Together We Can Do It

What? People say that you learn something new every day, and I have found that to be true. At my community partner, Young Moms Marin, over time I have learned a lot of new information about who the moms are and about the organization. I am going tell a story about how someone from my community partner site surprised me:

Last Friday, I was sitting in the church room where the moms come to drop off their children, when a mom from the group came up to wait for the therapy session to start. The first thing I noticed was that Jennifer walked in without her daughter, Cassandra and sat down on the couch less than five feet from Avni and me. I was expecting Jennifer to check-in and discover that many of the other moms were not coming and leave. However, she did the usual check-in that all the moms do (i.e. who is coming, when will they show up, will this group be cancelled today, etc.…) and decided to have a seat and call the other moms that hadn’t responded about attending. To pass the time, while waiting for the others to show up, the three of us began talking about life and important topics to us. It was only after 15 minutes that Avni and I realized that we could be using that time for me to get to know about Jennifer’s story, but the reality is just by interacting with Jennifer I was getting a taste of who she was just based off what she had to say.

The most important aspect to take away from our conversation that was surprising to me was that Jennifer and I had a lot in common despite the fact that she is perceived as the “other.” Through this story, I was able to draw a connection to the cultural aspect. Jennifer and I come from two very different cultures and backgrounds, but after our conversation I felt that at that moment our two worlds came together. I was able to gain a better understanding of how her cultural up-bring shaped who she is now, and she was able to learn a little bit about how my cultural background affected me and my decisions. Overall, I feel that it was my responsibility to get to know Jennifer as a person rather than getting to know her for this course. Personally, I wanted not to view her as a subject to study, but as a person whose story deserves to be heard. As Ronald David Glass writes in his piece, “Staying Hopeful,” “it was impressed upon me that these were not acts of charity but of self-interested solidarity; they were not demonstrations of exceptionalism, but acts of moral and political obligation” (Glass, 65).

So What? Silence. We are all familiar with the sound of silence that fulfills the room when a situation goes south. The room becomes very uncomfortable for all parties involved. Clint Smith, a teacher who spoke on Ted Talks, talks about his position on remaining silent in the face of injustice. He states that when people remain silent about injustice that, “we see the consequences of silence manifest themselves in the form of discrimination, violence, genocide, and war.” He suggests that in order to eliminate the silence that everyone must partake in the four core principles: read critically, write consciously, speak clearly, and most importantly tell your truth. He states that in order for others to speak up and tell their truth, you must be willing to do the same, even the times that you have failed at speaking up. In addition to speaking the truth one must be willing to tell people what they need to hear rather than telling those people what they want to hear about injustice. Often times, people have this tendency to sugarcoat the truth to lessen the severity of the problem, but as I have discovered through this course that just creates larger problems in the long run. The silence does no good. Your silence does not create neither difference nor change. As Smith says in the video, “silence is the residue of fear… because it doesn’t feel safe in your lungs.” People are afraid to speak the truth, because he or she is uncomfortable with addressing injustice in such a public environment. But silence is not a choice. Using our voices and speaking the truth allows for individuals “to not tolerate racism from anyone at any time” (Smith).

Smith’s idea about remaining silent about injustice not only applies to racism, but it also applies to any stereotypes for groups of people. Through critical consciousness, I have discovered one truth that I want to address regarding my community partner, Young Moms Marin. Many of these moms in this organization have been marginalized as the stereotypical teen moms portrayed on television and on social media. They have been treated as lesser, less capable of providing for their children, trouble makers, addicted to drugs and alcohol, dropouts, etc. However, from what I have seen I can say that the moms at my community partner site have tried to improve their lives to better provide for their children. The moms are working two to three jobs to provide a nice home, toys, clothes, and to get above the poverty line that so many of them have experienced. Also to further improve their life of moms who were heavily involved with gangs, drugs, and alcohol has removed themselves from those environments. What they don’t show you is that teen moms do make an effort to escape from those stereotypes that label them in our society. The most important aspect that I have taken away through critical consciousness is that “all people want to be is human,” and in order to accomplish that goal we all need to speak the truth to the injustices we witness. As Glass states from his piece, “neither alone nor together can people accomplish all that must be done, but this limit relieves no one from the obligation to do whatever she or he can” (Glass, 65).

Now What? Some knowledge that I gained through theory and experience is that everyone has their own story, and you would not know it just by looking at that person. I discovered that often times people will automatically assume that they know that person based on that the race. However, after participating in this course, I learned that one cannot assume that they know that individual based on their racial appearance, attitude, or actions. I knew that one cannot judge someone prior to the class, but through theory and practice, I gained knowledge that theory was not incorrect.

I can take this knowledge that I have developed throughout the course of this semester and take all the “opportunities to continue to challenge the “isms” that shape the contours of injustice and are the terrain of our journey without maps” (Glass, 63–64). To be completely honest, I don’t know how this gained knowledge will help inform my next small steps in my life. However, what I do know is that as individuals we can try to change how our society addresses racism, but “I am only one among countless unnamed people who have fought against racial inequalities” (Glass, 65). One step that I have recently learned that needs to be taken to address racism and other systemic inequality is to show up, pay attention, tell your truth, and be open to the outcomes.