My Un-conference experience was very pleasant and informative. Amusingly, my discussion group members, in the Everyday Racism cluster, were all black women. Perhaps, black women are more likely to observe injustice based on our position in America’s racial and patriarchal system. My group discussed many topics from microaggression, white discomfort, mixed race issues, representation of black women in the media, and policing blackness. Using class articles from Simba Runyowa, Sara Ahmed, Ewuare Osayande, Gay Seidman, and class/Un-conference discussions, this reflection essay focuses on microaggression, white discomfort and its significance, and marginalized groups’ use of passive words and actions to avoid upsetting the dominant group while …show more content…
Movements, organizations, and people that use nonviolence strategies are praised and held to a higher moral ground. A possible reason nonviolent strategies are respected is because these strategies make the oppressive community comfortable. However, anything that includes violence is automatically condemned. For example, the recent 2015 “riot” in Baltimore grabbed mainstream news attention. News channels continued to show the destruction of buildings in Baltimore, but made little references to reasons why the protestors were angry—living conditions, police brutality, broken education system, and other disadvantages that have been occurring for years—and wanted immediate change. In no way am I advocating violence, I am just highlighting that violence, like the term white supremacy, is too forceful for the oppressive structure. This realization leads marginalized people and allies to use passive means and terms to gain the attention of the dominant group with hopes to eventually change the oppressive
This awareness does come with a social outcry, an explosive retaliation, as the stress builds and boils until the injustice cannot be tolerated any longer. The Rodney King incident in Los Angeles is a prime example of social retaliation by the masses. The injustices that occurred paved the way for a group to become enraged and provided an outlet for the social mistreatment of African-American citizens to finally be expressed. The violence that followed would force political officials to respond to an issue that had existed, but was ignored because minority groups’ issues did not fit into a political agenda. However, this form of retaliation cannot thrive and lead to a consensus where terms are fair for both parties. Counterstances stems for violence, and forces violence to become a response. As Anzaldúa expressed, “The possibilities are numerous once we choose to act and not react.” (pg.
Nowadays, this concept of using nonviolence is hard to achieve. This is because people think that peaceful protest aren’t effective compared to taking action with their hands. One example is the Blacks Lives Matter Movement. Although there are peaceful protest, there are times when people turn violent against police. This can be counterintuitive since watching these harsh actions by protestors, people start forming negative views about the organization. This leads to people not supporting the cause anymore. Without the support of the public, an organization can’t
It has been debated though out history whether or not nonviolence “works”. Many societies, and this without question includes the United States, have mostly relied on violent tactics. Many people believe that violence is the only way to stop wars, even though it creates war, and people tend to believe that violence is the one solution to many global and political problems. However, recent literature and research is starting to prove otherwise. Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist, recently published a book, Why Civil Resistance Works in 2011. The research highlights data that shows throughout history, nonviolent tactics are more effective than violent ones in various ways.
Likewise, violent protests raise awareness in a negative and oftentimes irrational light. Following the tragic shooting of Michael Brown in the fall of 2014***, countless riots shed light on a new twist on a century-old issue; race in America. The man shot was an African-American, unarmed, young adult. He was shot by a white police officer who believed the young man to be a threat to his safety. His death became the catalyst for the modern Black Lives Matter movement’s stance on equality in American justice systems. While the movement places an emphasis on a need for change, much like Martin Luther King did in the 1960’s, the mass riots from Ferguson, Missouri to Baltimore, Maryland contradict civil disobedience. The riots caused hundreds of vandalisms, countless injuries of police officers in both cities, and created fear for the movement. Awareness for the issues were raised because of this movement, but the violent initial spark of it derailed the solid proof of the need for change. This further proves the necessity that civil disobedience is on a free society; peaceable expression of views has a heavier weight when it comes to altering the course of a
Throughout the semester i only learned few new things but i did improve and solidify my skill of writing. Before my first year of college my skills have always undermined by other high school english teachers and with that came disappointing grades. I am writing this paper as a reflection of the semester and the progress i have made as a writer. I now understand many things that my high school teachers have done a poor job demonstrating and i am grateful that i decided to take my own route in my education instead of their syllabus. I entered the semester with anxiety that i would perform as i did before but i clearly outdid my own expectations by receiving top grades on my essays.
“Hands up! Don’t shoot!” The protestors in Ferguson, MO, are shouting the message, fighting with their words, at a peaceful protest but their words are the only thing fighting (QUOTE). As the recent grand jury decision over the Mike Brown case has shone a light on the racism and police brutality, alive and thriving in the United States, people across the nation have taken to the streets and to social media as a means of peaceful protest. There is a longstanding tradition of peaceful protest in the United States, from the Montgomery Bus Boycott, to the Flint Sit In, peaceful protest is so deeply enrooted in American culture that TIME magazine even has a top ten list of the “most iconic peaceful protests of all time”(TIME, 2014). In The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon explores the relationship between violence and freedom, claiming that violence is necessary in ending colonial conditions. If this is the case, then current peaceful protests occurring in the United States against police brutality and racism will not be effective because violence is necessary to overcome the violence induced state of the nation, however this is a challenge to
Media plays a key role in the cogency of nonviolent actions. Although a select few of the demonstrations have turned into riots, they are not what Black Lives Matter stands for. Social media, television, the internet and other major news outlets have changed the way information is being perceived. When something is posted on the internet, it there for billions to see. Violent protests and actions have been a hot topic in the news lately; these “hot topics” steer the viewpoint of many. When one’s viewpoint is steered toward a negative direction in this, violence, one thinks that is the way to do it. Therefore, violence has been an easier way to resolve issues only because the media highlights as such. The Civil Rights movement was one of the first major televised social campaigns. 48 million Americans would watch the scene in their living rooms, and a few days later, Martin Luther King Jr. would lay bare the movement’s core media strategy. “We will no longer let them use their clubs on us in the dark corners,” he said. “We’re going to make them do it in the glaring light of television” (How Black Lives Matter). Since the Black Lives Matter movement originated as an internet hashtag and evolved into a national movement, the media helped bring this nonviolent enterprise recognition. As long as the media gives more attention towards nonviolent actions, their
As Martin Luther King Junior once wrote, “Nonviolent and direct action seeks to create such creative tension.” This suggests that we do not have to resort to violent outbursts, such as fires set to black churches, or shootings of people because people think they are in the wrong based on their skin color. 40% of adults believe protesting is wrong. A lot of the violence is caused by the protesting of racism. People choose to act in negative ways because they don’t like the way something is. People chooses to stand for
Mourning – this may be a fragile stage for some students as it is another ending occurrence for them. Facilitators can encourage students to organise a part to signify the ending as a positive event and to add another memorable life event to their lives.
Groupthink is the psychological phenomenon in which groups working on a task think along the same lines which could have drastic results. It is the result of group polarization where discussions are enhance or exaggerate the initial leanings of the group. Therefore, if a group leans towards risky situation at the beginning of the discussion on average they will move toward an even riskier position. (Marks, 2015). The idea when everyone think the same no one is really thinking. The drastic outcomes result from people trying to avoid conflict with one another, being highly cohesive, and results is questionable decision making (Oliver, 2013). Houghton Mifflin publication of Victims of Groupthink: A Psychological Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions
Winston Churchill once stated “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” During my time here at English 180 I saw some improvement in my writing in terms of content. I feel as if I am more capable of writing an essay with better content than I was able to do back in High School. My essays have shown improvement because I did change my style of writing a bit and I added something different every time I wrote a paper. In English 180 we wrote several papers, but each one had a change to fit the certain criteria. Winston Churchill’s quote perfectly describes the purpose of the class English 180. Writing different pieces with a different format and branching out was key in the subjects of our writing assignments.
Each individual is categorized into a group from the day they were conceived. According to Kozier et al (2010) a group is “two are more people who have shared need and goals, who taken each other in account in their and who, thus, are held together and set apart from others by virtue of their interaction” (p. 400). The communicate that takes place between members of the group is group dynamic (Kozier et al, 2010). Motivation for participation and similarity of other group members and the goals of the group will affect the group dynamic (Kozier et al, 2010). The type of group that was created was a task group and Kozier et al (2010) stated that “the focus for such group is completion of a specific task, and the format is defined at the outset by the leader or members” (p.400). The purpose of the group was to choose a community health care organization, and then presents the information to the class. To increase the student understandings of what a community health organization is; to demonstrate understanding of community based health care nursing practice. To provided information on the different aspects of the community health organization and to identify various roles of nurses within the community health organization. In order for a group to be effective, three functions are required. It must maintain a degree of group unity, it needs to develop and modified its structure to improve its effectiveness and it must accomplish its goals (Kozier et al, 2010).
While using violence to counteract violence may seem like a contradiction of sorts it is possibly the only recourse for the oppressed. It is impossible to create a formula of what works and doesn’t work in terms of emancipation because it is highly dependent on the particular situation but it is quite apparent that counterviolence is a necessary tool in this struggle. As we have seen, violence is not the only tool in liberation; the reconstruction of human ethics and perceptions is as, or more, important. Furthermore, it has been shown that sometimes nonviolence can create systemic change and that violence is not always applicable. Other times, violence is the only means to achieve true human emancipation.
The group couldn't seem to find time for us to meet and plan our presentation, the first and only time all group members were present to work on the presentation was on the morning of the presentation. We worked on it and at the time I believed we had agreed on our final product, I personally felt all the slides needed at this point was editing and final touches to make it visually appealing for the audience. I went online to the google presentation we were using as a group to prepare our presentation and was surprised to see a different layout, additional slides, and contents which were different from what we as a group had worked on and approved as the final work we were going to present. I confronted the group members as to the changes on the slides and we had a conflict of what our
In reflection on my learning experience in the group class, I have gained clarity on what sorts of competencies of facilitating group therapy, as well as in what areas social workers and students tend to feel most strong in my practice. Regarding my specific gains in competencies, I feel that I learned the most and was most likely to gain specific group facilitating competencies at the weekly class. Learning in group class is taught me the tools to use to work with groups therapy, communities and also with individuals through the process of changes. In this past three months I think a lot of opportunities have been created to shadowing with (beside and behind) and being a part of group members to learn. In addition, this class has taught me about the skills and how effectively help