“People go to rallies to feel emotions” — Charles Michio
Charles Michio aka Charlie is amongst 17 talented and courageous colleagues of the 2017 Social Journalism class at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. With a month of orientation, classes, assignments and a snow day — a lot has been taught and learnt — and a lot more to follow in the coming months. The title of this post was a quote that came upon class discussion and is as beautiful as it is perfect.
2017 has not just been an important year in our lives as we embark on this journalism journey but for all Americans. We are in the point of history where there is a very ‘special’ president that is ‘ruling’ the United States of America. Our job as journalists or moreover, journalism students, is to inform, serve and at sometimes even protect. If we do not report stories of facts and relevance to our communities and beyond, how can we make a difference?
One of our most recent and ongoing assignments as a part of our Community Engagement class is to listen, speak and get to know individuals who are part of the Resistance to our Commander in Chief. These are concerned citizens, immigrants and humans that share a similar passion and are not in favor of a bigot, racist and an individual unsuitable to be role model, rather, the President of a democratic nation.
We have gone out in the field at protests or rallies, barber shops, bars, social media, spoken to friends, family and more to find out what people believe their reasons are to resist agains this Presidency and more importantly how things can possibly be made better. Collective information for numerous interviews and sources can help plan and design something to solve such situations and more for the betterment of all. Such situations can be personal and moreover, emotional. We have met numerous emotional people only in the beginning of our assignment and the ride has just started. Such is what our colleague, Charles Michio, explains that the people that attend these protests, or as we like to call them — rallies — are connected with empathy and emotion.
They go to to rallies to feel emotions — Charles Michio
