When My Intersecting Identities of Being Racially Oppressed and Privileged Become Blurred: An Autoethnographic Dive Into Unlocking the Polarities of Who I Am

Freire argued that each person is, at times, both the oppressor and the oppressed. He posited that the path to liberation is increased critical consciousness, problematizing our circumstances, and finding ways to take action. As a person from the global majority (PGM), this autoethnography incorporates my personal narratives, communication with colleagues, photo observations, and professional writings that problematizes and examines ways I have been both complicit in, or have been victimized by, racialized oppression, particularly in educational settings. I’ve had an increasingly keen sense of awareness toward my own racialized tensions when interacting with individuals, in groups, or with an educational system that remains highly racialized. I’ve been part of, victim of, and have borne witness to countless racial events that have pushed me to a place of silence, as silence has been my place of safety, perseverance, and resilience. However, over decades of being a silent bystander in my own experiences and the experiences of others, I’ve realized the harm my silence was inflicting upon myself and others. I was not only holding myself hostage as a victim of others’ racialized attacks on me, but I was also complicit in the racialized harm upon others. Through this study, I focused on how those moments have ultimately impacted the ways I’ve chosen to interact with racialized tensions and norms. I hope to inspire others to continually self-examine ways each of us show up in our own racialized moments, while also being in solidarity with all those forced to persevere through their silence.