This past Saturday, Rose Scholars held a thought-provoking student discussion about activism. One of the first topics we dived into was defining activism.

When I think of activism, the first people that come to my mind are Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. However, these extreme icons are not representative of the ‘minimum requirements’ necessary to be considered an activist.

I would classify someone who educates others about challenges groups face as an activist. Educating is the first step in activism. For example, I was speaking with some classmates about some issues facing the African and African American population at Cornell, and one person didn’t know we even had an Africana Center! Basic conversations that plant a seeds in someone’s mind are sometimes enough.

Overall, it was a really great conversation. One of my favorite moments of the talk was when we were asked what social issues we were passionate about. I said police brutality. Others said LGBTQ rights, gay marriage, abortion, pay inequality, and access to higher education. All of these struggles are interconnected, and the power behind different groups unifying to fight together has a lot of potential.