Allison M Attenello reflects on her early days of activism in her article “Navigating Identity Politics in Activism.” What was unique about Attenello’s position was that she was thrust into a leadership role for an organization with which she struggled to identify. Despite her interest in identity politics and knowledge of the power a strong cause has to unify people, she felt like an outsider amongst the disorganized group of Mexican immigrants she had initially only planned to assist in a struggle against gendered violence. When she learned that this was not among their main concerns, she felt distanced from the group and ignorant of what their goals were. Nonetheless, she was held to high standards and expectations because of her connections and education. Attenello chronicles her struggle to organize and lead a group with which she had very little in common. The challenge was even more complicated than she expected because she felt that her identity as a white, privileged citizen might have actually been hurting the group she was trying to help. She decided that the best way to help the group was to offer her advice in organizing but to stop being any sort of figurehead, which she thought was only further marginalizing the group, their image, and their identity.
The same message rings true from Shira Lynn Pruce, though her challenge in student organizing was exactly the opposite. She was fighting for the rights and respect of the Jewish community, with which she is very closely aligned. So, her challenge was to be aware of her bias and maintain control of her emotions. This can be very difficult, as her experience shows, because opposition (or even apathy) to your cause feels like a personal attack. Furthermore, any struggle or delays you might experience in these kinds of fights carry that much more weight and stronger sense of defeat. Pruce’s challenge was to sometimes suppress her strongest feelings and her identity in order to work alongside certain people for the purpose of a mutual goal.
I thought it was interesting to see these two opposite challenges contrasted with each other. They both show the difficulty of separting from ones identity bias. Pruce's was especially interesting to me becasue I had not thought of how feeling passionately about a topic could become a determent. Her insight into how difficult it was not to feel hate towards the palestinians, while living with bombing everyday helped me to understand the israli conflict. I often feel frustrated by this conflict because it seems like no one is willing to put themselves into the shoes of the other group. Hearing about Pruce's struggle helps me to understand how difficult it is to look at a situation logically when they are seeing the damage and hate everyday.
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