Philosophical Reflection on Gender, Race, and Class in a Capitalistic Society.

By César Omar Sánchez

This report paper is a response analysis and reflection to a Social Justice class taken at NJCU (New Jersey City University). 

         

We are no doubt living in a world of spectacles during a Global Pandemic in the United States. We live in a world where profits are more valued than human lives. We see our beautiful planet being destroyed due to our human activities and the economic system that exacerbates it, Capitalism. This current economic paradigm that we are in will ultimately take us all to our doom if we do not rise and take affirmative actions. This not a mere hyperbole message I am conveying, but facts being presented to everyone to comprehend. In Capitalism, this system brings the following: gender inequality, racist cast system towards Afro-Americans, and the assault on the middle class which is almost wiped out.

Gender oppression under Capitalism

            If we look back into history, there a clear pattern on how gender subordination is intertwined within the functions of a capitalistic society. Unfortunately, when it comes to Gender Discrimination in the United States, women in the workforce are not treated well and ignored of their needs. From low salary wage to job positions where many of their white female counterparts do not have as much, gender discrimination continues to become a big problem not only in the United States but also worldwide.

In a 2012 report from the Center of American Progress, The State of Women of America, the inequalities remain. Yes, one will argue that women are increasing in numbers within the workforce, but women are paid only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. However, for African American women, they are paid only 66 cents for every dollar a man makes. Just to clarify a little:

The pay disparity is more dramatic for women of color: African American women make 64 cents for every dollar white men make, and Hispanic women earn only 53 cents. ⁽¹⁾

The ferocity attacks on women and transgender are on the rise, even more, when Global Capitalism brings instability in people's livelihood. Racist caste oppressive system is still intact in the United States

Unfortunately, the ideology of white supremacy towards African Americans, Jews, Muslims, and other people of color is still alive and well in the United States. Even though their numbers are not significantly higher as in previous decades, it is important to know the historical backdrop of this nation and how it was founded under white supremacy. During the British Empire, colonialism in many regions of the world was key to conquer and seize natural resources. Let's take a Tory member of the British House of Commons in 1807 who said the following:

Giving education to the labouring classes of the poor...would...be prejudicial to their morals and happiness; it would teach them to despise their lot in life, instead of making them good servants in agriculture, and other laborious employment to which their rank in society had destined them; instead of teaching them subordination, it would render them factious and refractory...; it would enable them to read seditious pamphlets, vicious books, and publications against Christianity; it would read render them insolent to their superiors. ⁽²⁾

When you look at politicians in the United States, you can see many echoes similar calls. William Harper, a pro-slavery lawyer from South Carolina said the following:

The Creator did not intend that every individual human being should be highly cultivated...It is better that a part should be fully and highly cultivated and the rest utterly ignorant. ⁽³⁾

            If we analyze the entire prison industrial complex system in the United States, it has all the indications of modern-day slavery. This caste system in both our prison and outside world is built to keep us Latinos, Blacks, and people of color in check. These relics we see down south of this nation and mechanism in place are to remind us who are the real ones running the show. As the author, Michelle Alexander talks about in her book "The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness", there is a systemic problem on how Blacks are continuing to be criminalized and discriminated which leads them to be sent off to prison. Our Criminal Court Justice in the United State is a joke, and if many of the Black individuals had an actual fair trial, the system will immediately collapse.

Jim Crow laws were wiped off the books decades ago, but today an extraordinary percentage of the African American community is warehoused in prisons or trapped in a parallel social universe, denied basic civil and human rights—including the right to vote; the right to serve on juries; and the right to be free of legal discrimination in employment, housing, access to education and public benefits." ⁽⁴⁾

Defining Certain Structural Classism within a Capitalistic System

            There are different levels of classes within our society, however, the most obvious ones are the working classes and the ruling elites. When it comes to economic class, we must understand the working-class or the common people related to labor and means of production.

As Karl Marx one of the authors of the Communist Manifesto puts it:

"These social relations between the producers, and the conditions under which they exchange their activities and share in the total act of production, will naturally vary according to the character of the means of production. "⁽⁵⁾

            Philosophers like Robert Nozick argues more of an Entitlement Theory where any distribution of “holdings,” as he calls them. Nozick's Theory resembles close to libertarianism on the grounds where there are potentially vast material inequalities where systems like the "Free Market" exacerbates this situation of the idea of “ownership”. What is a fair distribution when Nozick's libertarianism in many ways advocates the protection of strong ownership rights over unequal amounts of the external world? How do you own a piece of a planet?

Philosophies, Theories, and Practices today’s society in the United States

We all want to live in a world where we can all share and live in a harmonic society without having a few percentages of individuals or groups controlling more than half of the world's natural resources. John Rawls's philosophical theory suggests that all laws and institutions, no matter how well arranged and efficient they are must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Rawls's theory mentions the feature of justice as fairness is to think of the parties (let’s say Democrats and Republicans) as rational and mutually unbiased. However, Rawl instantly says that this does not mean the parties are as he puts it:

“…egoists, that is, individuals with only certain kinds of interests, say in wealth, prestige, and domination.” ⁽⁶⁾

            There are many great theories out there that if we dare to implement them, we still might have a chance to save from global catastrophe. However, before we can take one step forward, we must acknowledge that the political and economic system we have today is no longer sustainable. My reflection on these philosophers and theories in this class lacks some sort of credibility as it more of cons than pros within our current financial and political system. I felt that this course is carefully and intelligibly crafted to push a more of a “Free Market” libertarianism ideology. When we talk about class and social justice, I find it a bit strange that political and economic philosophers are not part of our reading in this course. That is not to say, that all these philosophers did not have good intentions to bring some sort of justice distribution of wealth to society. However, I believe we are just seeing it from one perspective and not the entire picture.

Conclusion

We have to understand that the purpose of real education is to create minds to build a more humane society and not only just about the profit mode. I am reminded of a quote from former Chief editor war correspondence reporter who said the following regarding education:

"We’ve bought into the idea that education is about training and “success”, defined monetarily, rather than learning to think critically and to challenge. We should not forget that the true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers. A culture that does not grasp the vital interplay between morality and power, which mistakes management techniques for wisdom, which fails to understand that the measure of a civilization is its compassion, not its speed or ability to consume, condemns itself to death." ⁽⁷⁾

            I agree with his assessment and no doubt we must reevaluate our way of perceiving education in the United States and perhaps it is time shift to a whole new paradigm. Time is up, time to act.

by César Omar Sánchez. Community organizer, New York/New Jersey Cuba Si Coalition, Advisory Board Member of ProLibertad: Free All Political Prisoners Campaign.

References-Citations

1. Chu, Anna, and Charles Posner. “The State of Women in America.” Center for American Progress, www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2013/09/25/74836/the-state-of-women-in-america/
2. Lindert, Peter H. 2004, Growing Public: Social Spending and Economic Growth since the Eighteenth Century, New York: Cambridge University Press
3. Kaestle, Carl F. 1983. Pillars of the Republic: Common Schools and American Society, 1780-1860. Edited by Eric Foner. New York: Hill and Wang.
4. Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press Publication. 2020
5. Karl Marx. Wage Labour and Capital. Chpt. 5: The Nature and Growth of Capital.  https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/ch05.htm
6. Sandel, Michael J. Justice: A Reader, Chapter VII: Rawls: Justice as Fairness“A Theory of Justice” by John Rawls. p. 205
7. Chris Hedges, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

Freedom is Moving Target

By César Omar Sánchez

“We are “free” only as long as we play our assigned parts. Once we call out power for what it is, once we assert our rights and resist, the chimera of freedom will vanish. The iron fist of the most sophisticated security and surveillance apparatus in human history will assert itself with a terrifying fury.”

-Chris Hedges

Contemporary American People Mindset

We live in a world where apathy and ignorance are running rampant and is highly contagious in our society. Like a virus, it spreads throughout our community and the entire nation with no limitation and continues to poison the minds of both youth and adults. We are currently living in two societies; on one side we have a minority that is aware of the current status we are all facing when it comes to ongoing systemic racist mechanisms towards African Americans, Latino, and people of color to this present day. On the other side, the majority, where spectacles triumph over literacy and continue to choose comfort over struggle.

Hispanics/Latinos Home and Abroad

As a brown skin Latino with indigenous ancestry background, I am aware of our history when it comes to colonialism and religious persecution, we too also understand what it means to fight for freedom. Freedom for us is still a constant struggle, we are still going through ongoing fight not only in the United States but back in Latin America countries like Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Brasil, …etc. In Eduardo Galeano's’ book Open Veins of Latin America, he exposes how Oligarchs, Corporations and Venture Capitalists have extradited so much wealth from these countries and how they became so powerful in the global financial market. Uruguayan author gives his assessment of Latin America:

“Latin America is the region of open veins. Everything from the discovery until our times has always been transmuted into European--or later--United States-- capital, and as such has accumulated on distant centers of power. Everything: the soil, its fruits, and its mineral-rich depths, the people and their capacity to work and to consume, natural resources and human resources.” ― Eduardo Hughes Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent

The Illusion of Freedom within an Empire of Illusion

 To obtain absolute freedom, we must acknowledge that both the political apparatus and the socio-economic system we are currently in must be eradicated. Those in power will tell you and me that we live in the greatest country on earth and that freedom is guaranteed.  Marketing Strategists, Advertisers, and Public Relations agencies use their talent non-stop on selling you that we have "Freedom" in our political and economic paradigm. With the constant 24-hours, 7 days of the week of propaganda on mainstream media, its no wonder US Citizens are so confused.  These same individuals will continue to say that we must continue to vote and to trust these fat cat oligarchs that continue to profit off other people's misfortunes and even deaths. Many politicians today will lie in our face and say that these multimillionaires, banks, corporations, and the military-industrial complex are here to protect our freedom. This is only a façade and the capitalist system has been exposed to the American public of not being democratic and not allowing freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of beliefs that question those in power.

For African American people, unfortunately, freedom is limited to them and their voices have been suppressed for decades now. These mechanisms like voter suppression laws, mass incarceration, job discrimination is just some of the components that make African-Americans discourage and tries to break down their spirits, but it won't work, it never did and never will. 

This past week I attended the BAAFSSO (Black Alumni, Administrators, Faculty, Students and Staff Organization) meeting where many issues were being addressed to the current NJCU President, Sue Henderson. And I thought I felt inspired by many of my classmates voicing their concerns so passionately, I still felt a sense of hopelessness as I know that those in power will not take any actions to improve these conditions. Students and Faculty members should have the freedom to address their grievances without the fear of retribution from their peers or higher ranks within the executive board. The question becomes the following; are we truly living in a free society?

We can no longer continue in this fantasy world where we are sleepwalking towards oblivion. Our freedom is slowly being taken away and many of us have fallen asleep behind the wheel. I cannot sit back and see our black brothers and sisters continued being gunned down in every major city in this nation. I cannot just turn a blind eye while police are being militarized and are granted immunity for the slaughter of black youths. Again, I must ask the question, the word “freedom” …what does it signify in the United States of America for Blacks, Latinos, and people of color?

My Encounter with The Central Park Five

                Mass incarceration of black people in the United States is staggering and shocking.  Far too long black youth and men had their freedom taken away from a racist judicial court system. Two cases come in my mind, one was the injustice arrest and jail sentencing of five youths from New York City. They were known as the Central Park Five which was arrested for allegedly raping a white woman in the middle of the night at Central Park in 1989. A few years back I met with two of The Central Park Five, now The Exonerated Five, Raymond Santana and Yusef Salaam at John Jay College where I was preparing a speech on political prisoners. As I sat down with both Raymond and Yusef, they both described their horrible experience on how they were coerced during an exhausting police integration tactic. This quasi evidence of a confession from them is what helped the prosecutors sentence all innocent young youths to jail. They explain how quickly one’s freedom can be taken away so easily just because of their socio-economic status and the color of their skin.

We Want Freedom

The second case that comes to my mind is a prolific writer and probably the world’s most famous Long Distant Revolutionary political prisoner still being held in the United States’ prison said the following:

“Conventional wisdom would have one believe that it is insane to resist this, the mightiest of empires, but what history really shows is that today's empire is tomorrow's ashes; that nothing lasts forever, and that to not resist is to acquiesce in your own oppression. The greatest form of sanity that anyone can exercise is to resist that force that is trying to repress, oppress, and fight down the human spirit.”

― Mumia Abu-Jamal

The time to fight for freedom is now!  Freedom for All!