A DJS Journey

“What are you?”  People of color have so much beef with this question and for good reason. At its heart it is an inquiry rooted in ignorance and misunderstanding of race, culture and the scope of human diversity. Regardless, it is a question that I have asked myself time and time again as a part of a long process of developing my identity as a mixed-race person. That being said, I am not mixed in that my parents are of different races. As I have thought about who I am, I have started to redefine what it means to be a mixed race person. Phenotypically I am brown skinned, black haired, and brown eyed; and while I lived in Ecuador as an exchange student, friends and family referred to me as “negrito” from time to time. By this standard I am a person of color without a doubt. People still ask me “what are you” or “where do you come from” because of my initial appearance and I have come to understand the implications of my being a POC as I navigate PLU.  On the other hand, my...

These couple of days I've been remembering the time that I finally got the courage to tell part of my story through a poem. I wrote the poem after coming back from the Border Immersion program that was offered during spring break. During my time there I learned more about myself and the history that I had with this wall that was built to keep "danger" away. This poem represents how proud I have become of coming from two individuals who put everything on the line for the American Dream!  I am Peligro– I am a Chican@ born in a land A land of the free and the home of brave A land where my worth is based by a slip of paper A paper that grants me the opportunity to do and go where I please A paper that makes me the same as some my friends, but different from own: My familia             Mi madre                   ...

This illustration feels radical but probably not far off. When on Friday [June 26] we celebrated ‪#‎ MarriageEquality‬ SCOTUS ruling I Googled "pride", "pride celebration", "pride flag" hoping to find images of a rainbow of people celebrating love and all I could see was a cloud of white men, white women, white drag queens, white twinks, white bears, white leathermen, white trans people, white politicians, white old couples crying, white vets, white protesters, etc. I was looking at the world's most powerful search engine with access to millions of images of crowds and in the sea of rainbow flags I struggled to see color. This made me very sad as we built LGBT rights movement on the wave of Civil Rights Movement. We have a cultural preference for light skin, this is not a question. Whether it's racism and/or trend inspired is not worth arguing. Naming incidentally successful artist, politician, or musician of color does not suppo...

Mathew 5:13-16 13  “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14  “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15  Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all   who are   in the house.   16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. – NKJV We rested in the sanctuary of Iglesia Luterana Cresto Rey in El Paso Texas, for a small worship service beginning our last reflection of our Border Immersion experience. Pastora Rosa led us by asking two questions. Who has been a light for us in our journey? Who has made an impact on you this week? How could I possible summarize my experience engaging in a community when I had learned so much? It was only seven days earlier t...

An Incomplete poem with 28 Questions for the 28 days we are permitted to talk about history from the Black perspectives instead of the White savior complex pedestal, because #BLACKLIVESMATTER... Why Are You Mad? What is news? To whom? How do we project? How do we reject? How do we speak? To whom? Who matters? Who is validated? Supported? Discredited? Humiliated? Dehumanized? Superb? Outstanding? Why? Why Outstanding? Why not? What weighs more? What you can do? Or, At least chose to? Limits. Are self-declared Internalized and understood as Personal choice influenced by Media An interpretation of facts Regarded as truth Twisted. Defining correlations as causations, Falsely, Again, Against. Truth. How is it understood? How is it valued? Who says? Who listens? For what? Who decides? What is news? Who has the right to live? Nicole Jordan, Diversity Advocate

Last year around this time, Dr. Kathy Obear, an expert on triggers, was on our campus.   She presented a day-long workshop on naming and navigating triggering events, especially triggering events based on a subordinated group identities. I was a key organizer of the event, so my participation in the actual workshop was limited.  But I know that over 220 higher education professionals, students, and community member’s worlds’ were ROCKED because Kathy challenged everyone to think about not only naming triggers, but also responding to our triggers in ways that are conducive to understanding and reconciliation.   My default, when triggered, is to shut down.   For instance… Once, while staying in Vegas, some friends of mine, all White, began to share that upon check in, there we all given the option to upgrade to a suite.   And in one instance, the upgrade was free of charge.   This happened not to one of my friends, but ...

What does diversity mean to you? For the past two weeks, a few of my peers and I have asked students who have passed by the dCenter to answer this question. This dCenter project was to figure out what the student population, outside of our dCenter folks, thought about (if they did) diversity. This interactive, write on a window project, has been an eye-opening experience. As woman of color, I stood outside of the dCenter with markers and asked random individuals who walked by to answer this quick question. First of all, I felt a bit uncomfortable asking random students to do this quick task. Second, I was asking a crowd of white individuals what they thought diversity meant to them. Lastly, it never occurred to me how hard of a question I was asking until I watched students stand in front of the window, with marker in hand, for what seemed like a very long minute as they formulated their thoughts into a sentence or word... or realized that this question made some students uncomfor...

You know what really grinds my gears? (Yes, I have been known to watch Family Guy #nojudging).  White guys who take up a lot of space.  The guy who is so unaware of his size, gender, race, class and who tries to intrude on my physical space.  The guy who tries to hug me constantly, even though I have told him numerous times that, you know what, hugging, really ain’t my thing.  That one dude who thinks it’s funny when I ask him politely at first, but then with more force, to back the F-UP!  This man who believes that the more he tries to come into my personal space, eventually, I will let him in.  He is going to take it, by force, and nothing, I mean nothing, is going to stop him from trying. Dude, White guy, MAN!  Please.  This isn’t funny.  Your continual disregard for my personal space, my comfort, my safety, my wishes, and adamant rejection of your advances are not funny.  Are disrespectful.  Are wack as hell.  Are uncomfo...

Last weekend I attend the ACPA Institute for Social Justice: Envisioning Vulnerability in Social Justice Education. The institute was packed with opportunities to participate in dialogue with those with similar salient identities and hear from awesome speakers who shared their social justice journeys, research, and perspectives about vulnerability. While at the institute my understanding of vulnerability became twisted and complex – particularly as a white female social justice educator. Here is the tension that I am currently sitting with: The need to lean into the discomfort of the work… Brene Brown’s TedTalk The Power of Vulnerability has been viewed by over 17,000 people and has found its way onto college campuses through leadership trainings and helping frame community development models and was a framework for ACPA ISJ. Brene suggests vulnerability is necessary and fundamental to building human connectedness and the ability to empathize, belong, and love.  I...

A satire, not a documentary. A comedy, not a protest. Or is it? After hearing of this new, radical movie talking about our story as students of color, at a predominately White university, we, Black Student Union and the Diversity Center, decided we’d go see it together. This meant each paying our own way, but hopefully at the same time to discover the film, and then debrief. As interest grew the Diversity Center Director found a way to rent the theater so we could all go for free enabling us to open it to the entire campus community but with limited seats. As we ramped up to go see Dear White People in its opening weekend, we met some resistance on the PLU campus. The more advertisements went out, the more unsolicited and unchallenged comments, opinions, and questions. such as: “That’s so racist!” “Why are they mad?” “Is this a protest.”“Oh, yeah, I heard about that documentary.” PLU Dear White People private screening Racism is a system of inequality based on race, so no it...

Hello all... I just wanted to give you an update on the life of a senior, Jazmyn Carroll... a PLU student trying to figure out life in a day. This past week, I have been bombarded with questions of identity... Now that it is becoming increasingly clear that I will be leaving my PLU home at the end of the school year, these questions of identity and where I will be after college has seriously got me stumped! Stumped to the point that I consider myself a walking vessel with little to no cognitive capacity to learn strenuous concepts. This is extremely distressing because I consider this hodgepodge of a beautiful, yet messy mind of mine, to be taking a toll on my well being. For reassurance purposes, I am aware that I am experiencing cognitive dissonance and plan to be at 101% Jazzy sometime in the near future. Jazmyn Carroll Anyways, what has got me questioning who I am is the religion course I am currently taking on Christian Theologies... bad enough I am trying to be an A student...

I have often witnessed Orientation Guides attempt to describe the Diversity Center to new students, and while many hit key points, I have never heard a succinct and satisfying way to describe it. So, here's my attempt:  I want you to envision the Diversity Center, but picture it as a box shaped void, devoid of the people, couches, colors, and identity. Begin filling the box with words; good and bad, gendered and non-gendered, hateful and kind. Now, add ideas to these words, let them flow from your mind and into this space. Some of these ideas attract each other, others repel, still others spin about each other seemingly engaged only to disappear into the growing mass of thoughts whirling about in this void. While you're envisioning this conglomeration, picture your parents and your great-great-grandmother. Picture the president and your high school bully. Picture the world wars, and picture smallpox. Include the native people displaced and destabilized in colonial countrie...

Clanddinin and Connelly (2000) state, “our research interests come out of our own narratives of experience and shape our narrative inquiry plotline” (p.121).  My own interest in social justice education is both professional and personal.  I have had a career in multicultural affairs for nine years.  I support students from various social identities and work to create awareness of dominant and subordinated identities, ally as a verb and not a noun, and microagressions.  Personally, W.E.B. DuBois, in his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk spoke of “double-consciousness” or two selves that are in conflict with who we are and what people expect us to be.  I have spent most of my life being an “Other” but also know what it’s like to “Other” someone else based on some of my dominant identities.  As a multiple identity being, I in fact belong to two worlds, one of privilege, and one of an empowered person of color.  Meaning that I understand racism, o...