Week 8: Anti-oppression

Question 1

Privilege

Answer 1

Unearned advantage that people receive from systems of inequality bc of who you happen to be (TOP OF COIN)

Question 2

Oppression

Answer 2

You have a disadvantage others don’t
You didn’t earn it
You have it bc of who you happen to be (BOTTOM OF COIN)

Question 3

What is the coin in the coin model?

Answer 3

Each coin represents a different system of inequality

Question 4

Systems of inequality that make up each coin

Answer 4

Racism
Colonialism
Sexism
Classism
Ableism
Islamophobia
Anti-semitism
Ageism

Question 5

What do oppressive forces shape?

Answer 5

Who is healthy
Who is ill
Who gets injured
Who accesses health care
What kind of care people get
Who lives and who dies

Question 6

Which populations undergo oppression?

Answer 6

Marginalized populations
Disadvantaged communities
High-risk groups

Question 7

What are the implications for equity if we frame it exclusively as the bottom of the coin?

Answer 7

It misdiagnoses the problem to be addressed as the problems on the bottom of the coin, when it really is the coin and behaviours of folks on top that uphold the coin

It allows those on top of the coin to see themselves as neutral, unconnected and altruistic vs part of and complicit within the system of inequality

Question 8

Allyship

Answer 8

An active, consistent, and arduous practice of unlearning and re-evaluating in which a person of privilege seeks to operate in solidarity with a marginalized group of people

Question 9

How can you practice allyship?

Answer 9

Shift orientation from “I wish to save or fix the folks on the bottom” to “I seek to understand my own roles in upholding these systems of inequality”

Question 10

How do these coins operate?

Answer 10

Institutionally + interpersonally + internally

Question 11

Institutionally examples

Answer 11

• Build institutional culture where coins are expected and ongoing reflection ad uprooting is highly valued
• Figure out how coins unwittingly show up in the norms in our groups and shape our policies, and seek expertise on how to undo this responsibly

Question 12

Interpersonally examples

Answer 12

• Coaching and ongoing mutual support to recognize and uproot the ways we uphold coins in our day-to-day actions
• Learn and practice how to intervene when we witness discrimination and how to welcome this feedback when it is us

Question 13

Internally examples

Answer 13

• Shift the frame from helping people on bottom of coin to working together in our lanes toward collective liberation
• Figure out coins where we’re on top, then recognize and unlearn the internalized superiority we’ve been taught
  -Learn how coins operate

Question 14

Intersectionality

Answer 14

All of us are on the top of some coins and on the bottom of others; the diff ways that our social identities give us a free lift sometimes and sometimes give us harmful oppressions

Question 15

Takeaway messages

Answer 15

I see and understand my own role in upholding systems of oppression that create inequalities
I learn from the expertise of, give credit to and work in solidarity with, marginalized populations to help me address inequities
Build insight and mobilize action among people in positions of privilege

Question 16

Who are the experts of systems of inequality?

Answer 16

Folks on bottom of coin

Question 17

What is another problem with framing inequity exclusively as a problem facing people who are disadvantaged?

Answer 17

Responses will only ever target the needs of these groups without addressing the social structures causing disadvantages
ie. the framing of a problem sets the universe of possible solutions that will follow

Question 18

What approach does the coin model take?

Answer 18

Intersectional