RP4: Real or Imagined?

            Imagination. Imagined. Real. My relationship to Greece is my real home. My relationship to my imagined home is my family. My family’s love is my imagined home, no matter where they move, there love is always home. She says I need to address Greece as real and imagined. Especially with Greco-Abrahamic thought: Greek Philosophy and language. She says local knowledges of Greece are used for design. In essence, how is our own work, in relation to racism and colonization, affected by Greek civilization and philosophy? These questions almost remind me of the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where the dad constantly says that everything came from the Greeks and that this civilization was founded on Greek principles. We must ask ourselves then…since we know that the Greeks only contributed to some modern day advancements…what ideas did the Greeks contribute that are affected by or affect our work as Ethnic Studies scholars? Democracy. Democracy was originally implemented by the ancient Greeks: the idea of voting directly in order to shape a city’s politics under a unanimously decided idea. The question about democracy, however, is who is in and who is out. Who is a citizen and who is not. Who counts as a citizen and who does not. This idea of inclusion and exclusion always has been and currently is a part of our modern day societal systems. In ancient Greece, those that were allowed to vote were Greek citizens. Well what was considered a citizen? A Greek, upper class, male, citizen. No one else. No women, no foreigners, no slaves. This system sounds extremely similar to that of the early United States. Back when this land of the great patriotic U S A was “founded” (some might say by civilized people) it was only AMERICAN (meaning British immigrants), upper class, white, male citizens that were allowed to vote. This basically only qualified American, upper class, white, male citizens as human beings in the “elsewhere” of United States America. This same idea of who is a human, who is a citizen, who belongs, who is included and who is excluded has continued with the practice of colonialism, coloniality, and imperialism. This whole idea of a direct democracy turned into that of a representative democracy. One in which the beloved people elect an official to decide their own important issues. And who are the elected officials? Majority white. Majority men. All citizens. These systems continue to push down those of a different race from the “all supreme” white race. It oppresses those of black, red, yellow…not to forget, brown. BUT, we have all decided that race is an arbitrary thing. So then the question is, what can we do to deconstruct this system that oppresses something that is so arbitrary as the color of your skin? Agency. Use the agency that you have in order to speak up and speak out. Use your own rights in order to better the lives of someone else. Represent someone to give them their own rights one day. Agency. Real? Or Imagined? I say…real.