Injustice and Responsibility

Hello DJS blog readers! My name is Andres Pedro. I am a 3rd year student at PLU studying Biology with the intention of majoring in it. I come from the beautiful bike riding and rose loving city that is Portland, Oregon. I spend most of my free time currently (which has been frequently due to this pandemic) with my cat named Heath or listening to music.

I have learned recently that as a person of color racism works in ways in which we can’t always see. Sometimes, racism doesn’t affect us directly. Regardless, as person of color I should stand up for others who are being affected by racism.
Last late spring/early summer racial tensions were high due to the killing of George Floyd; it had me wondering what my place in the matter was. It was not my responsibility for me to speak on the matter but simply aid in fighting for a better future. To reiterate, I can not speak for the black community because I am person of color but it is my responsibility to speak up against the injustices faced by others.
During the summer, I protested for the first time. It was a life changing experience; life changing in the sense that I finally was able to see past my own issues and see what others were going through. It might be hard for some people to understand that because something doesn’t happen to you doesn’t mean it isn’t happening to someone else.

Comments

Thank You DJS Leaders

Rosario Jesús Treviño Yoson is a 2nd year majoring in Economics. They identify as a mixed queer transmasculine person using he/they pronouns. He plans to use their degree to address food insecurity. You can find him in the Diversity Center, the library, or the student radio station in the Neeb building. Dear DJS Student Leaders, It has been an honor to organize your stories this year. When I started, I was a little lost. I hadn’t attempted something like this before. What I uncovered became larger than the website. In conversations I had with each of the writers, I sought to go deeper into their motivations, why they are committed to the work they do towards anti-racism; outside of school and sometimes unpaid. It is the right thing to do, but these students stepped farther, they took initiative and leadership in their own communities, rather than waiting for direction. I was encouraged after hearing from a few writers “this conversation help...

#WeAreOrlando

Devastated about what happened in Orlando last night. We are lucky to live in a country where we finally have equal legal rights, but the fight for acceptance and equality did not end with the Supreme Court decision last year. Homophobia continues to be a harmful and dangerous ideology that is taught - yes, taught - and passed on from one generation to the next. It is espoused by politicians in power, it is preached from the pulpit, and it's passed from parents to their children any time they tell them homosexuality is wrong, or think that depictions of gay couples in books or movies are inappropriate for children, or when they teach their kids to "love the sinner but hate the sin." This disguised insult perpetuates the idea that our families are wrong, dirty, and shameful. All for something we had no choice in and for loving someone of the same sex.

Upholding Community Guidelines

Community guidelines, agreements, or tenants are used far and wide in social justice education settings. Creating, stating, and agreeing upon community guidelines is typically at the top of the agendas of workshops, institutes, and new community meetings. Lately I have noticed myself being disingenuous about the idea of establishing community standards over and over again. What’s the point of spending time creating a list of agreements - ways in which we would like to hold each other accountable as a community, ways to create a community of learners and leaders, and ways to create a brave space that acknowledges conflict and difference exists and welcomes diverse perspectives and a range of learners – if too often we do not hold each other accountable for upholding them? What I have notice is when time goes on, and communities have long since upheld and or revisited their commitments and guidelines, people begin side stepping around each other and issues, bl...

A DJS Journey

Search This Blog