Week 9

Vince Olanda

912845780

5/25/17

Week 9

The reading for this week, Building a Culture of Solidarity: Racial Discourse, Black Lives Matter, and Indigenous Social Justice, Santos F. Ramos spoke of a topic in which is really important, but at the same time, is not acted upon. Although each minority group are considered people of color, the unique lifestyles and traditions that each respective group practice create a divide in between them, separating them from each other. This is turn prevents them from unifying and solidifying each individual movement into one powerful one.

This is especially relevant to my life right now. Currently I’m at a leadership retreat where one of the main themes stressed is being cognizant of all the other people of color organizations and the struggles that they go through. Only then will we be able to start understanding each other, and only then will we be able to come together to really make a difference. Institutions have tried to separate us through propaganda, attempting severe the potential ties between us. This is why it is so important to be more educated on this already ambiguous topic.

This reminds me of the Pepsi commercial. Although it was attempting to bring people of color together, it was a complete bust. This just shows how fragile the topic is and how we should be careful about approaching it in the future.

Questions:
What questions can we ask people of color that will not only bring up the fact that we’re separated, but make them willing to do something about it? How do we bring this to light more effectively, while avoiding being so headstrong that it would deter people away.

References:
K. (2017, April 04). Kendall Jenner for PEPSI Commercial. Retrieved May 27, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5Yq1DLSmQ
Ramos, S. F. (2016, April 20). Building a Culture of Solidarity: Racial Discourse, Black Lives Matter, and Indigenous Social Justice. Retrieved from http://enculturation.net/building-a-culture-of-solidarity