Oppression & the birdcage-- we're all just Tweetys and Woodstocks

Where do I even start with oppression? Women, African American, poor, old...forget it is you are a poor, African American grandma. What we seem to ignore is the thought that anyone can be oppressed/the oppressor. We talked about Frye and her theory of the birdcage. The idea is an analogy about a bird cage. To really examine one rung/wire on a cage, we must solely focus on this one part. When we do that, we neglect the other parts of the cage. The same can be said about oppression. There are a myriad of roots which oppression stems from (race, gender, age, social status, etc.), but it is difficult, if not nearly impossible, to pinpoint them all. Some of these are personal barriers, while others are systematically constructed by society to oppress. Anyway you look at it, and whether you want to admit it or not, unless you are like Oprah or Trump and used your oppression in your success story (I mean no disrespect to either), we're all just Tweetys and Woodstocks in our own little birdcage. Some of us may have more luxurious quarters with a perch and fancy mirror, but we're all still behind bars. Think about it. Look at the discrimination in the workforce, or the societal hierarchy. The higher levels keep the lower levels in place with these invisible barriers of money or power or whatever may be the case. And then, we could think about the allies of the oppressed and how much they risk to advocate and fight for them. If the allies had status and credibility before, they are risking the chance of being demoted or disrespected from the in-groups. They can attempt to use their privilege to give a voice to the silent oppressed, but it may not fair well for anyone. I argued earlier that we are all oppressors too. How could a black woman be the oppressor, you ask? Well even if you didn't, think about a place where a Caucasian man could be a minority. It is becoming more equal now, but the NBA was not nearly as mixed in the past. There were and still are so many jokes about white boys slam dunking from the foul line and foul shots from the high post (I watch the Steelers, gimmie a break (or a kit-kat would do) with all this basketball terminology junk). Thinking back to a personal experience, I have been out of the country several times. This makes the opportunity for oppression pretty blatantly obvious. But even in the states, it isn't as rare at it seems. I had to get my Ecuadorian Visa in Newark, NJ (insert large groan here). As my dad and I were searching for the consulate (which ended being located in a sketchy government building with a hair salon on the bottom floor), I couldn't help but feel as if every pair of eyes on Ridge Street or wherever we were we on us. For one of the few times in my life, I was the minority, and my race rung in my birdcage was very apparent. Then another rung was coming more into focus when when we finally got to the consulate and no one was from this country, nor did they speak English, i felt the power dynamic very strongly. They were talking about me as if I wasn't there or at least assumed I didn't speak Spanish. This didn't cause any physical harm, but it certainly pulled on some psychological strings. Any form of oppression is dangerous and harmful to someone. The scary thing is that as a whole, we are ignorant to how influential our actions can be to one another both on a micro and macro scale. Ignorance is bliss, unless you are inside the birdcage in which case, it just sucks.