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Hello, I tried to clip only a portion of what carolyn said if it seeems out of context please refer to her posting today. "To put it in another way, a white person who is a part of the Black community is not a "comrade in oppression" -- in Frierean imagery -- for the same reason family members of Disabled people aren't. No matter how close one is to the Black community, no matter what one sees or experiences --including "oppression" -- by being a part of the Black community, if one is white,one is not going to experience the same oppression, deal with the same/similar discrimination, have the same issues with society, self, family, etc., as the individual one associates with. OHdear, here is a conflict. again we are polarizing or dualizing you are either black or white, but not both, or either a parent or disabled but not both. Hows this, I am a mixed race Deaf disabled mother of a black jamaican deaf child. My mixed race is Metis and Anglo so I PASS, as white but have a stigma associated with being part Aboriginal both in my family and in the Native community who HAVE status whereas Metis (in Canada) have less. I understand Freire as well as the next person and I believe he, as a very educated person stillaffiliate himself with the poor peasants. I think not everyone is on only ONE side of this. People can be more than one thing, I am disabled, and a parent, and I am a parent of a disabled child, and i am a mixed race parent of a black child. I happened to live in America for two years and FELT the oppression physically, and pscyhiatrically. One may understand some issues and their complexity. One may even advocate with and for one's associate. However, one is not advocating for one's self. One is not oppressed because society has deemed one's self as inferior but rather because one is associated with an "inferior" and, like it or not, right or wrong, one can (not necessarily does) cut ties, cease the relationship or, simply, hide or not acknowledge (it's not like family members have tattoos on their foreheads), consciously or unconsciously, their relationship to an oppressed group. Like the white person who is a part of the Black community, all the the family member has to do to not be oppressed is not be around anyone who knows the person's family and, in some cases, just not be around the Disabled family member to avoid. Tanis here again the above was fromCarolyn- I feel again we are slipping into using disability as a master status when I strongly believe POVERTY and working class status have as much or more to do with power and powerlessness as race or disability. I know many children of Deaf adults, like white people in Black community, these children are HEARING but are raised in the opression of their parents and internalize alot of the culture that Deaf people bring. They may not be audioologically deaf but they are DEAf culturally- but there is a HUGE chasm betwee the profesional educated paid deaf who teach,,counsellor or research and the under educated unemployed poor deaf people. I hope my point is clear??? - pls send attachments to [log in to unmask] not to this email thanks. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%