My intention here is to further explore the relationship between Marginals - those who critique organizations and institutions (e.g.,for their sexism, racism, anti-Semitism )- and Insiders - members of these organizations and institutions who are the objects of those critiques. Four stories:
- On the Inside. In 1960, I was invited to become a participant in National Training Laboratory’s first applied behavioral science intern program. There were seven of us in the program. All men. Over three weeks, we engaged in workshops led by a variety of senior staff members. Again, all men. To the best of my recollection, none of us, intern or staff, ever brought up the question: Why are there no women here? I doubt that the question even entered our consciousness. There was no larger principle at play insisting that this program needed to be all men, yet there it was. Someone from a marginal female perspective could rightly portray this as one more collective and collusive perpetuation of sexism, the systematic exclusion of women from a potentially productive development experience, one in which they could likely make significant contributions. As a member of the group, I was guilty of perpetuating a discriminatory system; I didn’t call attention to it, nor did I take any action to change it. I could plead I didn’t know. (A plea that goes nowhere when others use it to support their innocence.) So, why not just admit my guilt. The question I am raising is: Do the Marginals understand or even empathize with my insider experience? Do they have any curiosity about how such obliviousness could exist? Should they? Is there any benefit to doing so?
- On the Margins. In the 1980’s I created and circulated a document entitled The Terrible Dance of Power. In this document, I was the Marginal critiquing systems past and present for the atrocities they perpetuated always in the name of some great and noble cause - manifest destiny, the Master Race, the One True Religion, the Way, etc. As new examples of oppression came up in the news, I would add them to the document and encourage people to share it particularly in areas in which the dance was under way. This went on for years, and I had no idea where the document went or what impact it was having. One day a young man from South Africa visited me. He told me what a profound experience it was for him to come across the document and find South Africa listed as one of the offenders. I was shocked that he was shocked. How could he, a white man, living in the oppressive conditions of South Africa’s apartheid, be oblivious to the world he was living in?
So, the question again: Should the marginals who saw and fought against apartheid understand and possibly empathize with the insiders who seemed oblivious to it and who, in their obliviousness, colluded in perpetuating the oppression?
- On the Inside. The unrelenting string of murders of black men and women by police officers, the growing discrepancy in wealth between Blacks and Whites, the heightened vulnerability of Blacks to the novel coronavirus and other illnesses, the perpetuation of segregated housing, discriminatory employment practices, differential access to nutritious food, quality education and healthcare – all of this has led to an outpouring of books, articles, blogs, op-ed pieces, and workshops aimed at heightening awareness of systemic racism and its costs. It is primarily Blacks, on the margin, levelling detailed and withering criticism of White insiders. On the inside, some critiques feel like blanket personal attacks, particularly those maintaining that all Whites are racist. The very persistence of White privilege becomes evidence of White collusion. So, you are racist regardless of how much you’ve supported Black causes, how many of your own oppressed experiences you’ve suffered, how many marches you’ve joined, how much black literature you’ve read, how many Black friends and associates you have, how many interracial conferences and workshops you’ve participated in; deep down you are still enjoying – and not willing to give up – your White privilege. I appreciate the critique for the potential it has for creating a needed societal transformation; I understand the frustration and anger that propels the critique; yet I miss any understanding or empathy that might have accompanied it, any curiosity about our experience. And I understand that many marginals could be outraged at the suggestion that they should have any understanding or empathy for their oppressors. Why on Earth would we do that?
- On the Outside. I am at a two-week conference for managers and executives. Most of us, staff and participants, are gathered for pre-dinner cocktails. I am part of a small group standing around with drinks in hand when something in our discussion triggers me into telling a joke, a Jewish joke which I present in dialect. We are all laughing except for one person who looks at me with an expression I can’t make out, except that it is clearly not friendly. It comes out in front of all of us that he hates Jews. I am shaken at this blatant face-to-face confrontation. Later, at the suggestion of others, this chap and I go off campus to talk things over. I don’t recall details of the conversation, my best guess is that much of the time was spent in my describing the impact that event had on me – my personal experiences with anti-Semitism, plus the larger devastating consequence anti-Semitism has had for world Jewry. It felt good getting this off my chest; I am in my marginal role with my passion, rage, experience, and knowledge laying it on this anti-Semite about the consequences of this sickness he carries. One thing I know I did not do in that conversation was be curious about his anti-Semitism, to try to understand it. What is his experience. How did he become anti-Semitic? Did he remember when he first experienced it? Was he brought up in an anti-Semitic environment? Was there a specific event that set it off? I had no curiosity about any of that. I and “my people” were the righteous victims of the evil he and his kind had unleashed. I pursued no such inquiry. We ended in the usual pattern. The blamed and the blameless.
So, if Blacks are outraged at the suggestion that they should have some understanding and empathy for their White oppressors, I can now imagine Jews being equally outraged at the thought that they should have some understanding and empathy for those who have attempted to wipe them off the face of the Earth.
Marginal/Insider systemic relationships.
This Marginal/Insider relationship becomes clearer if we are able to experience ourselves on both sides of the relationship, in some circumstances as the Marginal critiquing the system, and others as the Insider on the receiving end of the such critiques. It is a rare but illuminating experience. That was the case for the consultant mentioned in my last post who regularly experiences himself as the Marginal critiquing organizational systems, and in our exercise finding himself as the Insider, the Top in such a system. Causes of problems and their solutions are so much clearer to the Marginal, and much more complex and daunting to the Insider. As Marginals, we tend to feel no responsibility for the system’s failings; our job is to deliver the message, it’s the system’s job to accept the message and heal itself. As Insiders we wrestle with the message; our instinctive response is to resist it; we have many emotions: misunderstood, unfairly judged, embarrassed at having been caught, resistant to the message and resentful of the marginal messengers.
As marginals, we fall into seeing ourselves as the righteous, courageous deliverers of truth; as Insiders, we are alleged culprits struggling to deny or justify our failings.
I need to be clear. This matter of understanding and empathy for the oppressor is not about forgiveness or forgetting, nor about watering down the Marginal’s message which is critical to healing our imperfect organizations and the world. It is about maintaining contact with others’ humanity and our own. Humanity is not some glorified picture of our angelic selves, it is about the rougher reality of who we are with our inclinations toward hate as well as love, cruelty as well as kindness, ignorance as well as brilliance, superstition as well as rationality, blind followership as well as courageous personal stands.
As a simple case, please point out my blindnesses and I will probably resist and resent, and then, I would hope, summon up the resolve to work with your message; just don’t position yourself as an unblemished angel and me as a fallen Satan. I know better and so do you.
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