Don't ever listen to "Shut up and focus on the good"



Don't ever listen to "Shut up and focus on the good" or believe that "a piece of paper (or a title) make someone else worth more than you." I'm so thankful for my graduate education that intellectually informed me about social justice and the Baltimore experience that opened my eyes to real injustice.
Thanks to my Northern friends that helped this polite, respectful Southern girl understand that peacemaking and blind adherence to authority may not be the female voice I want to have in this world.

I lived in Athens and mentored at Alps elementary and took classes on diversity...I didn't get it. I learned a little more at GA state in Atlanta when I interned at Radloff middle (a predominately minority school)...I didn't get it. I transcribed countless hours of social justice interviews as a research assistant in Buffalo...I didn't get it. I had countless conversations with other academics who challenged me on my white privilege...I didn't get it. I heard of a white friend getting beaten up by a police officer after simply asking for a police officer's badge number when they witnessed mistreatment of a person of color...that hit closer to home...and I started to get it. I heard countless stories over the years of hateful language, discrimination, and mistreatment of clients (not the Stereotypical "gangsters" most of you see on the Atlanta news)...and I got it - finally. I became a mother and had conversations with my friends of color about fears for their kids that I don't even have to think about...I got it like never before. I recognized that oppression and privilege do exist and I can't unsee that...I'm just sad others can't and probably won't ever see it.

And if you don't understand anything mentioned in this blog, just ask yourself "if Obama had 5 kids by 3 different wives, would he have a snowballs chance in hell of being our president?" Now examine who you're planning to vote for ~ I'll let you ponder that...and tell me again how our society doesn't discriminate.

‪#‎socialjusticematters

The article that got me thinking about these issues: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/yareliz-elena-mendezzamora/surviving-higher-educatio_b_11297596.html?utm_hp_ref=latino-voices&ir=Latino+Voices 

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