Communication And Intersections Of Race And Class, By Diangelo And Sensoy

2. DiAngelo and Sensoy argue that we, in mainstream society, lack the ability to understand or discuss our intersecting identities to a certain degree and therefore should learn to be more aware of our positionality and how we regard others. As an example of the intersections of race and class, DiAngelo and Sensoy consider a white woman living in poverty; someone who faces both the barriers of poverty and sexism, yet no barriers of racism, but under her position of poverty is generalized under mainstream culture's idea of the "poor".
The reason why communication and alliance between individuals can be repressed is that we are uninformed apart from everyday life on matters of these social inequalities and unprepared to engage with or challenge
Throughout the essay, the writers go more in-depth into each guideline and express how this more constructive learning guideline will help to overcome these social boundaries in order to create more effective communication between individuals of different
and how they can create boundaries between individuals. Using her trip to the Bahamas and interactions with natives as examples, Jordan demonstrates the ways in which individuals can categorize or misjudge one another, and highlights the difficulties of creating intrapersonal relationships due to the complexities of intersecting identities. Similarly to how DiAngelo and Sensoy tell of the white woman living in poverty to discuss intersectionality, Jordan writes about Olive, the black maid who comes to clean her hotel room during her stay at the Bahamas. Though they are both black, they are unable to connect due to the deeper levels of identity (class, culture) that differentiate them. In order to overcome borders and see change, one must realize that a shared position or shared oppression between two people does not necessarily amount to a shared connection. She emphasizes that is is not who you are, but what you do for each other that helps one find community. Our gender, race, class, and sexual identities, which are imposed on us, are markers of relational positions rather than our essential defining qualities and should therefore not define who we choose to interact