A DJS Journey

The protests at Mizzou and other schools across the nation have prompted conversations and debate in the media and body politic about the demands being made of administrations by student groups that range from resignation to curriculum reform. Many of the demands are made with the intent to address the larger conversation surrounding safety issues for students of color and institutionalized support for marginalized groups on campuses. Opponents of creating safe spaces argue they limit freedom of speech, and in schools, violate the sacred concept of academic freedom. These are flawed arguments due to the fact that the distribution of rights and respect is not a zero sum game.  Just because someone is afforded more rights and respect does not inhibit your ability to exercise your rights as well. That being said, Roxane Gay made an excellent point in her article The Seduction of Safety: On Campus and Beyond   (link at the bottom) by stating that “the freedom of speech, however, does

The movie suffragette came out and was hailed as a big stride for the feminist community. While this may be true I can help but read this promotion I came across on Facebook as “made by white women, about white women, for white women.” This picture only shows white women and when I watched the trailer for the movie I got both excited about the movie and noticed the lack of diversity in the cast (you can see it in the picture. This image reminds of a quote by Sandy Grande “The historical divide between white and subaltern women suggests that what has long passed as “mainstream” feminism is actually whitestream feminism, that is a feminist discourse that is not only dominated by white women but also principally structured on the basis of white, middle-class experience, serving their ethnopolitical interests and capital investsments.” This quote and movie just reminds me of how historically feminism has been exclusive to the stories of women of color and their struggle