Privilege comes with responsibilities, and society needs to be reminded of it constantly. It is also the core message of Gwyneth Marie Vasquez’s recent valedictory speech that many people took to heart and spread online in recent weeks. | via philstarlife
Gwyneth Marie Vasquez, Screenshot/Ateneo de Davao University Facebook page
Vasquez shed more light on this in her valedictory speech which was shared by Ateneo de Davao Anthropology Department on“Honestly I did not expect it to go viral on social media. So it was quite overwhelming for me to become so visible all of a sudden,” Vasquez remarked.
“Super maka inspire kaayu ka, Te. Unta puhon ma parehas ku nimu bahalag di ma valedictorian basta ma pareha lang ku nimo maka human.” She hails from a historically marginalized Tagakolu community that continues to be neglected by the state, and deprived of services that it is supposed to offer its citizens. Her parents have not had any form of mainstream education, and during the time of my fieldwork, they were wage laborers in a land their ancestors used to own and till. I fondly remember strolling through Sitio Matamis with Weweng and the other Tagakolu girls.
This realization is what made me uncomfortable with advising Weweng about success as simply a matter of was the structural privilege that rewarded my own hard work with success. I have seen that they are just as hardworking as any of us here has been or will ever be. The problem is not Weweng not yet working hard enough or Weweng not too focused enough on her goals.
Coming to terms with the advantages that we did not earn requires intense self-scrutiny, but it also entails a readiness to empathize and learn from the experiences of those who come from the fringes of mainstream society. Furthermore, it demands that we actively challenge and dismantle inhumane systems that disrespect and devalue the humanity of those who are different from us.
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