Do Liberation Practices resonate with you? Liberation practices greatly resonate with me. I believe that the only way for the vast majority of people to create measurable change is through mass organization, similar to the description of liberation practices given in the reading. One of the key principles that I resonated most with is “action.” Although “empowerment” and “conscientization” are essential steps, I argue action is the most important. Nothing will change if people refrain from taking action, but it’s considerably difficult to get enough people to do something.
What are your social identities, and how do they influence and motivate you to fight for social justice? Some of the social identities that have motivated me to action are my being black, lgbtqia+, and a student. Currently, I am on the executive board of Black Students in Aerospace (BSA) at Umich, and one of our goals is to give students similar to us resources to succeed. I have always advocated for lgbtqia+ in my family, and I joined a youth organization in high school called Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan (DAYUM) to advocate for students to have a voice in decisions that affect them. My identities give me an understanding of the needs of people in those communities, so I am more confident to speak up for people like me.
How are the issues/struggles you are passionate about connected with the seemingly different issues/struggles of others who are oppressed? The struggles I am passionate about are connected with seemingly different issues of others who are oppressed because oftentimes, the reason that we are oppressed in the first place is the system that has been created to only serve a select few. If people organize to improve these systems, it will be easier for people to change the other things that oppress them.
Hi Marie, thank you for sharing! I liked your responses to the questions (I found the interview-like style really effective for this prompt, too, good job:)). Your middle response made me think about the ways that activism changes in different spaces, which I think is very critical but also not often discussed. It also ties into what you wrote about action because there’s an added emphasis on the physical side of things as opposed to pure rhetoric. Thanks for your reflections!
Marie, your post reminded me how you and the other fellows have so much to learn from and teach other. Although our time together in Detroit is short, I hope meaningful conversations –and collaborations — continue well beyond these 9 weeks.