Annie Wang Week 6 SS1

The Academic Awakens: "We are One with the Force and the Force is One with Us"

Collective action is inspired, shaped, and sustained through the needs and injustices exposed by trends in personal experiences. Although individual stories comprise the foundations for both recognizing oppression and enacting resistance, a commitment to group solidarity, over our society's tendency to focus on individual celebrity heroism, is necessary to sustain long-term, ongoing change. This is not to say that movements do not have thought leaders and icons, but, as Professors Valverde and Dariotis write, "Not every revolution must involve one person being supported by disposable rebel pilots to destroy a Death Star. We are not asking to be saved or claiming to be saviors but are acting to save ourselves and each other a little bit at a time." In traditional perspectives of power place, one or few people are viewed as the elite top of a pyramid, with the larger cohorts of people lower in the hierarchy being considered less influential, less important. The Fight the Tower movement aims to not only to expose the discriminatory behaviors of those currently in power, but also to challenge this model of power itself. FTT envisions, "a revolution in which our defiance and strength will mirror the warriors that came before us and inspire all those that will follow to establish tangible change. This is a rhizomatic/grass- roots revolution not about replacing white men with women of color at the head of the same failing structure but about decentralizing and democratizing power while redefining what “power” means. 

I have seen this principle in action myself, in my work with PERIOD, an international non-profit destigmatizing, celebrating, and improving access to menstrual hygiene through education, service, and advocacy. We are part of the menstrual movement, a global shift in thought fighting against the taboo that surrounds menstruation-related conversations and the unfair policies around taxing and providing basic period hygiene necessities in public spaces and campuses. PERIOD is one of many non-profits working in a space shared by legislators, educators, healthcare providers, social enterprises, startups and a few long-standing corporations. PERIOD was founded by 2 high schoolers, Nadya Okamoto and Vincent Forand, who were inspired by Nadya's family experiencing a bout of housing insecurity that led to frequent conversations with other women experiencing homelessness, which revealed a pressing need for menstrual products. 

Nadya's narrative and stands at the forefront of PERIOD's work and the national team hustles hard to establish strong partnerships for branding, campaigns, and press coverage. Nadya's story is a testament to how a personal trial can incite empathy, kindness, and a pursuit of justice; she is an incredibly hard-working and dedicated human who I admire very much. However, I think the impact that PERIOD has been able to achieve does not rely solely on its Executive Directors work ethic, but in its "rhizomatic/grass roots structure" that the leadership has built and nurtures. In this structure, local activists proactively start chapters of the organization at campuses, in cities, and in regions. The national team works to provide the resources and information to equip us chapters, enabling us to donate products to shelters, host educational workshops, and both launch customized local campaigns and help power national, organization-wide initiatives. In many cases, like my own, chapter-founders are inspired by their own experiences of lacking access to menstrual necessities. Due to the historical stigma surrounding periods, when these situations occurred - bleeding onto lecture seats, missing class or work from a surprise period, etc. - many people might have been too embarrassed to share them. But as more and more do, we can see the issue of access to pads and tampons more clearly. (If toilet paper and soap are legally mandated in campus bathrooms as a basic human right and means of public health and safety, why not pads and tampons?)

Likewise, the Fight the Tower Movement encourages women of color in academia to reclaim their experiences from the stranglehold of academic rationality and the model minority myth. In these unique testimonies, the overarching patterns of unfair treatment are revealed. As this ASA 2 class wraps up, I leave with a shifted perspective of academia, activism, and "wokeness." I used to think of "being woke," as 1) something of a meme and 2) a title that I did not know enough about social justice to claim. This class has led me to readjust my definition of "woke" as an ongoing perspective shift rather than static achievement, of choosing to face life's situations with a mindset that questions power and biases.

In this university, which serves as a microcosm of society at large, I am grateful to have taken this course this summer.