We're On the Same Side

Patricia Collins states in her articles states that "Once we realize that there are few pure victims or oppressors, and that each one of us derives rating amounts of penalty and privilege from the multiple systems of oppression that gram our lives, then we will be in a position to see the need for new ways of thought and action." There is no straight victim and oppressor in society because almost all of us are both privileged be unprivileged in some way, all intertwined through intersectionality. But oppressed people in different movements seem to be more divided between themselves than with their oppressors. For instance, when black people and white women during the first wave fought about whether who would receive rights first. How can hierarchy of oppressed be established? By who has been oppressed longer? Or who is oppressed more? Can we really compare white women who were treated poorly by their husbands in the 1800s to black people who were not even considered humans in the first place? As Lorde stated, we act as if there is a hierarchy of oppression that we have created which is not how we should look at things. If this constructed hierarchy divides us so much, should we just get rid of all of the movements and combine it into one movement of the oppressed? Or will it end up speaking for one group over another? Dividing things up and sorting them out seems to be the easiest way for us humans to make sense of things. With too much complexity and entanglement we begin to get confused. We try to make things easier on ourselves by simplifying as much as possible, but it leaves room for error: a hierarchy of oppression. There needs to be a balanced way to represent all movements equally without overpowering one another.