations. They need to in order to survive! Note that Trump
at the second presidential debate/forum, showed little interest in the people
asking the questions. He cares little
about the oppressed people making his ties and shirts in poor nations overseas.
But when those formerly ignored stand up and say, “Here I
am. I am somebody. I have a name. Look
at me,” there is the potential for partnership. Hence Hillary Clinton’s
campaign, “Stronger together.” Hence the
United Nations. Hence all kinds of
creative partnerships across socio-economic divides. However, the powerful may grow threatened. A
common response is to trivialize the oppressed trying to be seen: “Isn’t she a
cute little thing?” “That was a nice
idea, but let’s go on to the important business at hand.” “Those people will
never amount to much. They don’t belong here anyway.” This is when we hear jokes, a hurtful form of
trivializing, followed up by “Can’t you take a joke?” The response must be, “No, I choose not to,
because I am not a joke.” “We are not a
joking matter.”
But what if the trivialized start to claim their power of
voice? What if they start to act like
partners? All sorts of new possibilities
arise. Men start to see women in a new
way. We start to become partners by
acting like partners with respect and new knowledge of one another across
races, religions, and borders. We learn about and from one another. People with
power start to share power and together, we all become more able, more
empowered, less dangerous to one another.
OR, the powerful become threatened. The need to keep the
oppressed out or down intensifies. They ridicule, even saying ridiculous things,
or threaten. Afraid they may not be seen
as powerful, or famous, or the most important, they bully, demand and demean. Meanwhile the oppressed may caucus for support
and wisdom and strategy. This is needed and helpful on the way from oppression
towards justice. Women gather and
realize they are not alone in having been forced to have sex with a powerful,
“famous,” man. Groups of people of color, and whole neighborhoods gather in
community halls and in the streets and say that their lives matter. Nations
bring their causes together to an international body. There is potential,
finally, for dialog, and people at the table who were never at the table
before, and for talking about deep issues. This will take providing a safe, healthy,
trustworthy environment to be different together. It will take time and trust. Working together, beyond conversation. This will mean changing systems.
So, which will it be?
If the powerful resist, the next stage of the power cycle is
“Eliminate.” The powerful dismiss, exclude or annihilate the powerless. The woman or child who is raped is
killed. The woman sexually harassed,
particularly the one who tries to claim her own voice, is fired. The racial or ethnic group that seeks to no
longer be ignored or oppressed, is put down and some are killed. The group of people at “our” borders who seek
to come in whose names and religion we could formerly ignore are excluded by
walls and made to pay for their own exclusion.
It’s all about power, and the powerful keeping it at any
cost.
Or will we, finally, say, “No!” to predatory sexual assault and to predatory
business practices, to ridiculing religious and racial actions, and “shoot-first”
local and “bomb-first” global strategies that keep us from being equal human
beings? At each of these stages there is
the potential for partnership, for really seeing each other and for living
together in respect, and care. What kind of leadership does that call for? What
kind of people does that call us to be?
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For more on "The Power Cycle" see Chapter 8 "Transforming Power for Partnership" in Norma Cook Everist and Craig Nessan, Transforming Leadership (Fortress, 2008)