Speaking about Historical Injustices

This chapter asks whether those who belong to socially dominant or non-marginalized groups can speak about historic injustices and, if so, how they can approach this subject ethically. The chapter considers and rejects standpoint epistemology as a way to answer this question. Instead it builds on a view that the act of struggling to raise one’s consciousness can, with some caveats, enable even members of non-marginalized groups to speak about historic injustice. This chapter argues that speakers from dominant groups must recognize their biases, struggle to raise their consciousness, and give special weight to the testimony of members of marginalized groups. This chapter is a necessary preliminary to the book as a whole.