When I was thirteen years old, like many young people, I dreamed of becoming president. I felt ready to share my extensive life experience with the world. I was proud of my leadership skills and I thought my progressive ideals would change the world for the better.
Many kids hold this dream, and it extends beyond the Oval Office. Many of us aspire to be leaders. We want to be captains of our sports teams, officers of our clubs and leaders in student government. We want to be CEOs, senators and news anchors. We want to write opinion columns. We want the world to hear our voices and our ideas, and we want the power to fit the world according to our image.
I still think my progressive ideals would make the world the better place, but I’ve realized that we don’t need another wealthy white guy leading the country, regardless of qualifications. 43 of our 44 presidents have been white men. Privileged identities dominate leadership positions in many sectors of society. Our country needs be led by the voices we haven’t heard and the multitudes of identities that have never been president.
Even though I know that I benefit from extensive privilege due to my identity, giving up a dream like this is still difficult. It requires me to set aside my own ambitions and instead focus on liberation, something I should have done all along. At first, the idea of foregoing potential leadership opportunities is not an easy one to swallow, but in the end it should be empowering because my efforts can work to serve a larger cause.
Allowing marginalized folks to occupy positions of power constitutes the beginning of a solution, but this will not singularly solve privilege and oppression. Many other things need to happen, including deep cultural change, comprehensive institutional change and progressive policy change. My perspective, and therefore my actions, will inherently be limited by my life experience. As a leader, I will fail to understand certain problems simply because I haven’t lived them.
In a deeper sense, true liberation can only be achieved when marginalized communities create their own liberation, which can’t happen when only white men are in charge. Representation can also affect how marginalized people view themselves and their potential. Diverse leadership provides a more comprehensive perspective and empowers marginalized people to enact their liberation.
Despite the benefits of diverse leadership, privileged folks shouldn’t be disqualified from holding positions of power. If a privileged person would create the most positive change among the available candidates, then by all means, they should run. What privileged people must consider, however, is whether their leadership would achieve more than the leadership of candidates representing marginalized communities.
Privileged people must think about long-term impacts of representation, and prioritize this above their personal ambition. When working for any social justice cause, privileged people must target their actions directly toward the goal and not prioritize individual desires over positive impact. Privileged people shouldn’t center themselves in the liberation movements of other communities. This means that sometimes our opinions aren’t relevant, and sometimes our leadership isn’t needed.
Privileged people often serve causes most effectively by leading from the back rather than from the front. This means working to put marginalized folks into leadership positions and working to enact societal change that combats oppression. A person doesn’t need a glorified position to do this; there’s a never-ending need for people to carry out grassroots activism and break down systems of oppression.
Giving up leadership means giving up power. Doing so is difficult, but it is necessary to substantially work toward deconstructing privilege and pursuing social equity. I might not run for president, but that doesn’t mean I can’t work behind the scenes to create a more just society, and gain fulfillment in knowing that my efforts can advance this goal.
Ethan Ready is a Trinity sophomore. His column usually runs on alternate Tuesdays.
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Ethan Ready is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs on alternate Tuesdays.