Last week, GRF Esmeralda led a discussion entitled “How do we do Activism” and it was great because I love these events that allow room for small group discussions. I feel like activism has garnered a very polarizing stigma, in which people only think of activists as those people who are marching, picketing, protesting, and rioting. It was interesting when Esmeralda asked who considered themselves in the group as an activist, and very few people raised their hands, even though everyone in the room shared an issue with society they had a problem with. We first started the discussion with definitions and keywords of what activism means and then moved on to a quote by Alice Walker, “Activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet.” There were many people who agreed and disagreed with this quote. Many people believed that activism is a necessary responsibility, while others thought that suggested that as an obligation. I felt that rent didn’t feel like the right word, rather activism is something that people should want to contribute to in order to make the lives of others better.

In my opinion, activism shouldn’t be defined just by the huge actions of people like Malcolm X or MLK, but also as small actions people can do in their everyday lives, such as promoting awareness of social issues, and respectfully calling out and educating the people around you who might have contrary opinions. We also discussed some steps that should be taken when wanting to start a movement, and pros and cons of having a figurehead to lead the cause (having a person with clear goals to connect to, versus giving too much power to an individual). I also really enjoyed hearing another student’s accounts with being an activist, and it’s certainly difficult and tiring. However, I like to think that you succeeded in your job as an activist if you changed another person’s mind about an important issue, and you inspired other people to challenge these notions the same way. Overall, I really liked the discussion and the small group format, and I hope to see more of these discussions in the future.