Rieke Reflections

Rieke Scholars are committed to social justice, equity, reconciliation, and action.  They embody the values of The Diversity Center:  Critical Reflection, Perspective Taking, and Community.  Maya, Ingrid, Maria, and Alice share their reflections of programs that had the most impact on them this past academic year.
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Sounds of Solidarity - Maya Perez

I don’t think I could have ever expected what was to come when I began dreaming up Sounds of Solidarity. What inspired me was a large combination of things; wrestling with my own privilege, loving to hear friends’ stories, Black feminist thought, and creative forms of activism. While I was in Costa Rica for the semester, it started with an email to Angie about how to create an event that captured the importance of sharing stories. I really couldn't ask for a better boss, she is amazing and has so many incredible ideas. When I returned in the spring, I began by booking a room and choosing a date. We chose the Wednesday of Earth and Diversity week, it felt a little ambitious for my first event, but we went with it! 

 

The dreaming didn’t stop; I started imagining artists being featured at the event in order to tell stories using different mediums. My initial thought was Favianna Rodriguez, an incredible artist whose work focuses on social justice. However I then also thought of two former PLU students whose art would make incredible additions. I spent most of my time trying to fugue out how to contact and afford to fairly pay such an incredible artist for her work, and therefore only Favianna was featured. 

The most important part of the event for me was making sure each participant felt confident with their story and comfortable expressing all that they wanted to. I met with each participant individually twice before the group rehearsals to talk about how to write a piece that reflected what they wanted to say, practice the pieces, and just get to know the stories of each person. It felt pretty heavy hearing all of these stories alone and wanting to respect the privacy of each person by not sharing them with anyone. However once the event took place it felt so worth it. 

The night of Sounds of Solidarity there were so many people in the audience that were ready to listen, it just felt like a space full of love and compassion. The feeling was amazing, supportive, and positive. Throughout the evening there were stories shared about many different identities including being queer, trans, black, white, brown, latino, men, women, religious, and struggling with mental illness, stereotypes, self harm, and self doubt. All of the stories touched on multiple identities, and some of the many emotions that one may experience within these identities. 

Being able to hear the stories felt humbling for me. The stories were real, and received genuinely. Many of the performers told me that they felt empowered and proud of themselves. I always knew that I loved to make people happy, but to help create a space and event that allowed people to feel the deepness of self empowerment made me feel really proud of myself too. The people that performed and listened, inspired me to always strive to know myself, and to get to know all of those around me, because when we listen to hear others stories, these beautiful moments of humbleness, pride, and sincerity appear which that night, created Sounds of Solidarity.

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“This Patch of Soil: Race, Nature, and Stories of Belonging” with Dr. Carolyn Finney - Ingrid Clark

Dr. Finney presented her Earth Day talk on the intersection of race and the environment, and how our racial and other identities inform our experience of natural spaces. She began with some highly thought-provoking anecdotes from her own childhood, including describing how she and her family grew up as working class black Americans maintaining the estate of a wealthy white family. The simultaneous access to and alienation from the land she occupied led Dr. Finney to formulate the big question of “Who has the right to call this space home?” This question was echoed throughout much of her talk, in which she described people and groups who reclaimed both urban and natural spaces in the name of conservation and community building.

Dr. Finney noted that discussions of conservation and the environment are often dominated by groups in power, particularly white scientists. She drew an interesting parallel by mentioning how people typically take an interest in conservation when it involves large and charismatic species (like elephants!) but less so when the species that need protection are smaller or less visible; similarly, she said, people pay the most attention to environmental movements that are led by white people and other groups that are more likely to be given societal credibility. Dr. Finney asked the important rhetorical question “Who gets to speak to issues of sustainability?” which exposes the tendency of privileged groups to monopolize conservation movements and exclude the voices of women, people of color, and lower classes.

Perhaps the most important take-away of her talk was that people need to be personally motivated to engage themselves in conservation and environmental issues. She made it clear that scientific understanding is insufficient to make humans as a whole care enough to make a change; communities and individuals must be connected to the environment through personal stories. The only way to have a personal connection to the environment is to have a sense of belonging in natural spaces, and for more people to have access to natural spaces rather than just a privileged few. Toward the beginning of her talk she asked another rhetorical question which stuck with me as the core question conservation biologists and all people should be asking with regard to the environment: “What motivates you to make a change?”

I was reminded that as a person going into the sciences and probably the field of conservation, I will have a lot of privilege when discussing environmental issues. It’s important for me to remember that I am only a small part of the conversation, and that the environmental movement needs to be reclaimed by marginalized groups who have traditionally had their stories silenced.

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Caravana 43 - Maria Cruse

On April 17, 2015 I participated in the Caravana 43 events in Seattle with a group of PLU and UPS students. The day’s events centered on the disappearance of 43 students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teacher’s College of Ayotzinapa in Mexico. First, we went to a dialogue at Seattle University, where some students and parents of the 43 spoke about the incident, which was paired with a graphic slide show of images. The dialogue was followed by a Q&A, in which the room was filled with chanting to show support for the fight justice.

Then we walked to the Mexican Consulate to join others protesting with signs outside the building to make the city and officials aware of our human concern for the missing 43. From there, we marched to Seattle’s Federal Building. This journey was about a twelve-block loop around downtown, by Pike’s Place and then ended on 3^rd Ave. There were at least 200 people involved in the march.

This was my first experience in a protest to this capacity and I was quite overwhelmed.

There were supporters from different organizations and demographics—all the way from babies to older individuals. Our group, along with other people, held signs and shouted chants such as “What do we want? Justice. When do we want it? Now”, counted each of the 43, and “Stop Military Aid to Mexico”. Marching down the streets of Seattle stirred up many emotions for me, such as sadness and empowerment. I felt sadness and sorrow for the families and friends of the students who have been waiting for almost a year and still don’t know where the students are. I could also feel their fear; I can’t imagine the emptiness in which that brings. At the same time I felt empowered shouting throughout the city—something I never thought I’d do. Why? You may ask, because even though Meyers Briggs say I’m an extrovert, most of the time I am an introvert. I am a quiet leader, but on April 17^th, I definitely broke that mold. Another part of the march that was liberating and empowering was being a part of a tradition that so many rights movements have done. Walking down the street and seeing the faces of the public question what we were protesting, as well as cheering us on, reminded me of marches from the Civil Rights and Gay Rights movements. Participating in this march gave me hope that progress can be achieved through this method peacefully.  The sun also beat down and hills strained on my body. Even though I felt exhausted, emotionally and physically, I realized I cannot compare my pain to those that are suffering directly. I think this is a crucial aspect in understanding what it means to stand in solidarity. Standing in solidarity isn’t about fitting a self desire to do good, but a selfless act to bring awareness and truth to an injustice. 

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DarkMatter - Alice Tan

DarkMatter helped me understand how real social inequality is, how white privilege still exists and without us realizing it. From this event, my paradigm has changed. Most often, we are unconsciously absorbed in things we hear and see and we take it as a fact without further thoughts. The media uses this as an advantage and stereotypically portrays people of color. I am inspired to become someone who actively responds to what I hear and see by looking at it from different perspectives and learning the root of a  situation before accepting what I see and hear.

I am challenged to step outside of my comfort zone of accepting that everyone has the same playing field and opportunities to achieve their dreams of becoming a successful person. DarkMatter  encouraged me to accept the fact that institutions do build a society that segregate people based on their social background and physical appearance.  DarkMatter helped me understand how social construction can lead to harmful results, such as the continuity of racism and unequal opportunities.  Before attending DarkMatter, I was more resistant in accepting that racism and inequality still exist today even though I have witnessed it and experienced it myself. I did not want to feel that I am part of the reason that racism and inequality still exist today because I am not doing enough to help. After this event, I came to realize how silly it was of me to blind myself from the problems and from accepting what is actually happening.

I am inspired to be part of the community that helps fight against racial inequality. I will carry out my learning from this event by taking actions that reflect my desires to learn about racial injustice in order to fight for racial equality. I will start by supporting stores that hires minorities. I will make intentional plan to become more proactive in advocating for social justice.  I will make it my priority to continue on learning and seeking out ways to support the fight for racial justice.