SURPRISE - I know none of you will have guessed that this might happen, but as a student at the University of Tennessee studying everything from social justice movements, to social inequality, to analytical statistics and criminogenic tendencies and judicial handling, I have quite the opinion on the protests that took place in Knoxville today. BUT I am not going to bore you with that, instead I am just going to offer some advice in case you are in any of these categories! The WHAT IN THE WORLD IS GOING ON?” category - I encourage you to educate yourself via as many sources of factual information that you can possibly get your hands on (and yes, sadly you will have to move past your best buds on Fox & Friends and/or your favorite charmer Anderson Cooper to really get the whole story flowing from all sides) The “I’M SO PISSED THAT THEY BLOCKED TRAFFIC TO PROTEST” category - well what I must tell you about this is not going to please you, but most social justice movements that are successful do not happen in quiet secluded hiking trails but instead work to disrupt the norms of daily life in society to bring attention to issues at hand (think March for Life, or the union protests in large cities, or the anti-early-black-Friday protests, or hey remember how last week you saw something on Facebook about that man in a polar bear costume being arrested?… yea, that was at a protest) OR think closer to home in Knoxvegas: remember how every year for an entire day that group displays gruesome images of mutilated aborted babies on pedestrian as you walk to class? Yea thats kind of a protest, too. Except instead of using pictures that make you sick to your stomach for the rest of the day and possibly barf up that breakfast bar you just ate, they chose to shut down traffic. Hey, Ill take that any day over trying to shake those gruesome and mildly offensive images out of my head. The “MICHAEL BROWN WAS A CRIMINAL” category - Yes. Yes he was. However, this does not make an argument… and it’s only supplemental to a much larger and very complex argument that you would need to develop… which you probably haven’t if this is still all that you can say. The “BUT ON [INSERT FAVORITE MEDIA SOURCE] THEY SAID THIS” category - Well let’s be real, we live in a society that has become entirely intertwined with the media… who owns the information and commands it all they want (remember that John Mayer Song? yea that’s what he was talking about) The “BLACK PEOPLE ARE ALWAYS RIOTING” category - I encourage you to go to my Facebook page, scroll down a little and click on the post entitled “White People Rioting Over Stupid S**t” … hopefully it will open your eyes and give you a little perspective on this issue, but if not it should at least be pretty entertaining The “THEY ALREADY GAVE THE VERDICT SHUT UP” category - Yes, Darren Wilson will not be indicted now because that is what the Grand Jury chose to conclude should happen. However, this is an issue that is much bigger than this singular case. This is an issue of all sorts of injustices and problems within our society that are so wrapped up in the history of this country that it is seemingly really hard to remember, well for the majority populations that is... because ya know, you’re in the majority so this probably isn’t in your daily life, unless you have chosen to make it so. Not sure what Im referring to? Research how much African Americans actually make up in our population as a race, then search how much African Americans make up in our prison systems. Then search mass incarceration and read allllllll about it. Then tell me if you think our system is all unicorns and lollypops The “I’M GOING TO VOICE MY OPINION ON SOCIAL MEDIA RUDELY” category - Awkward category to fall in, in my opinion. But hey, everyone’s doing it right? If this is your decision, do it with dignity and respect. Do it with an educated voice, not a voice that spreads hate. Do it in a way that does not by any means devalue the opinion of others. You want to rant? Go ahead, but do it carefully and under no circumstances dehumanize or devalue the subjects of your rant. They are humans. They are nothing more and nothing less. HUMANS. They are you and they are me. So yea, in other words don’t fall into this category. Instead voice your opinion in a way that accurately represents what you would want to be read at your funeral if you suddenly died after pressing “post” or “tweet”… in other words, don’t let yourself risk leaving your last impression on this earth in an embarrassing manner The “I DONT CARE AT ALL EVERYONE SHUT UP” category - Well, I won’t say too much about this category other than YOU SHOULD CARE [like whoa Dylan, you said no personal opinion right? yea I did, oh well]. If you fall into this category, please find out why you should care! There are a bajillion resources, books, criminology courses, sociology courses, etc. that will be way more beneficial to your time than that one credit hour “walking class” you were thinking about taking to help you really reach that perfect spring break bod next semester. If you don’t fall into any of these categories that’s quite alright, too… especially if you some how ended up reading all of that and are disappointed to have gotten this far in this post. But hey, it’s for the cause. The point is that we all deserve respect from each other, we all owe it to ourselves to become educated on issues beyond just babbling on about what we heard on the radio, news or at home. But most of all, we all deserve to be treated with respect. The most disappointing part about today was seeing that we almost missed the opportunity to have an open discussion on both sides of this issue because we reacted with condescending, dehumanizing and hateful remarks that ostracized each other instead of allowing this to be a landmark event on this campus that opened up discussion on an extremely important issue. STAND UP. SPEAK UP. BE HEARD. RESPECT.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Dec 2014 07:22:46 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015