The Four "I"s of Oppression

 The Four "I"s of Oppression from Training Resources for the Environmental Community 

The Four I's of Oppression with Luna Malbroux (Video)

Connection:

In this article, we learned about the four I's of oppression: idealogical, internalized, interpersonal, and institutional. Idealogical oppression perpetuates across time and space. It deals with something called biologism, interpreting the value of human life from a strictly biological viewpoint, like looking at gender or race and making assumptions strictly based on them. Internalized oppression is an inner self feeling. Black, Indigenous, and People of Color who feel like they need to do extraordinary things to feel valued experience internalized oppression. The same goes for those who feel like they're not good enough for things that they are completely capable of. Interpersonal Oppression is a way of oppression that is expressed between individuals or groups both intentionally and accidentally. Institutional oppresion is the way that oppression perpetuates socially through policies, laws, and social practices.

The video explains the four I's in simpler terms. Ideological oppression deals with stereotypes against race, gender, ability, etc. Interpersonal oppression is being treated differently because of some aspect of who we are; this includes exclusion and microagressions. Institutional oppression deals with how oppression happens through laws and policies. Internalized oppression is feeling the difference in oneself. People feel that there is a dominant narrative that needs to be followed which then falls into societal norms. Someone who experiences internalized oppression might say "I'm less than because of who I am."

This article reminded me of the first article we read in this class: "Privilege, Power, and Difference" by Allan Johnson. One quote from this article stood out to me and made me think about Allan Johnson's article: "Oppression impacts everyone; those who perpetuate oppression and experience privilege, and those who are targeted and oppressed" (p4.) Oppression is a societal issue, so even if someone isn't feeling personally oppressed, they are still effected by it. From this, I relate to Johnson's ideas and where he talks about how everyone needs to understand societal issues and become more knowledgable about them. The same message is clear in both pieces: we need to work as a team to end (or at least improve) societal issues. 

Reflection: Did you find any other similarities between these two articles?

The Reality of Oppression in America