Week 14

  I really enjoyed the documentary that we watched in class this week. I got really into watching documentaries on social issues this summer and it's something that I actually might be interested in doing someday. I feel like it's one way to get the general public interested in issues that are not addressed in the 'typical' media. It's actually interesting that we watched a documentary about Angela Davis, because I just found out that she'll be speaking at my undergraduate university (in Wisconsin) on Martin Luther King day! I really wish I could be there on that day, because I think her speaking is so real and inspirational. Ta-Nehisi Coates actually just spoke there as well - it's a shame that all of these amazing speakers are speaking at my undergraduate university this year when I'm not there! I'm in the midst of reading his book "Between the World and Me" which has been so inspiring and eye opening.

   This class has surprised me in a couple of different ways - originally, this was the class I was least looking forward to. I've always been interested in history, but I assumed that this class would be somewhat boring and repetitive. However, I have really enjoyed this class and the discussions we have had, especially in regards to relating history to current social and political issues in America and the rest of the world! This journal project has been especially interesting to me, as it's helped me realize how passionate I am about social work and politics. I've always known that I was passionate about these subjects, but it's been amazing to see my thoughts formed into (hopefully) coherent writings. It's also interesting going back to my earlier posts and seeing how my thoughts have evolved. 

  One more political post to close out this journal. I posted before that my final paper for my racism class is on refugees and asylum-seekers. My mother lives in southern Germany, where many Syrian refugees have settled since the beginning of the conflict in Syria. My mom has recently started to volunteer at a school in Germany that teaches German to refugees recently settled in the area. My mother was a high-school teacher in America, and when she left to move to Germany, she said that she would never be a teacher again. Funny how the world works! She is absolutely loving volunteering at the school and teaching adults beginning German. She has a blog, so I'll link her most recent post about her experiences at the school. http://bhejl.blogspot.de/2015/12/debos-story.html
This post about Debo really helped to inspire me even more to keep doing the work that I'm doing. My mother is very quick to say that she doesn't volunteer because she wants to be noticed for it, but I am so inspired by what she has started to do in her community. She had been wanting to get involved in the community but wasn't sure how - and then a very Islam-phobic facebook post from her brother sprung her into action. She decided then and there to get involved - it was just the little push that she needed.

I am so excited to see what the next year and a half of this program will bring and I'm excited to start my career as a social worker. I have become more and more inspired over this semester and I can't wait to see what else will happen. :)

Week 13

    "The Meaning of Freedom" is such a moving collection of essays and speeches from Angela Davis. There are so many things that I could discuss regarding these essays that it is hard to know where to start. One of the things I like most about reading these speeches was looking at the time period in which she gave them. A majority of speeches towards the end of the book were given around the time of the 2008 presidential election. I especially enjoyed reading her speech titled "Democracy, Social Change, and Civil Engagement" that she gave at Bryn Mawr during Black History Month in 2009, right after Obama had been sworn in. After Obama was elected, it was very common to hear that "we are in a post-racial society" or "the last barrier of racism has been overcome". However, people who say that clearly don't understand the current society that we live in. That is not to say that the election of Obama was not a huge event in America's history, because it was - but that does not mean that all of a sudden all issues regarding race have been resolved and aren't an issue any more. The quote that stood out most to me in this speech was "Racism has not ended because one black man now occupies the highest office of the land, or because one black family is in the White House. As we celebrate their ascendancy, let us not forget the millions of families that have been disrupted because of the institutional racism that structures the criminal justice system.

It's also very interesting that in this speech, Angela Davis discusses the anti-Islamic rhetoric and racism, based on the many issues that we are having today with the same problem. Again, this was in 2009. If this was such a big issue that she could identify 6 years ago, why has nothing changed? Moreover, why have these issues gotten worse in our society? It is concerning to me that, as a society, we seem unable to address these issues of racism in a way that enacts change. I know that systematic change seems to take a long time, but does it have to?

  I have always been interested in doing clinical work with patients, but the more systematic social issues that I read and learn about, the more part of me thinks that I might want to be involved in macro-level social work by helping to change policies and so on. It's hard for me, however, to completely change my frame of mind for what I envisioned in my future. For better or for worse, this book confused me more regarding my future, because I can see all these huge issues that I can't completely address on a societal level as a clinical social worker.