Fight for your Rights

I figure it has been about 2 weeks since I have had time to write anything. Which usually means that the weeks have been jam packed.
The most fascinating thing that has taken place recently is the strikes that started this week due to budget cuts in the UC public school system. This is the first time I have seen strikes and protests and I have to admit it was pretty exciting. Yesterday was the day of action. When I was walking across Sproul to get to my classes, I noticed that there was a crowd of people in front of Sproul Hall. As I read the signs, I realized what the gathering was about.
 Once I arrived in class, I noticed that the number of students present was evidently depleted. It wasn't until I arrived in Society and Technology that I was informed about the implications of the budget cuts for Berkeley.
Budget cuts will inevidently lead to raised tuition, less classes, larger class section, reduced pay for professors, minimized office hours, reduces staff for cafeteria, abbreviated library hours, etc.
Due to the fact that Spelman is a private institution, all of our endowment comes from our own efforts in receiving grants as well as tuition. So, while we have had some tightening of "the purse strings", it has not been as devastating. Also, since Spelman is smaller, we have less students to manage.
Well, today, when I met up with my discussion section at Cafe Milano, the first thing my GSI said as he sat down was that students had cuffed/chained themselves to Wheeler Hall in protest. Well, I have my Decal class in their, so with the hour between my discussion and class, I usually, go to Morrison Library in order to get some quiet reading done. As I passed by Wheeler, I noticed there was a pool of students gathered on the steps of Wheeler and I saw the students who had placed themselves on the top of the building. They had covered the building with writing, protest banners and were shouting from a megaphone. When I passed the sides of the building, I noted that there were still some students in the building. However, my friend from my Decal text me to let me know that Wheeler had been closed down for "health and safety" reasons. I returned to Wheeler and noticed that police were situated outside as well as news camera. In the sky, there were at least 3 helicopters hovering overhead.
I met up with some of the girls from the Decal and we discussed the reasons for all of the madness. It was the student teacher of the Decal that informed me that, the night before, there was more than just a day of action. She showed me a copy of The Daily Californian, which is the independent student paper. On the cover, it hailed the title "Berkeley Joins Nationwide Protests for Public Education". The primary picture was a student being held to the ground by multiple policemen, screaming. She told me that the police had been unlawfully brutal in detaining 17 students who refused to leave Wheeler the night before. They used the plastic wrist restraints which left bruises upon the students. It was horrifying for to imagine that such a thing could happen to students on their own campus. Especially when non-students roam freely on campus, sleeping on benches, handing out papers about the end of the world and juggling tennis balls. And never once have I witnessed any of these people being handled in such an inhumane manner.
While on the outside, I laughed at some of the fact that I couldn't imagine such a thing happening at Spelman, I began to wonder, Why not? Why don't Spelman become so outrageous about the politics of the campus. I initially thought that it is because, Spelman allows it's students the open forum for expressing their thoughts through other means. Town Hall meetings with the Student Government Association; Open Office Hours with President Tatum. If we want to speak to our dean's we simply go into the office and make an appointment. And then, there is the Women's Research and Resource center with professors such as Dr. Kuumba who actually encourage us to be activists, even assisting us in "shaking up the system". Not to say that this is a better aspect of Spelman. More, the sociologist in me just began to wonder, what is the reason?
While watching the protests, I noticed students beginning to yell up into the windows of Wheeler Hall where I noticed a man standing. Apparently, he was trying to speak to the crowd from the window. Using taunts, insults and obscenities, the students encouraged the man to come down and speak into the megaphone. Eventually, he did, reading a statement that basically sympathized with the reasons for the strike. However, he condemned the fact that they chosen a methodology that prevented their fellow students from attending class.
While I agreed with this part of his speech, I began to wonder. There seemed to be no danger that I could tell. The protesters were loud, but the seemed to intend no harm. Was it possible that the school purposely closed the building to maybe turn the students against the protest as an effect of being prevented from attending class? (I must admit, Conspiracy Theory was my favorite movie at the age of 7. Lol. That might have a great deal of effect on the way I think...)
After awhile, I decided to leave the protest, due to the fact that I was slightly offended by some of the actions that students and protestors were being taken (smoking marijuana, threatening to throw objects at the school administrors and yelling obscenities.)
What's uncanny is that, in Politics and Social Change, we have just begun to discuss what factors can lead to a revolution. Although this is not a total revolution, it simply reminded about the concepts. It seems that, for all my years in college, the events that surround me coincide perfectly with the things that I learn about. I feel fortunate for this to be true because, it helps me to apply the concepts to real life experiences. This is probably one of the greatest reasons to be a sociologists. And there are some phenomenal Sociology majors in the world... (Michelle Obama, Gabrielle Union, Shirley Chisholm, and Maxine Waters.)
Everyone is called to do something. Whether is Chemical Engineering, Sociology, Biology, English...
Anyway, other interesting things have taken place as well. For instance, I spent yesterday evening at a friends apartment, trying authentic Korean foods. I had Kimbap (Gimbap), Kim Chi and pork bone soup. All of which were completely wonderful and delicious. I was glad that I finally tried something new, which I am not prone to doing very often. However, lately, I have tried many new things. I have allow California to come in and change things about me. And it's been pretty nice, to step outside of the someone that I thought I knew and get to know some newer things about me.
Until coming to California, I didn't know I had the guts, moxy, courage or fearlessness to hop on a plane and fly across the courtry. But I do and I did.
And, I hope that that courage follows me for the rest of my life. And I hope that it rubs off on others.
Last weekend, I called my mother and we talked about some heart aches that I had been feeling. Following the recent death of one of my Spelman sisters, I had really been shaken inside about what my life is about. Whether I was doing enough with the time that I have on earth. But, my mom reminded me of something that I previously had not thought about. She told me that, when you look back on life, and you share your stories with others, you never really reflect on the moments that made you cry. You thrive on the moments that your triumphed. And those are the parts of the story that influence others. But, I think it's important to fill in those gaps. To let other that look up to you that, there were moments when your cried. There were moments you weren't sure how to go on.
But she also said something to me that made me smile. She told me that one day, I would share my stories with others, and they would look to me the way I look to my professor, Dr. Spence.
One day, maybe I will get the chance to inspire someone else to not only think outsife the box, but live outside of it.
I can hardly believe it's already March. I am at the very middle of the journey, and I am excited to see what the rest of it will hold.

"An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity."- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.