… But you’re not one of us

A lot of people think that being a white female means that I don’t experience the same social issues a person of color, or a trans person, or a bisexual experiences.

And they’re right.  I don’t.  But because I’m aware of that, I work really hard to understand everything that is going on. I actually read the posts on my news feed.  I pay attention to the fact that almost all of my friends identify as something that is considered a minority and isn’t represented in media how it should be.  I don’t always share stuff on Facebook because, while a Facebook post can do a lot, I would rather take the knowledge I have and do something with it: educate the people that I know don’t understand or participate in a rally, etc.  I would rather engage in constructive conversations with people experiencing these things.  I want to be able to ask questions just like people ask of me.  I may be white, but I am poor and I am a female.  So I’m not at the top of the food chain.  Yet, I also know that I’m not considered to be at the bottom.

But it seems that no matter what some one does: how hard they try to support and educate themselves and others; how hard we work to make a change… nothing is quite enough.  Because ultimately… I am not one of them.  Too many conversations I have seen and heard end with that.  “You don’t understand because you aren’t one of us”.

No. I’m not.  But instead of shutting me down, instead of shutting anyone down that’s different than you maybe a take a second and understand that that is the same reason why we have these issues in the first place…?

Food for thought.

Facebook is evolving

Lately I’ve noticed that I see less and less “social” posts on Facebook: pictures of a vacation, embarrassing quotes, etc. and more posts that have a legitimate purpose.  I don’t know if it’s because 90% of my friends are hyper involved in current issues including (but not limited to) politics, representation of people of color, police brutality, LGBTQ, and trans issues.  Almost every single post I see is something related to a current event.  Facebook is becoming a platform for social change.  Maybe it’s just me, maybe everyone else is still seeing the same ol’ same ol’.  But I’m not.  And as depressing as it can get… I like it better this way.

The history we never learned

It was with a Facebook post that I first even heard of the Stonewall Riots.  That was never taught in class.  Nor was I ever taught about the gun restrictions on people of color.  That was something I learned through an MTV article.

These pieces of history I had no idea I didn’t even know.  They were never even mentioned in passing.  I don’t like that.  I don’t like that the school systems have edited out pieces of our history, or if we are going to learn them we have to take a specific course that will take years to become a reality.  You want to learn about the Stonewall Riots?  You have to sign up for “LGBTQ history” and that’s only offered once every two years so you better pray that it fits into your schedule.  And giving something its own course is great and all because it offers more time to learn about that, but then why isn’t it mentioned in the general U.S. history course?  Shouldn’t that be a course that gives you an overview and prompts you to take the specific courses to learn more?

This is not okay.  I understand that there is only so much time to learn in class and there is so much history.  History that grows every second.  But something needs to change.  I want to be educated not just on the whitewash version of history but ALL OF IT.  I want to learn from different perspectives.  I want to learn the big events and the small ones that are too easily forgotten.

It’s time to change how we look at history.

It’s time to change how we teach history.

It’s time to change how we learn history.

What else haven’t I learned?…