Are you listening?

What?

At my community partner, Venetia Valley, I volunteer with a teacher named Ms. Dietrich. And Ms. Dietrich teaches sign language on the day that I am there and luckily I have been able to get one on one time with her over the duration of the semester. A couple weeks ago I was helping her during her free period, so it was just me and her in her classroom and naturally we got to talking. Somewhere along the lines of her telling me that she was teaching the kids about the Holocaust, we went along the lines of discussing how open and perceptive the students were about the topic. I then think I asked her something along the lines of whether or not the school is open about the discussion of immigration, which she then went on to tell me that the school is not only very open to talking about it, but also encourages its students to do so. Venetia Valley is also a safe zone, meaning that anyone who steps on its premises is safe, love, and free of judgement. I remember her telling me that a high percentage of the students at the school have immigrant family members, and the school had a day (I forget what it was called) where the kids had the option to miss school in order to be with those families and she mentioned that almost 3/4 of the school was gone that day. Now although I haven’t personally asked any of the students just how many of them have immigrant family members or how they feel about immigration, I know that it plays a big role in a majority of their lives. This experience for me has been one of the few that has really smacked me in the face. Of course I have heard about immigration and I know people who know people that are undocumented, but never have I been so surrounded by people, especially children, who’s lives are so impacted by this, and just knowing how many of them it affects is eye- opening to me. Before this class, I also didn’t realize just how much systematic inequality or inequality in general there still is. Not only did I not realize, but I didn’t understand or really care to. It’s as if I heard what was going in on in the outside world (or the world other than my own full of things that did not personally affect me) but never fully listened. And now that I’ve seen for myself, I’m all ears.

So What?

First I just want to start by saying that I love this video! I watched it in another one of my classes, and I cant remember if it was in high school or not, but it was a talk I would never forget. I think the message here is so powerful in the way that he puts it by putting it in terms of ‘giving something up for lent’, and then goes on to state all the ways that he remained silent and turned a blind eye in moments he knew he shouldn’t have. Remaining silent in the face of injustice still makes you apart of the problem!!! I don’t think that this is what people realize. I feel that people assume that by saying they recognize discrimination against immigrants, but don’t discriminate against them doesn’t make them a bad person or a part of the problem because they’re not being discriminatory. What they fail to realize that by letting other people act in such behavior and failing to stand up for the injustice or alleviate the problem, they are a part of the bigger societal problem. I feel that this is apart of my truth as well. I need to be able to stand up for the injustice or fight against unfair immigration laws because if I don’t then I am just as bad as the people who do.

Now what?

I think that every small step you take ultimately leads you to the big ones that you will and are just as important. In terms of this class, I did learn new pieces of information I didn’t know before but more importantly I gained a wealth of knowledge that was able to expand on what I already did know. I was able to become more open minded, which further proves that we never stop learning. There is always something we don’t know and always something we can learn more about and this class taught me that. Just when you think you even kind of know something, there are so many more ways to think about it and put it into perspective. I think we all need to become better at trying to understand the other; I think that we can all work on our empathy because its what really brings us closer together as a society and as people in general. I think there are many lessons to be taken away: feed your mind, feed your soul, and feed your heart.