Privilege, Power, and Difference by Allan Johnson

Point one:

"This defensive reaction has done more than perhaps anything else to keep us stuck in our current paralysis by preventing each of us from taking the steps required to become part of the solution." (vii)

This quote pulled me into Johnson’s narrative. This is the articulation of what has been rattling around in my mind, and the minds of many in our society, for as long as I have begun to understand our world. We should be the solution but instead we dig ourselves deeper into the problem. I am drawn to the quote by President Bill Clinton at his second inauguration: “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America” as I hope we can make ourselves, and our community, more right. 

Point two:

On page two, I was struck by this quote beginning with “one way”. Words are deeply powerful with rich histories and stoires of their own and we cannot shy away from them, even when those histories are painful. Johnson notes that without our words, we cannot see the problem. Without the problem, how could we possibly find a solution? It is a challenge to us all to find the right words but it is a challenge we must always take on. 

Point three:

On page 7, Johnson spends several paragraphs describing a “powerful force” that keeps us away from what is just and good for all. That we all want to be happy and safe but that there is something stopping us. He states that, while it is everywhere, we always try to say it is elsewhere. A habit that we all are guilty of. 

Argument: Johnson argues in this text that there are systems of power that create the inequalities of our society and that, only by naming it, can we face it head on and cause changes.