For this blog entry, I wanted to write about yesterday,
Tuesday. I started the entry last night, but the need for sleep won me over in
the end. I will share a little information about the activities we participated
in and the impact I felt from them. Before I begin, I want to preface that I
use the term “black” as a blanket term for some of the individuals involved in
the experiences. I used this term merely for ease of reading, and I happily recognize
the diversity within that identification.
Yesterday, we began our day with completing the “identitree”
with the ways we identify in certain categories (and we could create our own
categories). For example, one category was race/ethnicity, and I identified
myself as white/Caucasian. Following this, we visited the Stax Museum which was
a celebration of the company that publicized the music of Elvis Presley and
many black musicians. Next, our group visited the Refugee Empowerment Program
whose work involves an afterschool program, including tutoring, for children of
families that are refugees from other countries. We rounded the day off with a “hunger
banquet.” During this banquet, we were unknowingly separated into three groups
which experienced dinner in a different way. One group was given fish, chicken,
and potatoes and were delivered their food in their seats. A second group
received fish and potatoes but needed to seat themselves. The last group, of
which I was part, received only potatoes and sat to eat in an area with no
table. It was a long day, and I want to highlight some experiences I had
connecting the visit to the Stax Museum and the hunger banquet.
In the Stax Museum, blues music was presented to our group
as a highly communal aspect of the black culture during the mid-1900s. I found
it fascinating to read in the museum that part of the motivation for the music
style was to form a bond for those not leaving to the north for better treatment
and opportunities. In this way, many of the involved black musicians poured
their emotions into the lyrics they chose. I hypothesized that because music is
such a powerfully emotional tool, perhaps the music of blues provides a lens
through which to experience a piece of the emotional reality of that time
during hardship. However, later in the day, during the hunger banquet, I wondered
if that activity afforded a way for us to truly speak to how the inequality in
access to food was perpetuated in our real world. Is it our place to say we have
an understanding of these issues simply by listening to the music or participating
in a 30-minute simulation?
Yesterday’s events, as I reflect on them, make me ponder on
the question of how we can advocate for a subset of the population that is
oppressed without being able to experience their hardships. We can listen to
their emotional products, such as music, and participate in simulation
experiences, such as the hunger banquet, but that does not afford us a full understanding
of the day-to-day oppression the real world groups face. I cannot say that I
have an answer, but I do feel confident that part of the solution is trying as
hard as we reasonably can to grasp for an understanding. We do not need to
connect fully to advocate for an oppressed group, but becoming immersed in a
hardship does make advocacy simpler to feel comfortable actively participating
within that realm of oppression.
If a reader of this blog has a better idea as to how
experience of a hardship influences one’s ability to advocate or speak to a
group’s oppression, let me know. I am only now beginning to ask myself how
simulations and windows into emotions impact my ability to advocate. Where do
you feel is the balance?
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