Title: Oppression and Power – Introduction to Community Psychology
Headings: 9
Oppression and Power

9 Oppression and Power
Chapter Nine Objectives
“Healing begins where the wound was made.”
JUST WHAT IS OPPRESSION?
Case Study 9.1
A Personal Communication
WHY OPPRESSION?
PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS OF OPPRESSION
Case Study 9.2
Englewood: Struggling to Rise
JUST WHAT IS POWER?
Case Study 9.3
Proyecto Esfuerzo (Project Effort)
LANGUAGE AS POWER
COLONIALISM AS POWER
OPPRESSION AND POWER: TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
ACTION STRATEGIES: DISMANTLING OPPRESSION AND POWER
LIBERATION
Case Study 9.4
The Dakota Access Pipeline
DECOLONIALITY
BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT
SYSTEMS PERSPECTIVE
Case Study 9.5
The Chicano Student Movement and Educational System in East LA
Case Study 9.6
Reframing Language for Liberation
SUMMING UP
Critical Thought Questions
REFERENCES

Content: It is every gunshot into the backs of Black men. It is an assassination of the human spirit. It rapes us of our purpose. Our young people should never, never feel uncared for, unwanted or invisible…. I bow my head with my hands over my ears and I sit in silence. I realize that these feelings have been sitting dormant…”
(-J. Samuel, personal communication, 2018)
It is important to note that while we are providing you with a framework of oppression and power, we will also provide you with examples of action strategies for how community psychologists and allies are supporting the resiliency in communities so that you can feel encouraged to discover your own way into combating oppression. WHY OPPRESSION? Photo by StockSnap is licensed under the Pixabay License
After studying the concept of oppression, you might be asking- what is the reason for oppression? Typically, a government or political organization that is in power places these restrictions formally or covertly on groups so that the distribution of resources is unfairly allocated—and this means power stays in the hands of those who already have it (a discussion on power follows this section). We understand that oppression occurs when individuals are systematically subjected to political, economic, cultural, or social degradation because they belong to a certain social group—this results from structures of domination and subordination and, correspondingly, ideologies of superiority and inferiority.