OppNet Demands

To: Jessica Pliska, The Opportunity Network Staff, and Board of Directors

In solidarity, we, as current students and alumni of The Opportunity Network, are concerned about the future of OppNet and its perpetuation of neoliberal, imperialist, white supremacist, heteropatriarchal, capitalist practices. In light of historical and current national crises and responses from OppNet leadership - including OppNet’s inadequate email responses to the August 2016 Alumni letter and subsequent institutional responses to ongoing violence - we feel we can no longer be content with institutions and organizations that do not address these pervasive issues. As concerned and invested students and alumni, we cannot accept the insidious harm OppNet perpetuates. In response, we have galvanized intellectual, moral and emotional support for this letter across the current students and alumni.

According to OppNet’s mission, “OppNet is leading the way to ensure that low-income and first-generation college-bound students not only graduate college but are prepared for the workplace.” However, despite the program’s stated mission, its practices are not aligned with the reality of the population it services. The organization’s definition of success is narrowly defined by white, patriarchal corporate culture. Without critical analysis of OppNet’s curriculum, internships, and higher education initiatives, and the broader societal norms and structures, students are encouraged to assimilate and replicate white supremacy and internalize racial and patriarchal biases. For instance, we are taught - and reprimanded - to act in accordance with a professionalism that reinforces social hierarchies that value [white] maleness above all. Instead of concealing our multicultural identities to learn how to survive within a white world, we want OppNet to encourage us to embrace our background and intersectionalities, and engage us in honest discourse regarding the perpetuation of white ideals and white supremacy in higher education and the workplace.

Many of us do not feel comfortable or prepared to speak honestly about our identities and experiences, especially our experiences with systems of oppression. OppNet teaches us to sell parts of ourselves, and to censor and contort our stories so that they can be comfortably consumed by a white majority audience (including people of color who survive through their proximity to whiteness). In turn, many of us have to wear masks in OppNet spaces. Additionally, students who are asked to participate in OppNet events (e.g. the annual gala) are not discouraged from emphasizing pathologies and stereotypical narratives (defined by race, socioeconomic status, sexuality, gender identity, ability, etc.) to show “success”, “resilience” or “grit”. It is convenient for OppNet to sell these stories - at the expense of us as humans - solely for local and national recognition that, ultimately, provides funding. This system continues the historical American tradition of erasing people of color in order to sustain the imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist, heterosexual patriarchy (e.g. the Carlisle Indian Industrial School).

We feel OppNet glorifies the myth of meritocracy where the highest performing and farthest achieving students deserve to be recruited, praised, and rewarded. Consequently, we further internalize the harmful belief that failure is not an option or an excuse because we are exceptional “model students.” This belief assumes that individual achievement and mobility alone can redress institutional and social prejudice. As a result, students trustingly adopt and validate a self-perception that ties their value and worth to the height of their achievements (who gets into the best school, the top internship, and the best job). We also adopt language that reinforces institutional and internalized racism that rely on false negative and racist stereotypes of poor people of color. We view this as an act of shame and violence against us. We feel that professional etiquette alone neither prepares us for nor prevents the trauma accumulated by racism and microaggressions manifested in predominantly white institutions and professional workplaces.

While OppNet recognizes us as “exceptional” students from “disadvantaged” backgrounds, it fails to openly discuss the historical and systemic context whereby these conditions were created. Social justice topics are rarely and inorganically engaged as part of the conversation in OppNet sessions. This erasure of truth invalidates our holistic cultural and social experiences, as well as the experiences of our peers outside of the program. There is a coded hierarchy that encourages us to view ourselves as better than other people of color who have not achieved as much as we have. We feel OppNet champions students who choose a career path that minimizes our Fellows' dreams and aspirations or "corrects" them to align to the white, patriarchal and assimilative American dream ordeal. Students are conditioned to believe one must pursue medicine, business, law, or fields represented in professional services, thus negating the arts, social sciences, social justice, humanities and other true passions expressed by students. Ultimately, Fellows don’t receive or develop the freedom to merely live with their own self-determination.

We are more than statistics for funding or soundbites for success stories. We love and care about OppNet. We are invested in OppNet’s success. As key stakeholders, we believe the organization must do more to be courageous and safer for its students. We demand that OppNet does not use its intentions as a justification for its impact, especially the negative outcomes. We speak our truth to see our community grow and be empowered to navigate and resist all forms of physical, intellectual, emotional, and mental oppression and violence.

We request a meeting with OppNet leadership and staff to discuss the attached demands.

In solidarity,
Concerned Fellows & Alumni of OppNet

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rfKVl1j9qTkIwgLCoG_dTcQlfp2S8TDw8OBkNYfYH08/edit?usp=sharing