Activism

If All Your Friends Jumped Off A Bridge…

ryan-lange-552049-unsplash.jpgFirst things first, my new post is up on Her Campus so click here to check it out, it’s a bit of a follow up to my last blog post— it gets a little personal but that’s why it’s important.

Anyway, happy Friday everyone! It’s been a long week. I was reading some sonnets for homework the other day when this phrase popped into my head for no reason, that one parents like to use as almost a guilt trip: “if all your friends jumped…” I’m sure you know the rest, right? Back in my day, if I ever wanted to skip homework because no one else did it anyway or ask for a pair of shoes cause everyone else had them, my mom would ask me that question. There was really no disputing it at that point.

It’s like trying to argue with “because I said so.”

I mean, if everyone believes in something or just because they are doing something, does that mean we should do the same?

After an intense weekend of studying and protesting and more orientation WOW training shaped in light of recent events, things on this campus feel very different than when we left for spring break almost a month ago. To be honest, that still seems weird to say when the truth of the matter and this campus hasn’t really changed at all; only our awareness has.

Like I said, once the glass breaks, there’s no going back. I’ve just never really felt it break like this on such a large scale.

With the Greek system shut down until who knows when and racist flyers appearing in several buildings on campus among other things, no one here is in a good place right now because none of us have any idea what happens next. aaron-burden-523450-unsplash.jpgThis entire thing isn’t even about political views or whether or not racism is wrong— I think we’ve established at this point that it is and always will be— this is a bigger problem than Greeks, or Cal Poly, or education…

So what is the problem?

Well, if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too? Sometimes people get caught up in a movement or attend a school that they are inherently a part of, whether they agree with every aspect of it or not. Take our fraternity and sorority life on campus— just because they’re all a part of the same system that allowed for many of these problems to occur, is every person involved with Greek organizations at fault? Similarly, if people are part of a movement or an ideal that they support and one person in that movement does something wrong, then it’s a question of culpability by association.

When I protested on Friday with everyone, I can tell you I did not believe in every chant we yelled or action we took. I was there for the ideals we stood for and the solidarity we were aiming to display, but not every movement is perfect and everything in these past few weeks have been far from it.

Yet I stood with them even when I disagreed with a chant because I did agree with the principle; maybe that puts me at fault, I really don’t know. But if something is wrong and you see it’s wrong— I’m not talking opinions but blatant acts against simple alex-blajan-240201-unsplashhumanitarian values like telling people to go kill themselves or saying one race is worth less than another— someone has to speak up whether they’re a close friend, as difficult as that can be, or not. And if you’re a part of something that seems to be going in the wrong direction, maybe it’s best to get out of it. Sort of like how if the weekends protests turned violent or attacked people rather than ideologies, I would not have stuck around.

You can’t let people jump off a bridge knowing it will help no one and hurt a lot of people in the process.  

But how to fix the inherent discrimination or the inequity in the American education system, let alone the US as a whole? I have no idea. To me it sort of feels like we’re all lined up to take that jump, it’s just that certain kinds of people are in the front of that line and those in the back aren’t doing anything to try to change that.

These past few weeks have made me more aware of how close the issues, the ones that I’ve learned so much about in my lifetime, really are. If I thought I was personally easy to spot before, imagine things now when people almost seem to be consciously looking for the black person in the room. No one around me is comfortable around campus right now, especially my minority friends here, and that’s if they were ever somewhat comfortable before. Everyone is upset, from the Greek students who just paid dues to the faculty trying to remind us that midterms have already started, not to mention countless incoming students in the class of 2022 and that have officially decided not to come here at all.

Right now no one is winning, not really. It’s just a whole lot of hate anhannah-troupe-367604-unsplash.jpgd blame and discord spreading through the campus like wildfire. That fire keeps changing direction, as a policy changes here or someone says something problematic on social media there, but it doesn’t burn out. It never fades.

I’m just wondering what comes next, how any of this can be amended on a larger scale unless we have everyone trying to work toward the same solution. Are we going to follow everyone else and still find no solutions… Do we jump? Because as with all things in an agitated state, I question how long Cal Poly can last like this before we are either overtaken by the flames or we burn out instead.

Enough is Enough Cal Poly

zachary-nelson-192289A week ago, I was getting ready to take part in one of Cal Poly’s best events all year: PolyCultural Weekend. As a weekend for cultural clubs to invite prospective students to stay with us and spend the weekend on campus, learning about the culture and diversity we do have to offer as a school, it was incredible.

This year, not only did I get to host for the first time with two wonderful hostees, but I also got to participate in the dance performance for the Black Student Union; if I may say so myself, it was fantastic. So many people put months, even a year of work into this one weekend, and it went off without a hitch.

Or at least it would have.

All three days held so much spirit and energy and pride for the homes all of us have found at Cal Poly through our cultural organizations, last weekend I felt secure in telling my hostees and so many others that they would be safe here— Cal Poly can be a home for them.

Before my hostees even walked off this campus, I was proven wrong.

Too many times this week have I heard: there is a time and place for everything… In spite of the news stories like the New York Times or the Washington Post, Cal Poly has added quite a bit to its reputation just this week regarding just what kind of place it is.

In light of a fraternity student going in blackface to a party among others in his company mocking Latino culture or immigration and several stereotypesjames-motter-516818-unsplash including that of a “gangster” or a “cholo”, I have a hard time supporting a University that will not support its students of color. Did you know that this school was ranked top 7 in worst institutions for “in fostering Latino student success.” That statement is an excuse to brush off clear racism, to avoid the discomfort of acknowledging the struggle minority students go through, especially at a place like Cal Poly.

In saying there is a time and place for everything, does this mean there is there a time and place for racism too?

If there is one thing I know, it is that every minority here has felt the eyes of our peers this week and the lack of diversity has never been more obvious. Instances like this only turn more attention toward us and there is nothing we can do but take it and try to make it into something more productive. Yet some of us have kept our heads down all week, ashamed of our campus or the attention, and more importantly, insecure in the skin we carry ourselves in because of we know people use it as an excuse to be inhumane.

We are tired.

During an emergency Town Hall Meeting on Monday night, I sat in a room filled with both people of color and caucasian allies that were all there for the same reasons— to speak out against these actions on our campus and stand in solidarity with one another. In that room, many of my fellow black students spoke out, saying that this place never felt like a home until we found a home in each other. We shouldn’t be the only ones supporting one another. The lack of support from administration, our President Jeffrey Armstrong, and even African American staff members that leave the school within a year of coming here is not sufficient for us.

It is not enough.

jeronimo-bernot-259463-unsplashThis morning, I participated in a protest with 300 other students from both of Cal Poly and other institutions— including high schoolers— during the first day of our open house weekend when prospective students come to Cal Poly and truly take a look at the campus they might decide to spend the next 4 (maybe 5) years on. We spent several hours marching around campus to let people know that the way we have been treated, that this school is a good one, but it has a lot of problems and we will not be quiet any longer. Last weekend’s incident is one among too many others regarding racism on this campus and we are done with turning the other cheek.

We are tired.

I am one of approximately 166 black students on this campus.

  1. Among at least 21,000 students.

And yet this school doesn’t seem to be making enough progress as a whole to show they care about changing those numbers. We don’t feel safe here, not even when I watched our president go up on stage during Polycultural weekend and tell all the prospective students that he wants us here— that he “supports his people of color.”

Does supporting our people of color include protecting the black student who was walking to an interview only a few hours ago when someone spit at her and threw the n-word in her face? Is this okay to have to hear on a school campus that claims to be better than racism: “Tell you and your n*gger friends to go back to Africa and stop protesting at my school.”

We are tired.

Of the racism, the unequal treatment, the discomfort, the dismissal of hard topics— what about a hard existence on a campus like Cal Poly?

I’ve spent the week trying to figure out how much I wanted to get into the protests and the marches and the rallying against something like this, but I have no choice but to speak up— if we don’t speak up for ourselves, who else will? Because every day I thought I would feel a little better or a little safer and dawid-zawila-279998instead I am just getting angrier and more frustrated with how little power it feels like we have over what happens to us here. Our voices are all we have.

So this is me speaking up, in a way that I believe I need to. I am taking action in my life to change things here at Cal Poly, through Greek Life, BSU, and even being an orientation WOW leader specifically for cultural students.

This reality, lacking color or for many students feeling proud of what we’re doing or where we go, is not okay and I am making steps toward the change I want to see. So what are you going to do?

Cal Poly, what will you do?