After having watched a talk of Jeff Chang's at Westfield State, I've been left with a need to share my thoughts on his speech and its relation to my life, and school campus.
Reason #1: It Pits us Against Each Other
The America we live in today is filled with a divisiveness that is further exacerbating a serious problem. The climate that surrounds my school, and the majority of the U.S. is one that encourages people to pit themselves against each other. Jeff Chang revisits this idea throughout his entire time at our school and I was easily able to call upon examples of this happening throughout the talk. Chang brought forth the idea of the two versions of America that seem to dominate contemporary narratives. One being the great America that we might lose and the other being an America filled with hope that we can work to create a new and improved nation. These two conflicting narratives are both polar opposites and strongly held on to by their own respective group of supporters. Chang goes on to mention that the people who are most affected by this divisiveness are those who have already been fighting for equity in American society( i.e. people of color and the poor). As I reflected on what Chang was saying, I thought about my campus and its recent history with racial insensitivity. I go to a school that is mostly white and as I walk around campus I oftentimes see that there are cliques that can be categorized by the color of skin. It made me think, " would this school be like this if these white students went to a school that accurately represented Americas racially?" At this moment that question remains unanswered, yet one can imagine that having students who are racially sensitive would eliminate some of the problems.
Reason #2: The Cipher Must be Broken
Jeff Chang brings up the idea that America has historically gone through a cycle that begins with a crisis, which leads to a reaction, which receives backlash, which causes those who are reacting to exhaust themselves in their effort to solve the crisis. This cycle, which is now in its third American rendition still centers around people of different creeds and colors finding differences in each other and focusing their attention on them. things like distrust, divisions, and inequality have become part of our daily lives. Such obsession over these factors blinds us to the fact that we should instead be focusing on bringing each other together. But in order to come together, people in power have to be able to acknowledge that there are in fact blind spots that are holding us back from a more equitable country. In addition , those who are fighting for a more equitable world must move away from the cycle of pain and revenge while at the same time including those that are loved and hated
Reason #3 Acknowledging this Issue will Only Make our Country Greater
The biggest issue that Jeff Chang spoke about was the way in which segregation has seemed to come back again and again. I believe that the reason behind this reoccurrence lies in the narratives being recreated within our nation. We continue to see this pattern where the rich white man has control and directs the flow of narratives that run through the steams of American consciousness. While these issues may be presented as clear as day for many, this resegregation acts as a sort of wall between people who are in different socioeconomic spheres. When there are schools like mine that are majority white, those students are living in a world that does not accurately represent the country that they are living in. Jeff Chang mentions that we are living in a time where America is at its most diverse, and yet, we are also in an age that has people living in degrees of segregation and inequality that this country has never seen. I look at my school and see that people of color like me are a far and few in-between. My school's Council, President, and administrators must acknowledge this fact and fight for a way to get the children from the multiple diverse neighborhoods that surround my school to fill their campus. That way, white students will come face to face with multiculturalism and misrepresented students will have the opportunnity to build themselves up and out of the trenches that they have been undeservingly placed in.
The world we live in today is going through radical degrees of change. The planet is warming, animals that have endured the tests of time are disappearing, and the rich, who have the most control of the world, are disregarding the needs of the foundational social classes that truly make society run smoothly. In order for us to see real change in our world, we must all begin to work with love in our hearts. As Jeff Chang said, "Love is the ultimate form of agency" with love in our hearts, and equity on our minds, we can work to create a space that grants everyone the opportunity they deserve to become their greatest version of themselves.
man running in forestPhoto by 
