RANK AND POWER
April 7, 2009
Prepared by Marian (Meck) Groot

Consider your understanding of the concepts of “rank” and “power.” What comes to mind when you think about these terms?

AWARENESS OF RANK
Rank generally implies one’s standing within a group – that is, relative to others. We all have rank and it is helpful to be conscious of that rank as we seek ways to create more inclusive environments. Awareness of our own or others’ rank can be somewhat elusive for the following reasons:

1. There’s more than one kind. In fact, Arnold Mindell of the Process Work Institute has identified four types:

• SOCIAL/POLITICAL RANK: Your relative standing in society as determined by the groups to which you belong in terms of age, gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, class, etc.
• INSTITUTIONAL RANK: Your relative standing within an organization as determined by your role or connection – e.g. administrative assistant, board member, major donor, executive director, etc.
• PSYCHOLOGICAL RANK: One’s relative capacity to stay emotionally centered – that is, aware of one’s emotional states and able to make choices about how to express those states.
• SPIRITUAL RANK: One’s relative capacity to stay spiritually centered – that is, aware of one’s connection to something larger than oneself and able to make choices about tapping into that connection in all situations.

2. We tend to compare upwards. Therefore, we tend to notice when we have less rank, but
not when we have more rank than those around us. We generally notice when the people
who have more rank than we do in a situation are not paying attention to our thoughts,
skills, reality, etc. but we tend not to notice when we are doing the same thing to people
with less rank than we have. We notice, therefore, when we are feeling uncomfortable,
distressed, disappointed, hurt, etc. because of how those with more rank are behaving, but
we tend not to notice when we our presence may stir up these feelings in those with less
rank than we have – sometimes by our mere presence.

3. Our rank is always shifting because the environments in which we find ourselves are
fluid. We move in and out of environments. The flow of people into and out of those
environments is always changing. What is “up” in these environments is also always
changing.

EXERCISE A: UNDERSTANDING OUR OWN RANK

1. Check all groups in the follow categories to which you currently (C) belong or to which you have belonged at some point in the past (P). [NOTE: this document is for your eyes only - unless you choose to share it with others.]
C
P
C
P
men
women
“white” (including white
European descent, white Jewish,
white Latino, etc.)
having physical characteristics that
mark you as a “person of color”
professional or managerial work
support/service work or unemployed
middle, upper or owning class
working class or financially poor
college degree or graduate
degree
informally educated, without college
degree
Christian
Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu,
indigenous, atheist, etc.
25 to 59 years old
under 25 or over 59
heterosexual
lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, queer
logical-mathematical learning
style
linguistic, kinesthetic (bodily),
spatial, musical, interpersonal, or
intrapersonal learning style
White Anglo Saxon Protestant
other European, African, Native
American, Asian, Latino or Middle
Eastern ethnicity
male or female
transgendered
able-bodied
physically disabled
emotionally centered and
functional (i.e., able to stay
centered despite fear, anger
and/or sadness)
emotionally or mentally disabled
(i.e., prone to depression or trauma,
easily thrown off emotional center)
U.S. citizen
immigrant, visitor, resident or illegal
alien
teacher
student
manager or supervisor of others
supervised by others
spiritually rooted and strong in
faith/spirit
lacking faith and spiritual
centeredness, easily despairing or
fearful
English as a first language
ASL or English as a
second/third/fourth language
TOTALS
TOTALS

2. You’ll notice a difference between the columns. Give each column a label that you think describes that column.

3. Total your score in each column.

4. Identify some of the feelings that came up for you as you completed this activity:

AWARENESS OF POWER
Rank is often associated with power. To have more rank than others can mean that you have power they don’t have. However, like rank, there are different kinds of power and it is important to be aware of these as we do what we can (individually and collectively) to create systems that are more egalitarian and just. The three forms of power that I see as distinct from one another include:

• POWER FROM WITHIN – this is the power that God gives each child that’s born. It is our “God Power,” the power we are born with to tap into wonder, love, beauty, aliveness, connection. This is our Life Force and is each person’s Divine Right to tap into and gain energy and agency through.
• POWER WITH – this is the power that we claim in our connection to others as our equals. This is the power we tap when we say to others, “Let’s work together to promote our own and others’ equality.” It may include as few as two individuals offering each other mutual support in a hostile environment or the coming together of mass movements for liberation.
• POWER OVER – this is the power that those who have more institutional, socio/political or psychological rank* can wield over those with less in order to promote themselves and those they care about at the expense of those they value less than themselves. [*Note: I have not included spiritual rank here because it is my assumption that anyone who attempts to use spiritual rank to gain power over others, loses access to the power they have from within, which threatens their spiritual rank.]

EXERCISE B: POWER AND RANK
Based on your understanding of the rank you have now or have had in the past (go back to Exercise A to review), come up with a time in your life when you were

• TOP DOG (or NEARER TOP DOG) – that is, a situation in which you outrank/ed some or all others in the organization or group

o Describe the situation and your position in it (draw it if that helps)
o What issues of race, racism and/or white privilege are/were operating in that
situation (even if you didn’t notice it before this moment)
o What options are/were available to you to undermine racial justice in that
situation?
o What options are/were available to you to promote racial justice in that
situation?

• UNDER DOG – that is, a situation in which you are/were outranked by some or all others in the organization or group:

o Describe the situation and your position in it (draw it if that helps)
o What issues of race, racism and/or white privilege are/were operating in that situation (even if you didn’t notice it before this moment)
o What options are/were available to you to undermine racial justice in that situation?
o What options are/were available to you to promote racial justice in that situation?
What do these two situations teach you about your options generally for promoting racial justice in the worlds you inhabit? [If possible, please come to next Tuesdays' session prepared to talk about these options. Of course, you can also blog about them!]

PRACTICING OUR SKILLS FOR CONVERSING ABOUT RACE
EXERCISE: Proud to be White
In emails circulating the internet, the following speech is reported to be the words of Michael Richards (better known as Kramer from TV’s Seinfeld). I could not find reliable evidence of that these are actually Richards’ words. What may be more interesting than its origin is the fact that it is circulating the internet and “speaking for” many white people who feel this represents their perspective – some of them are people you know. As you read it, notice your thoughts and feelings. Think about what you understand about systemic racism, white privilege, power and rank. Imagine that someone you know holds this perspective and has shared it with you. Would you engage with this person? If so, how? If not, why not? Journal about this.

There are African Americans, Mexican Americans, Asian Americans, Arab Americans… And then there are just Americans. You pass me on the street and sneer in my direction. You call me ‘White boy,’ ‘Cracker,’ ‘Honkey,’ ‘Whitey,’ ‘Caveman’… and that’s OK. But when I call you N_____, Kike, Towel head, Sand-n_____, Camel Jockey, Beaner, Gook, or Chink… You call me a racist. You say that whites commit a lot of violence against you… so why are the ghettos the most dangerous places to live?
You have the United Negro College Fund. You have Martin Luther King Day.
You have Black History Month. You have Cesar Chavez Day.
You have Yom Hashoah [Holocaust Remembrance Day]. You have Ma’uled Al-Nabi [celebration of the prophet Mohammed's birthday].
You have the NAACP.
You have BET…
If we had WET (White Entertainment Television), we’d be racists.
If we had a White Pride Day, you would call us racists.
If we had White History Month, we’d be racists.
If we had any organization for only whites to ‘advance’ OUR lives, we’d be racists.
We have a Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a Black Chamber of Commerce, and then we just have the plain Chamber of Commerce. Wonder who pays for that??
A white woman could not be in the Miss Black American pageant, but any color can be in the Miss America pageant.
If we had a college fund that only gave white students scholarships…You know we’d be racists.
There are over 60 openly proclaimed Black Colleges in the U.S. Yet if there were ‘White colleges’, that would be a racist college.
In the Million Man March, you believed that you were marching for your race and rights. If we marched for our race and rights, you would call us racists.
You are proud to be black, brown, yellow and orange, and you’re not afraid to announce it. But when we announce our white pride, you call us racists.
You rob us, carjack us, and shoot at us. But, when a white police officer shoots a black gang member or beats up a black drug dealer running from the law and posing a threat to society, you call him a racist.
I am proud…But you call me a racist.
Why is it that only whites can be racists??