Context of the Need for a Liberated Culture We now live in a world in which corporations are finding new ways to make money off of our private lives. This is clear through apps like task rabbit, which show that some workers are so busy working that they have to outsource their errands to workers … Continue reading Preliminary Elements of a Liberated Culture
Author: aarongoggans
A Brief Defense of Identity Politics and Intersectionality
“Identity politics are political arguments that focus upon the interest and perspectives of groups with which people identify. Identity politics includes the ways in which people's politics may be shaped by aspects of their identity through loosely correlated social organizations. Examples include social organizations based on race, class, religion, gender, gender identity, ethnicity, ideology, nationality, … Continue reading A Brief Defense of Identity Politics and Intersectionality
Meditation for Queer Bodies
Please closes your eyes, make yourself comfortable and reflect on these words. Forget any misgivings or preconceptions you may have about meditation. This is intended to help folks trying to process today's violence. As my friend Marybeth says, it’s not that serious. Just make yourself comfortable. Relax and reflect upon my words: Honor … Continue reading Meditation for Queer Bodies
Emerging Analysis, Relationshit and Transformative Love
Two weeks ago Omolara Williams McCallister and I spoke at a regional UU conference at All Soul's that was centered around Black Lives Mater and racial justice. Also speaking that day was Alonzo Smith who is a professor of Black history. I decided to turn our talks into a podcast but unfortunately have been super … Continue reading Emerging Analysis, Relationshit and Transformative Love
The Case For Inter-Personal Reparations
**Unlike most essays on the well examined life, this essay is in response to a series of specific conversations in which specific questions arose. This essay is written for Standing Up For Racial Justice’s DC chapter as part of our own going conversations about rethinking the white-allyship role and journey. Specifically, this is part … Continue reading The Case For Inter-Personal Reparations
Decolonizing Male Allyship
I'm slowly starting to realize the damage that non-intersectional feminism has done to my thinking and my intimate relationships with Black women. So often we talk about the role that men need to take in checking our privilege as if Black men and white men should address patriarchy in the same way. How often do … Continue reading Decolonizing Male Allyship
Meditation for White People Fighting White Supremacy
Please closes your eyes, make yourself comfortable and reflect on these words. Forget any misgivings or preconceptions you may have about meditation. As my friend Marybeth says, it’s not that serious. Just make yourself comfortable. Relax and reflect upon my words: Honor all of your emotions in this space. And let your thoughts flow to … Continue reading Meditation for White People Fighting White Supremacy
What Black Queer Feminism Has Taught Me: Intersectionality, Nurturance Culture and Transformative Relationships
To get free we need more power, not less. We need more leaders not enfeebled followers. This idea that white people must give up their power is based on a white middle class and masculine limiting belief in scarcity. It presumes that either power is inherently bad [or at least bad in white people’s hands] or that it is a zero sum game. Intersectional transformative relationships teach us that power works in abundance. Just as standing in solidarity with my Black Trans siblings requires me to stand in my own transformative non-binary masculine power, not abdicate it, so too must non-Black people stand in their own transformative power. Yet in order for them to do it, they must first discover it and re-imagine their identities is a way that accepts my existence and my inherent humanity.
Dream Fragments: Open Letter to Alexis Pauline Gumbs
My uncle was a master at speaking to one person as a way to speak to the whole room. It makes the room feel like they overheard something secret, something special, something profound or [as was often the case with Buddy Boy] deeply profane. I think it is an ability branch that Black folx unlock … Continue reading Dream Fragments: Open Letter to Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Preliminary Observations on the Analysis of the Movement
As proponents of identity politics we readily admit that often times identity politics adherents dismiss individuals based on the groups they are perceived to be a part of. We see this as a counterproductive strategy that is often the result of unprocessed trauma or immature political awareness. We do not believe that identities determine the inherent worth of people nor the validity of their ideas. Likewise, we reject the identity determinism present in much of current Marxism that has a pre-occupation with the proletariat as the only “legitimate” revolutionary class.
The Well Examined Life 