This class has taught me how to engage in strategic lifelong activism. Activism is an umbrella term referring to the promoting or campaigning of policy or social change on the cultural, structural, or national level. Activism has been developed and practiced throughout history by people like Jesus Buddha, Thoreau, and Dr. Martin Luther King (MLK). Thanks to these people over the years activism has developed a clear and effective structure which has proven effective in history and a number of cultures. In order to engage in effective lifelong activist one must be able to conceptualize social justice, understand how oppression affects the motivation of individuals, know the barriers to different activists, and develop and activism cycle, make …show more content…
Every activist is on a journey and will have different experiences and trials, but it's important to be aware of two major barriers people face when engaged in lifelong activism. The first one is the lack of funds. This is one of the most overwhelming and difficult to overcome for activists. For example if a group doesn’t have fund then said group won’t be able to afford things like speakers, sign and being able to pay people who do it full time so protests and supplementary and monetary aid can be distributed. Funding is pivotal to a movement but without it make it can dramatically hurt a movement. The second is treats on one’s life. This barrier can be a powerful motivator for others if used correctly. For example, the death threats and eventual assassination of Dr. MLK did hurt the movement but it helped strengthen and validate the importance of the cause. This is sadly not always avoidable, one must be strategic and smart about how, when, and where one protests. Like long activism can be difficult, but in the long run, taking this time can help one create real change that can improve people's lives now and in the …show more content…
This was done through a series of steps. The first step was to learn how to conceptualize social justice. Understanding social justice is more than just knowing statistics, social justice requires one to identify with others stories, develop a sense of motivation, and knowing barriers one will face in one's journey. The next thing important to my own journey as a white male was understanding how oppression affects the motivation of an individual. To me, this meant breaking oppression down into non-experiential and first-hand experiences. Next was developing an activism cycle this meant learning how to recognize the need for change, joining an organization, taking action and following up by learning what one can do better in the future. Lastly, I learned how to make my action as purposeful and as meaningful as possible. Developing the skills and practices to be effective in lifelong advocacy is important if one wants to succeed in achieving tangible change on the direct institutional or cultural
Often times, when something is wrong, an activist cannot help but to respond. This longing to make a difference is one of the key qualities in an influential activist. For example, a completely ordinary teen named Alex Lin came across an article about e-waste in the Wall Street journal. In a video interview he says “Every long journey starts with a short step” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weqt0N0vxH4). That is very true, because from then on, his interest and passion kept growing. He spent hours collecting old electronics and managed to recycle 20,00 pound of e-waste that day. He formed a team and devoted his time to get a law passed in his city banning e-waste dumping. He still continues his journey and has built media centers in other parts of the world in his quest to eliminate e-waste. But, just like many others, he won’t stop there. He
One of the worlds best known advocates of non-violent social change strategies was Martin Luther King Jr. He synthesized ideals drawn from many different cultural traditions. The image of a social activist and leader was the result of extensive formal education, strong personal values and licit ethics. This excellence in leadership can be traced to his character, which is shaped by his moral values and
Many activists had a great impact on our society. An activist is a person who campaigns for some kind of social change or someone who is actively involved in a political or social cause. Activists like Martin Luther king Jr, Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, and Helen Keller each had their own distinct goal on a social cause but they were all great activists who actively fought for their goal.Martin Luther King had his eyes set on the civil rights of african americans while so did Rosa Parks. Cesar Chavez fought for the immigrant workers and for better working conditions. Helen Keller was a very important person for the deaf and blind and she also was involved in the women’s rights movement. There were many important activists that had their eye set
Social movements of the 1960’s and 1970’s have been interpreted and written about in varying ways. While contemporary scholarship disagrees with past analyses and offer fresh perspectives, past research can also provide a pathway for defining important questions for future research on social movements in America.
The 1960s in the United States of America was an era of protests. Americans from the 1960s era experienced social changes that caused Americans to revolt of the Establishment of the 1950s. Racial discrimination, gender equality, and poverty are certain specific of the problems that Americans sought the need to identify of what caused the rise of protesters throughout the 1960s. The youth generation from the era “baby boomers” were the causes for the determination for the 1960s. The parents of the “baby boomers” were traditionally from the era of the “Happy Days” from the 1950s, which was after World War II has concluded and the United States became a global superpower. Activism in the 1960s, Terry H. Anderson describes that the activism of the 1960s has a significant positive change in American politics, culture, and society. New Left, a political movement consisting of educators, and not others who sought to implement a broad range of reform on issues such as gay rights, drugs and so on, had an impact in the 1960s. On the other hand, Peter Clecak issued that during the 1960s, the society failed to revolutionize themselves, and without the specific program 's movements American becomes powerless. The activism of the 1960s transformed the United States of America into an excellent democratic nation, because of the altercation of American politics, foreign policies, culture, and society.
In recent weeks, quite a bit of attention has been given to the impact nontraditional activists will have on the upcoming presidential election. What do you think are the key issues these activists should require the candidates to speak on and/or clarify their positions about? Feel free to use any issues that have actually been raised if you can recall them.
The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States from the 1890s to the 1920s (Boundless 2016). The depression from the financial panic of 1893 affected farmers, workers and many businesses.
In his essay, “Changing the Face(book) of Social Activism”, Mark Pfeifle writes about the role social media has played socially and politically in our world. In his time, Mark Pfeife has served as a top national security advisor, communicator and deputy assistant for George W. Bush. Pfeife has come to the conclusion that social media has redefined social activism - in place, calling it “social slacktivism”. The word “slacktivism” is a conjuring of his views and biases. Pfeife believes this describes the populace as taking action over the internet without doing anything physically to change things. An example that Pfeife brings up is during the presidential election of 2008, Barack Obama’s campaign was promoted all over online, sources like
1963- 1968 saw a profound shift in black political thought and activism, it is a radical shift for black seeking to fight against racial oppression, establishment of black politic, and the improvement of black economy. Blacks had been through many oppressions from the whites. They were treated as the second class citizens even though they were also American. Those oppressions were mostly formed from the racism matter. With no longer endure to the oppression, a big wave of the black’s political thought and activism created a big change in black community and American society as a whole. There were two events that we could see the shift in black political thought and activism; they were the black civil right movement and the campaign against war in Vietnam. From these two events, we were able to analyze the black’s evolution in making their lives better and finding themselves a place to stand and a voice to be heard in a white dominant society.
Throughout this course, I have always come back to the same idea: praxis. It was a difficult concept for me to initially understand. I blindly believed that those who are protesting and trying to bring about change are already educated. I had a blanket understanding of the idea of praxis, but it was not until we started the praxis assignment that it made sense. Going into it, I believed that what we were doing was truly intersectional; after all, we were providing transportation so more young girls could have access to Girls on the Run. But reflecting on my experience now that I have learned more about intersectionality, I look at this experience as only a starting point. I can now reflect on the fact that the program is only beginning to make efforts to become more intersectional and has a lot to improve upon. Once I applied the concepts from class to the work I was doing, I finally understood what praxis meant. I have learned that praxis is constantly evolving, and as it does, it is important to reevaluate the initial objective and make efforts to improve and expand it.
How do you get over 28,000 people squeezed together in a park on a Sunday to the tune of an endless sea of cheers and chants? Well, if you’re presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, nothing but the promise to see you discuss the largest problem you see facing the United States; income inequality. Possibly even more impressive, Bernie Sanders, in spite of an often touted campaign contribution of $27 and no direct involvement with Super PACs, has raised around a staggering $210 million over the course of his quest to become the Democratic Primary candidate, raising more than well-known rival Hilary Clinton in February and March.
Well taking a look at events like the Greensboro 1976 KKK protest where after violent altercations between the marchers and members of the KKK hate group, the white supremacist group pulled guns and shot and killed five very important marchers consisting of nurse and civil rights activist, Sandi Smith, Doctor James Walker, Doctor Michael Nathan, and Bill Sampson, a Harvard graduate. Not only did both groups loss, the whole nation loss that day. So although nonviolent protest are not always effective they either impact the whole nation for the better or they only impact few people but violent attacks such as the Paris attack recently, or the 911 terrorist attack they impact so many people, so many households and maybe even the person that would
In the reading “Small Change : Why the Revolution Will Not Be Tweeted,” Malcolm Gladwell discusses the act of four brave college students and their act of social activism. The four freshmen from a local all black college sat down at a counter in a diner near Greensboro, North Carolina and were denied service because of their race. The students refused to leave and instead started a protest there at the restaurant. The numbers of people protesting with the four young men increased as the story spreaded across states. The story of the sit in was done without the use of any technology or social network. Gladwell discussed the effectiveness of the sit-in because of the relationship between
Social movements shed light to social issues present in communities and harvest social change in political, religious, educational, health, government, and other institutional matters. Social movements give individuals a clear outlet to concerns about the rights and well-being of themselves and others, mostly through public protest and conversation, in order to promote social justice and democracy. Throughout history, humans naturally ended up starting movements to simply improve their way of life and movements have continually aided in a remarkable change in communities. In the essay “From Civil Rights to Megachurches,” Charles Duhigg explains the three critical steps that initiative successful social movements. Social movements must
Non- violent movements are a way for groups of people to achieve change and create an impact in the society. The labor, African American, and Vietnam anti-war peace movements were significantly successful in abolishing harsh working conditions, gaining civil rights for blacks, and withdrawing from the Vietnam War (Upchurch). Non-violent and violent movements have been used throughout history to evoke change in the society, obtain equality, civil rights, and peace. While violent protest result in the same changes, non-violent methods can ultimately go beyond local violent protest, spread nationally through movements, and protest without requiring violence. These events because of the non-violent