Below, you will see the response papers written by social change students during the Spring 2020 semester. In this post I will outline what I did to prepare for the event, and how that differed from the past.
March Forth 2020 was a great success. The big difference this year was the formal use of chanting. I produced a generic list of chants, and then asked them to plug in their issues. I then produced a list of chants, which included 3-5 chants for each student's cause. I handed out the chant list to all the students on the day of the protest, and then during the protest, we did a call and response. We chanted through almost all of the protest, which was the perfect amount of time to get through chants for each student's cause. In the end, we had a little more space to walk and didn't have any chants so I just made up a few on the spot, and the group responded nicely -- "whose streets" I would yell, and the crowd, now in the Social Science quad, would respond loudly in unison "our streets". I would then chant, "what power?" and the group screamed back "protest power". We did this a few times until we returned back to the Free Speech area. I think the chants were an important part of the energy and I can't believe we never formalized chanting in the past. One mistake I made is not spending a few minutes asking people to talk to other protesters and onlookers around the free speech area. We had a few minutes at the end or beginning where people could have spent time to learn about each other's causes. I typically remember to create space for that interaction, but I guess I just forgot this time. I also wanted to make sure everyone could make it to their next class with no problem. This crowd of protesters is about normal, I would say, which is surprising somewhat, given the lack of involvement of other student groups and other community groups. Usually we reach out to student and community groups and secure some of their involvement. That typically happened through my involvement as adviser of the sociology club. That adviser status also allowed me to easily book the free speech area, as well as table and chairs for community groups and student groups to do tabling before and after the march. I'm not sure about why the group was large despite the lack of outside involvement. There are two differences -- I gave extra credit to students in my other classes, and I gave extra credit for students in the social change class to bring up to two friends with them to the protest. I also sent a message to the sociology listserv inviting everyone to the protest, placed sign-making materials in the sociology office, and students included advertising for the event on all their flyers. I created a packet of flyers that included one flyer for each class member. Each student was responsible for distributing all 35 flyers (one for each classmate). In the past we did flyers, but not the packet. In the past, we did flyers and chalking but it did not include advertising for the event. In the past, we used the listserve to announce the event, but we didn't provide sign-making materials in the department office. In the past, I did give extra credit to students in my other classes, but I did not give extra credit to students in the sponsoring class to bring friends with them. Generally, all the changes, I think were positive. Getting more student groups and community groups involved will be a goal for next time, or for when I teach the social movements class. In the social movements class, I typically have students create mini social movement groups, with formal positions, etc., and ask them to connect with similar community groups, thereby students recruit the community groups. I've even had the students in the social movements class start student clubs and apply for funds. I don't think any of those clubs persisted, but they could have. The social change class that led the protest this year was not given the opportunity to create movement groups or connect with the community, because social movements are just a small part of social change, I don't feel its right to spend most of the semester on that type of project. We did everything in just a few weeks. We started with students picking a cause and doing some freewriting about that cause. Then I asked them to look up a slogan and some statistics about their cause and bring it to class the next day. I sent them out to chalk campus with these stats, slogans, along with an advertisement about the March Forth event. For the next class periods, I asked them to produce a collective action frame and a flyer. On the last class period before the protest, I gave them instructions about what to expect -- emphasizing that this should be fun way to gain attention for your cause -- and then told them the importance of choosing a simple two or 3 word slogan for their sign (So it could be seen) and then spent the whole class period making signs. This year I did not book the free speech area and I did not know if the area would be packed with others. Thankfully there was no smog-belching bus or other groups using the area. I brought all the signs with me and students picked up their signed and talked to others. This was the informal time for discussion. I hope people talked about their issues. I assembled the group for a picture, gave a quick speech about the importance of protest for democracy, and reminded them to not disrupt classes, carefully cross roadways, and be safe . . .and away we went . . .
Thursday, March 26, 2020
March Forth Student Responses - Social Change (Soc 157)
Response Essays after participating in March Forth
These are the different submissions by students in the 2020
social change class. Each new paragraph is a new student submission.
In planning for this event I looked up slogans and chants as
well as making up some of my own that’s went along with my topic. We also made
posters/signs to use for when we protested. This protest showed me that there
are many people who feel the same way about being pro-choice & women’s
rights as I do. As well as showing me that when people who feel the same come
together we can get a lot of attention. Walking around I noticed we drew a lot
of eye to us which is exactly what we were all aiming for. When people notice
you they’re also noticing your cause/ your poster. Something that I did learn
about protesting that I know not to do for next time is to wear shoes that cover
my foot completely because it left a bad tan. Another thing I wish I would have
done differently is to make a poster that stood out more. Since there were many
posters I feel like mind got lost in the mix.
Protest Summary
To be able to have the
opportunity to part take in the protest assignment was very
interesting, fun, and
exciting to me. Seeing my classmates and I come together as one and to able to speak out to make a
difference, and to have our voices be heard brought joy to my mind. It was satisfying to listen
to us chant and see us walk together as a group. What I did to plan for the event was make my
protest sign two days before the event in class, which I thought was fun and helpful that
everything was provided for us. On the day of the event, I made sure to wear
comfortable clothes and
my walking shoes, which was helpful. When I arrived at our meeting spot, I enjoyed seeing
everyone’s signs out on the walls. I also appreciated that people took pictures of us, it made
me feel like we were being recognized. When we started out the march, I was shy to shout for my
cause because everyone else around me was quiet, and probably feeling the same way that I
felt. Another reason why I was shy to shout was that it was hard to follow the chants on the paper, and
I could not hear what chants were being called out. However, halfway through I was catching
on, and by the end, I was more comfortable and able to hear the shorter chants, and I was not
ready for our walk to end, I wanted to continue chanting for our causes. During our walk, it was
nice to hear positive feedback from others by simply saying, “We are awesome,” “We rock,” and
“We are cool,” and even hearing the cars honk made me feel proud.
It was rewarding to hear all the positive feedback, even despite
the one negative comment. What I learned about the
protest for social changes was that for us to make a difference or for our voices to be heard, we
must come together as one and stand tall and proud no matter what negative comments we
hear or receive. This protest showed me that we do have rights, and maybe sometimes we
forget that, and protesting can really remind us that we do have a voice, and we must come
together to make our voices strong. What I plan to take with me in my future
from this protest is to use my voice, stand tall, be positive, and
come together as one.
This experience was something I never imagined doing because I have always been terribly shy. I was actually super nervous about it because I pictured campus full and everyone staring or saying comments but it was not too busy during the time we were out there. I chose rent control because I do believe that there is a domino effect, rent spikes and people cannot afford to live comfortably and then they live in poverty or even lose their homes and become homeless, which is another epidemic in Fresno. Fortunately for myself and my parents, we have always been able to live decent and in nice areas as well as homes that fit to the size of our family. But I chose to speak for others, for those who have lost their homes or at risk of doing so. I feel it is important to care about issues and have empathy for others situations, even if they do not effect you first hand because we are all human and anything could happen later in life. In preparing for this event, my and my boyfriend bought crafting supplies and made four different signs, all unique and colorful to attract attention of by standers. I also had to be up early and pack all my signs up as well as meet up with my recruits to give them their posters. I had such a busy morning that day preparing everything and making sure my glitter was dry on all my signs. I made sure i was prepared by wearing tennis shoes and even took a satchel with a water bottle because the weather was warm. Overall, I truly enoyed this experience with my classmates and was happy to have included some of the closest people to me in this event. One thing that I realized from this is that you do not have to get rowdy in order to be heard or known. We marched peacefully and proactively. Another thing I will take with me is that you can march along side others even if you all have different points to get across, unity is the important part of it all.
Overall,
on the day of the protest I tried to put on comfortable clothes and shoes
because I didn't know what to expect for that day. It was my first protest of
any type and I was excited, that morning I also decided to eat something
healthy that could give me energy, to which I normally don't do. The protest to
me started to become in a sense "something
real", when I started to see all my peers showing up at the free speech
area to do the walk around the school holding their protest signs. I felt like
I was not participating in a mock protest. I felt like I was belonging to a
group that shared a common cause but of wanting change through protest. The
feeling that I felt was of adrenaline because I felt hyped up once the class
started to march and protest. At the begging of the march some classmates and I
were at the front of the protest which made me feel kind of important because
people would watch us first and I felt the urge of wanting to chant even
louder. I feel that when people see protest marching they know they are
protesting for a cause and I hope that even though it was a mock protest my
slogan for my poster caught attention because it is something important to me.
What I learned about protesting is that it is time consuming and it involves
organization in order to organize either a small or large protest depending on
the group size and the cause. An important key factor on protesting is that we
want to be loud and try to get as much attention as possible. The social change
that I will take with me is that in order to be heard I have to speak up and
stand for what I believe and want.
This was my first experience every
participating in a protest. I planned by preparing my poster in big bold
letters so that it could be easily seen from far away. I also did alot of
research on human trafficking in case somebody wanted to strike up a
conversation with me regarding my sign, and to give them as much information as
possible about the cause I was protesting for. I even had the number written
down for a human trafficking hotline if they wanted to learn more themselves,
and if they ever needed to report a specific situation they would be able to
contact somebody immediately. This event was very meaningful because although I
was nervous at first to participate and attract attention, having everybody in
class participate and chant at once made the experience much more enjoyable. I
felt like I was part of something bigger than myself, and it was really
inspiring to see everybody so passionate about their topic and to learn more
about other topics as well, such as migrant camps and the abuses they face and
climate change activists who made creative signs. Hearing the chants was also
really inspiring, to explain the issue in an easy way and clearly state it in a
chant that everybody could yell together. The group aspect was what really made
me feel like I was in a comfortable, safe environment. I learned so much about
social change and got so many questions from people that I know asking what I
was doing and what class it was for. It was such an interesting lesson, and is
the perfect example of how hands on learning can be so much more effective than
learning something from a textbook. I will take away so much from this
experience, and I truly felt the power and privledge of having a voice and how
it is a right that has made so much progress in this country. If people do not
band together and use their voice, how should we expect to get anything done?
This experience made me realize that I really enjoy protesting and the power
that it has to create change, and I definitely think I am going to be more
involved in my community and actively participate in protests.
My experience of the March forth on March
fourth event was great. It was my first protest that I had ever been a apart of
and it was the first time I made a sign that said what I believe in towards
immigration. I knew it would be a hot day and I wanted to be fully involved so
I made sure to wear comfortable clothes and leave my personal belonging in my
car. I wanted people to know about the event and he aware of the different
causes we were marching for so the night before I handed out flyers as well as
posted some in some of the buildings like the social science, library, and food
sciences buildings. I knew that posting the flyers the day of as well as the
day before would get people wondering what they were for and where they were
coming from whether they agreed with them or not. It meant a lot to me that
students on campus were video taping and taking pictures of us with our signs
because it gave me hope that other students have the same views and that we
could possibly make a difference in the future. Protesting was definitely
something new but something that I would like to do again. It gives a sense of empowerment
to let everyone around you know what you believe in and that you will stand for
that cause. I also was so happy to see that a lot of my classmates had great
views and similar ones to mine too. In the future I would like to attend
another protest at school because I think we have a lot of influence to the
community since we are university students as well as the future of this
country. I had a good friend of mine from my hometown attend this event for me
not only for the cause but to also help me out with extra credit.
As soon as we discussed the protest in class, I
already knew what cause I wanted to support. I chose to support pro-choice
because I’ve felt strongly about it for a long time. While we were making our
signs in class, I was kind of nervous that I wouldn’t find anyone with the same
cause, so I kept to myself during class. Each day leading up to the protest, I
became more and more nervous. I wasn’t sure why at first, but I think it was
because I was scared of confrontation. When I got to the free speech area on
the day of the protest, I wasn’t as nervous as I was the night before; I was
more anxious than anything else. As soon as the protest started, my anxiousness
went away because I found a few more students who supported the same cause.
Walking with those students made me more comfortable to be loud during the
protest. I also got more comfortable when people honked as we walked down Shaw
and when people stopped to talk to us. At the end of the protest, I felt like I
did something to help my cause. Even though it was only on campus, I felt like
I was able to spread my message. Doing the protest made me want to be more
vocal about my cause and other causes I believe in; I also want to participate
in more protests someday.
Overall my experience went amazing. This was
the first time I've ever done a march/protest and I'm glad this class gave us
the opportunity to do so. Although, it was something for credit I
actually wanted to take place. I wasn't scared, nervous, embarrassed. I was
ready to start raising my voice and have people notice us and what we were
doing. The day of the march I actually wasn't anxious. I was ready to do this
not only to see how it is but to let people know this is what we can do when we
don't agree with a certain policy or what's going on in our society. I also had
to finish my poster so I woke up a little earlier to make sure it looked the
way I wanted it to. What I do regret is not bringing something to be louder. I
thought maybe someone else would bring something but that's what i get for
relying on others. I would've brought bangers or a speaker to play some music.
However, our voice was loud because while walking down shaw many cars started
honking at us to show they supported us. Not only did it show us they cared but
it brought attention to other cars that might not have seen us. That just made
me feel that much better about what we were doing because it wasn't just us
that believes in these issues it's much of society. Also, when we were walking
through campus other students would shout and get us high fives. Funny enough
we only had one bad comment and that was someone in the student dorms being
closed minded. Throughout our entire march overall we all had great experiences
because we were all there for our own cause. Which made it a little more
enjoyable because we were given the choice to pick what we wanted to protest
about. It just wasn't one issue, it was a handful of them. I really can't wait
to do something like this again! We have the right to have our voices heard.!
I
have done and been a part of several protest before, the main two were the Farm
Workers Rights and Pro-life/Pro-choice protest. I even have plans to go to one
later this month (March 19th) in Sacramento to ask the capital to help provide
more funding for community colleges. With that said, I am no stranger to
chanting, holding up signs or receiving criticism from people that have
opposing views. This experience however, has been different from my prior
experiences in the sense that this took place at school rather than outside a
building or marching downtown. Another thing that was different was that this
time there were many different causes that people were protesting for rather
than just one cause. I was happy to see how many causes people came up with and
how we all bonded together to march as one.
In
every protest, you will hear negative comments and an occasional curse word but
for this march, we got a lot of positive responses and feedback from both
students and staff as well as people from the community. The only negative
comment we received came from a lady that lived in the dorms. Perhaps she was
trying to sleep, had a bad day or flat out disliked us but this is why it is
important to fight back or argue but instead show people kindness since you
never know what is going on in their head. The proper way to respond is to be
kind and show love like how one of our classmates did when that happened. My
favorite part of this whole experience would be the sign making part because in
every protest I have been to already had premade signs. It was always what
other people have written and their words, not mine. So by making my own sign I
was able to say what I wanted to and that felt amazing.
My
experience for the march was a very positive one. To prepare for the march,
I did take my sign home because I did not finish both sides or staple it during
class time. So before the march I had outlined my sign on both sides with
pencil and then traced it with markers to make sure it was legible and in big
letters. The staple gun had run out of staples so I went to Walmart and
bought two different types of staples and then watched a few youtube videos on
how to put them in. I was not able to put them in, even with the help of
my boyfriend. The next day I remembered that one of my classes was cancelled
that was during your office hours and decided I would go during your office
hours to get help in stapling the sign so I would be ready to go by the time we
had to meet at the free speech platform. I also passed out the flyers of
all my classmates to people I walked past on my way to my car after that class.
I also prepared the day of the march by wearing comfortable clothing and
comfortable shoes, bringing a clip to put my hair back since it was going to be
hot and also bringing sunglasses.
This event was
honestly really eye opening, I felt like a stronger voice when we were all
together saying the chants and we were all on the same page of protesting
important issues, compared to if I was out there protesting myself on one
issue. It was fun overall too because I have made a friend with Alondra
in class and we marched side by side with each other and encouraged each other
to scream the shouts. If I had walked by myself and not made a friend in class,
I most likely would not have felt comfortable to shout the chants, even in a
big crowd.
What I took away
with me through this march was the power of unity and the power of
prepping. Passing out the flyers and writing the chalk, I felt like it
kind of in a way prepped me mentality that I was going to be taking a stand on
my issue and be vocal about it. Seeing people stop and ask us what we
were doing, taking pictures of us and honking when they saw our signs; it was
really encouraging and showed me that people do take notice when people are
gathered together doing something bigger than themselves and are united in
issues. I think the march was organized very clearly and we used our
resources of using our class time effectively, having signs with the wooden
stakes so we could be seen from far and from the streets with passing cars and
marching on campus is a prime location for a march to get others to join.
I will keep that in mind for the future if I do get involved with future
marches.
On march fourth, we marched forth to represent
our causes on campus. On this day I represented national clean up day. What I
did to prepare myself for this day was to make a sign and do some chants to
make people notice it. Going into it I didn’t think people would actually care
about what we were saying and just stand there and look at us like why are
these people causally walking around with these signs and saying random
stuff.The longer we were out there for the more confident that I got into what
I was protesting for. We got honks, people were saying the chants with us,
noticed people had smiles on their faces because we had a specific movement
that they also cared about. This all felt pretty good to me because as a
collective group we made people notice us and stand by us for what we were
doing and not look at us as if we were some out of place people. There were
some people that didn’t agree with what were doing as we were walking, but that
a small amount compared to the larger about of people that had our backs. What
I learned from this protest and social change is that you can never be shy or
afraid of something that you truly care about and should go ahead and make your
voice heard because majority of the time you’ll have people that will back your
opinion and will join you. This protest around campus gave me a lot of insight
on how powerful a group of people with a social movement could. This was a
overall great experience and would love to try to be apart of another protest
in the future they are very fun and powerful. protest are something you got to
experience hands on to understand.
The week leading up to the event "March Forth on March
Fourth," was spent collectively coming up with different topics each
person could protest. This was one of the more difficult aspects for me because
there are so many things I am passionate about. I decided to protest on Mass
Incarceration because the problem was truly brought to my eyes when I took a
class at a different university with a professor who had formerly been
incarcerated. He really made me critically think as a student about how and why
this problem has become the issue it is today. Once I made the decision that
was going to be my topic, the rest was much easier and a lot of fun. I have
been to a few protests in the past so it was a setup I was familiar with. I
love making the posters and coming up with catchphrases or eye-catching
graphics so it was really cool to be able to do something like this for a grade
in our class. The day of the protest was a little nerve-racking because I have
never been a part of a protest on campus, especially on a campus like Fresno
State where there is a large portion of more conservative people. The beginning
of the protest was a little awkward and it seemed like everyone was a little
afraid of going all out, but by the end, everyone was yelling and having a good
time. While we were walking around campus, the overwhelming majority of people
who walked past were supportive and cheered on all our causes, but there were
at least two individuals I encountered who were not happy with our protest.
When we walked through the University High School and walked past the dorms we
had a little backlash, but everyone was so into at that point we just kept
going. It was an extremely interesting dynamic for me because I was at the
protest alone but it didn't feel like that once we started going and walking
around. It ended feeling like we were one cohesive group all supporting each
other and each other's causes. I learned that groups become closer when
protesting and fighting for social change together. To a certain degree, you
have to be vulnerable enough to be loud and fight for what you believe in so
when everyone is going through that together, I can see how these social
movements gain the strength and power needed to create change because it
emotionally affects the people who are in it.
For planning, I invited my significant other
to the protest but unfortunately, he could not make it due to work. Then, I passed some of the protest flyers to my fellow classmates during my night class. I also passed some flyers at work. They all asked, “What is this?” I explained, “It’s for
my social change class. We are having a protest during class, it’s part of a class
assignment, and if I take people to the protest, I get extra credit.” This protest was
not my first protest to attend nor my first experience at protesting. My first
experience protesting was in high school, back in 2005 when fellow classmates
were doing walk-outs to protest against I.C.E raids and deportation.
Anyways, I did not expect it was going to be that hot, but it was. So, I did not prepare myself for the
weather. I did not bring with me any water, a cap, or sunglasses even though it sure
would have helped a lot. Before the protest, professor Kubal went over some rules, specifically safety rules. Then, he took a picture of all of
us with our signs. My protest sign read, “Free health care 4 all! And, the greatest wealth is
health.” As we began our protest, I remember being all the way in the back and it was hard to hear Kubal. So, I cached up in order to hear better. There was a police car
parked by the Joyal Administration building- on Maple Ave and Matoian Way. We gathered around the police car
and Kubal took another picture of us with our signs, then he said, “Police officers love protests.” We continue with our
walk through the University High School, then cut through P1 parking lot and
onto Shaw Ave. A few cars driving down Shaw Ave honked in support of our protest, and that made us respond with
a happy cheer. I personally, waved my sign up and down to respond to the cars that were honking. Then we walked through the
dorms, and someone from the dorms yelled, “Shut the **** #p.” A few people replied to that person with comments like,
“No.” I learned that it is possible to have peaceful protests. Protests need to react to
certain situations in positive ways. Other people (the cons) are going to be negative and rude by acting
in a provocative way, protesters need to work around them in order to get their message
sent. I learned that motivation and participation are key factors to a protest. Protestors need motivation in
order to get their cause/message across other people. The participation of
protestors, the participation of media, and the participation of leaders all play a role in
protests. The role is to get the message across society. Overall, my
experience from the protest was good, even though the weather did not help as
much because it was hot.
The experience from the protest was great because the amount
of pride, enthusiasm, and energy that the class had. In the beginning most of
the class skeptical on why we were protesting or if there was a certain topic
that the whole class had to have a consensus on. As the class went through the
process and had a better comprehension on what was going to happen during the
protest. The guidelines were set that we had to choose a topic that we felt was
important to us. One we all had a topic we had to do some research to which we
created flyers so post around campus and hand out to the public. Moreover, we
had wrote with chalk around at different places around the university with
different topics and the date of the event, giving the student and staff time
to prepare if they were willing to join us. Following the chalk, we created
posters with a slogan that will captivate people’s attention. Moreover, we did
research to inform people about our cause even if some had disagreements
towards the topic that we choose. Once all was complete, we gathered at the
Fresno State Free Speech area with our signs and chants in hand that were
provide by the professor. Once we were all ready, we proceeded to start walking
toward the middle of campus say our chants past the water fountain. One thing I
found amusing is that many people that were not in the march stopped either
gave odd looks ,take pictures , or question some of our peers which was very
amusing because I would think that people would just walk by and not care but
it was the complete opposite where many were very interested and glad that we
were expressing ourselves. As we started many peers were quite or embarrassed
but as we walked, they got more comfortable and were getting louder. As we
walked, I felt the same way I was uncomfortable but knowing that I wasn’t alone
gave me a bit more confidence. Over all the march experience was great because
it made me get out of my comfort zone and made me think that marching is not bad
and made me want to find a group that I can march as well as be more involved
in the community.
For the protest I posted on my social media to get the word
out about the protest. I also handed the flyers out that where given to us in
class; to classmates in my other classes. I had not been to a protest so I did
not know what to expect at the beginning. As we started walking around and
protesting for a cause we believed in; it felt good to be doing it for a good
cause. It was a great experience over all. We were encouraged by bystanders and
well there where some that did not agree with some of our posters. But overall
the experience was a great one.
To
summarize my experience with the protest I would say it was a little
uncomfortable for me at first. I did not get my sign because I showed up after
they were already passed out and when the march started, I reverted to trying
to blend in the middle of everyone in order to not stand out or be seen. I did
do a few of the chants but I did not have the chant list so I was lost for a
majority of them. I was most uncomfortable when bystanders at the beginning of
the march were taking photos and videos of us and I really did not want to be
part of that. The turning point of my comfort-ability started when we cleared the
main campus way and posed by the police car. That kinda gave this protest a
little bit more chill and fun vibe. As we passed the high school and started on
the busy Shaw sidewalk, cars honked their encouragement and people walking to
their cars in the parking lot shouted their excitement. The protest ended by
the social sciences building where we chanted our final statements through an
aisle of confused students that gave little feedback, which was pretty contrary
to what we had seen the whole rest of the march, making it kind of awkward.
To prepare for the event I created a sign that read "No BHT
If The Data Is Absentee![.]" I also tried to dress as cool as I could
because I did not want to be burning up during our march. The meaning of the protest to me is is the learn experience it
gave me. I would probably never have attended a protest in my life, surely
never before this, but it showed me the power of unity and what that holds. If
I had just started marching and chanting alone around school for the assignment,
then people would probably think I was crazy, but since it was around 50 of us,
all marching and chanting together, it made the protest seem real and brought
it to life. Overall, I am
happy we had the protest. This is not something that a student would do in
almost any other class and that is what made it such a unique experience. I do
not necessarily see myself doing any protest in the future but it has given me
a newfound respect for those that do exercise their right to protest.
This by far as being one of the most, scariest but realist
things I've ever been a part of. I never really saw myself or imagined being
part of a protest. Well at first I wasn't so sure about doing it but after
doing so I actually think it was one of the coolest things I've been a part of.
being able to see other people's reaction whether it was positive or negative
was amazing. people supported us when we began the protest. people honking at
us, teachers stopping to thank us and ask us why we were doing it. everything
felt good. it's always good to go out of your comfort zone and I can honestly
say this was one of them. Would I do it again? I most certainly would do it
again. I felt embarrassed at first if I'm being quite honest. thinking
people were going to judge or make fun of me for doing something like this on
campus, but after the first 5 minutes I realized this was bigger than someone's
opinion, this protest was to show people a change is needed. realizing now that
people's voices need to be heard and it's okay if they don't support your
cause, as everyone as there own opinion. It was cool to see the whole class
participate but it was even cooler than i even got some friends to join our
protest. shows that people do care about or the world. I figured that people
wouldn't have cared but we actually got quite the attention. I saw people
recording us as well and thanking us which was also something ill always
remember. I think moving forward I will do my best to let my voice be
heard if I think something needs to change because after this protest I think
there's a lot of people that have thoughts about improving the world as I do
but it's just the fear of saying it to the public and having people say
negative things about you, is what makes people not speak up.
To prepare for the protest I woke up and decided on what to
wear so I could be comfortable when walking. I made sure my backpack did not
have too many things in it. That day I also thought about how the protest would
go and I was a little embarrassed at first. The protest was out of my comfort
zone but I am glad I participated because it was actually very fun. I think
that everyone staying together as a group really helped me feel less shy. On
protest day I also posted on my social media to see if anyone would be
interested in joining last minute. The March was really an experience for me
and I think I would do it again. The meaning of the protest for me was to
understand how a protest works and realize how much attention we got from not
just people on campus but people driving by. Something that I learned about
social change is that you cannot change the hearts and minds of the people if
you protest quietly you have to create chants and gain attention first. Another
thing I learned about social movements is that they take a lot of work and
time. Protesting for an hour in the sun and walking around campus got me tired
so I know when people go out to protest an hour is not enough. Something I wish
I would have seen is people joining our protest. I learned that social
movements take many tries and timing is key because there was nobody really out
on campus because everyone was in class at that time, so that made a great
impact on the march. In the future I will participate in protests that share my
beliefs and I will listen to opinions without judgement.
On
the day of the event, what I did to plan was let some of my friends know about
the march to see if they were able to join. In addition to that, I posted my
flyer with the date of the march on my snapchat/instagram story in order for
others to see as well. The sign I made was to encourage people to create less
waste and go green by using reusable products. This meant something to me
because it gave me a platform to express my social issue and also help others
become aware of all the other social issues in this world. With the signs
everyone was holding and the various chants we chanted it made a lot more
people stare and listen to what we had to say. What I learned about protests
and social change was that if you get enough people involved there is a greater
chance of creating change and bringing awareness. This was shown the day of the
march by others staring and clapping/chanting with us, also with the cars
honking as we walked down Shaw. Not to mention that some of the students
brought their friends and family members to march with us as well.
Considering this
was my very first protest/march I have been involved in, it was fun.
Personally, I would do it again if the time ever came. Seeing everyone unite
together in order to bring awareness on social issues made me realize that
there are a lot of people that are passionate for something. I was expecting it
to be boring since we were just going to walk around with signs but I was
incorrect. Overall this was a great experience and I am glad that we were able to
march around campus and down Shaw in order to make our voices heard.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Luke Leija Social Movements Mondays Wednesdays 10-10:50
Luke Leija Social Movements
Respectfully, Luke Leija
Tactic Paper #4
Tactic Paper #4: Chalking
For the fourth tactic for my homelessness group, I did chalking. To begin with, I did not follow the instructions asked of us on this tactic. This tactic required that we chalk three times in a span of a month. I did all my chalking sessions in a span of a few days. I did my first chalking on May 12th in the afternoon which went well. I had someone accompany me while I wrote my message in the free speech area near the club booths. I decided to write "Homeless not Worthless #homesforthehomeless" for my first chalking session. It was on a weekend, so not a lot of people were present on campus when I did it, but it was an area I knew a lot of people would pass by and see. My second chalking session was on May 14th and also around the same time as my first session. The same person that came accompanied on my first session also was with me for this session along with my third session. It was on a weekday, therefore, more people were present. I wrote my message in the same general area and the message was "Bring Awareness to the Homeless Crisis in Fresno!" and finished it off by writing a website called realchangefresno.org. This website provides information on homelessness and how to help and bring awareness. My third chalking session was again in the same general area on and was on May 16th. I felt more people were present for this session which made me feel a little discouraged to write my message, but I did and I wrote a message straight to point that said "help the homeless!" I had a difficult time deciding on what to write for the third one the most, and I know that my effort for this one was poor. In fact, my performance in this tactic was not the greatest. I do not think it did anything to build solidarity among the members from my part, and as for altering people's view on the problem, it could have I would hope so! I think it did bring some attention to the cause by simply having people read that it is about homelessness. To conclude, I would change a lot of ways I went with doing this tactic. I think for one, maybe choose a message to write that has people questioning and wondering about the issue. Perhaps a statistic or deep question relating to the issue. Also, I would have had this tactic be a group effort as in we all do one together to show solidarity among the group.Tactic Papers
Hello Dr. Kubal,
These are my tactic papers per request of the syllabus.
Valerie Ochoa
Dr. Kubal
17 May 2018
Chalking Tactic
This tactic was one of my favorite ones to complete because it allowed me to write and draw something that was supposed to grab attention of the spectators walking by. Unfortunately, I only participated in two different days of chalking, but I feel as though my messages were strong and eye catching to the passersby.
The first day for the chalking was the day of the March Forth event. Our group had decided to meet early, that way we could grab enough people's attention to come and join our group and march with us or just participate in the march without supporting women's rights. At first a few of us, including myself, felt uneasy with writing different messages that could be seen as offensive to some. However, after we all wrote one message down, we felt significantly better and were eager to write more. One of my first messages was just an invitation to come and march with our group for women's rights, that way people knew exactly where to go and what they were going to march for. One of my favorites from that day was a play on the song "Feeling Twenty-Two" by Taylor Swift and it read "I don't know about you but I'm feeling 22 cents underpaid." I figured it would grab the attention of the girls who walked by because it was a reference to a song they might know. Our chalking even attracted a fellow student who was just walking by! He had said that he did not know that there were other students who thought like he did. He also showed us a different symbol to draw and it looked the same as the female image, except the cross in the middle was directly below the circle to signify the equality of the two sexes. A few other chalked messages were more invitations to join the march and simple "women's rights are human rights."
The second day for chalking was just a random day picked to get together and complete the task, May 2. At first we were unsure of whether we should even do it, because we did not have the safety cushion of doing it with our classmates around. For me, I chose to go slightly more controversial with my messages. Two of my favorites were "Fight like a girl" and "What she wears doesn't mean yes." I messed up the last message, because I could have made it rhyme with a different choice of words. I felt like I had more fun with this round of chalking because I had already done it before. For this day, I noticed that we had more people stopping to look at our messages, it was a good feeling, because people were getting a different opinion in their minds about what they think about women.
As far as any changes, the only thing I would have changed was the amount of chalking we did as a group and location wise. For the last day of chalking, we only had half of our group show up and participate. For the location, we mostly stayed near the speaker's platform, I would have liked to go to where the McKee Fisk building started and over in the pavillion in the middle of the Social Sciences and Mckee Fisk building are.
Valerie Ochoa
Dr. Kubal
16 May 2018
Social Media Tactic
This tactic should have been one of the easiest complete but for me it was difficult. Unfortunately, for Lent, I logged off of all my social media accounts, but fortunately I had one open and it was my Snapchat. My sister had control over my account to keep up my streaks and to post a picture of the flyer for our movie. Even after posting on my account, I did not receive any responses to the movie about whether people were going to make it or just in support of it. I knew that the people who are my "friends" on Snapchat saw it because it shows along the side of the picture, and I was disappointed to not hear from those who were going to State at the same time as I was. After Lent finished, I got back onto my accounts, I regret to say that I did not post anything again.
It was not until our "leader" Isabela made a Facebook and Instagram account that we really had a page specifically for our group and for our purpose. Even so, our page did not include very many pictures or posts, because it was only the people in our group following the page and maintaining it as well. First of all, our page is misspelt, so it is hard to even find it. Second, our Facebook page has only four of our group as "friends", so we cannot all see the postings and sharings of the page. So not all of us were able to take over the account.
As far as changes, I would make a few of them. My first change would be to go to Twitter to make an account, because more people will hear what you have to say and some will respond to it. Another change would be to let more people know about our group and invite them to look at our page and our message. Another change is that I should not have only limited the people that I reached out, but I wish that I had talked to others about our movie and our group.
Valerie Ochoa
Dr. Kubal
16 May 2018
Interview Questions Tactic
This was one of the harder tactics to complete. For this one, we had to conduct a series of interviews that spanned into two hours with questions that our group came up with. The original idea was to use a call center website to conduct our interviews but our professor decided that we could interview people that we knew over the phone or face to face. For this paper, I just want to focus on my interviews with my father and my friend Helaina.
My father tends to be a little bit on the conservative side when it comes to talking about women's rights and treatment. He was raised in a Catholic household, so naturally he was taught that all lives, no matter the state they are in, are worth something. He does not believe in abortion and we have come to intense arguments over why abortion is right or wrong. When it came to interviewing him, the question that got him a little riled up was " Do you believe that you must be a woman to be a feminist?" He felt like it was a simple answer with a yes answer. As I tried to explain that being a feminist is most about wanting equality for both sexes and you did not have to be a woman to want that he kind of relaxed but he was still against being labeled as a feminist himself.
My friend Helaina was the easiest one to interview for feminism and women's rights since she has gone to marches in San Francisco for them. However, she was also raised in a Catholic household and consequently for Pro-Life. For her, she takes that stance more from the religious aspect, almost as if it was expected of her. Even with that, when I interviewed her, I was pleasantly surprised with how enthusiastic she was about equality in the workplace. She brought up how she felt like she had been discriminated against for a job, but when I tried to probe, she switched it to a different topic and I went with it.
For anything I would change, I think it would be how I conducted my interviews. I do not think I gave my interviewees enough time to talk more about what I asked of them, it was all spur of the moment. I would also change who I interviewed, I interview my friends and family because they are easily accessible, but it would be nice to get a change of opinion.
Valerie Ochoa
Dr. Kubal
16 May 2018
Movie Tactic
Our movie day was terrifying, exciting, and fulfilling all at the same time. For the days leading up to it, we were all nervous and excited at the same time. We were most nervous about the kind of turn out we would get for the movie, for me, it would be my first video presentation of sorts. We had our flyers that looked great, thanks to Isabela Medina, and we made sure to hang them up where we could and to tell our friends about the movie. Unfortunately, none of my friends could make it due to previous plans that day. We all wanted to motivate others to come to our showing, so we decided to have some snacks and refreshments for our movie goers. It was a big help for me that my parents allowed me to tag-a-long on a Costco. run with them, so I could just by a multipack of snacks without spending a large amount of money.
On the day of our movie, March 8th, we were all checking in with each other every hour to make sure we all had what we needed and that we were ready. Since my last class ended fifteen minutes before our movie, I had to try and get to the room as fast as I could, but I got lost and ended up being later than I had hoped. Before we put the movie, She's Beautiful When She's Angry, we made sure to introduce our group's name and purpose and then we went down the line to introduce ourselves. After our movie finished, we held a Q and A session. Since there weren't many individuals in the audience, we didn't expect any questions, but we did get a couple. Our professor, Dr. Kubal, asked us as a group about our reaction to the movie and our thoughts about current events. I talked about how the government had no right to tell us what to do with our bodies since they belong to us and not them.
As far as making any changes for this tactic, I only have a few. I wish that I had played a bigger role in getting people to come to our movie, other than just hanging up a few flyers and asking my group of friends. For our group, we communicated well with each other and we all kept in touch to make sure we all had everything together for our movie and presentation after.
Valerie Ochoa
Dr. Kubal
Soc. 122
14 May, 2018
First Tactic Paper: March Forth Event and 17 Minutes Event
For me, these two protests had a significant part in changing my views on what it is like to protest or to bring attention to a cause that is not being talked about actively. The first protest that I participated in was the March Forth event. I remember things I thought about leading up to the event: I was nervous for my job, I did not know what to expect from my classmates or my group, and I had no prior experience to get a general idea of how this might go. The class before the event, all the groups were tasked to create posters for their cause. My group's cause is focused on bringing Women's Rights into the light and having people notice the inequality that still persists in society. We all made a few signs that had some catchy lingo on them, one of my favorites was "My neck, my back, my p***y will grab back."
The day of the event was hectic. We were all unsure of what was going to happen before, during, and after the event. Before the actual protest, we all stood up on the speaker's platform and had one of our teammates read our mission statement, after this, it seemed like my group got a little jump start. When we were waiting for all the groups to finish their statements, we came up with a couple of chants, and I was chosen to lead them. I am usually uncomfortable leading anything, but with this I was glad that I did it. I actually started to enjoy walking with my group and yelling out our chants. I felt like if we could have had more people marching with us, our mission would have been fulfilled. Sure we had people videotape us, but to get people involved and actually change their mind would have been the best. I think that if we had a larger turn out for our march, we would have made a bigger impact on those who participated.
As far as promoting the event, Dr. Kubal handed out little flyers for us to put around the campus, but I thought that they were too small to gain enough attention to have a big turnout. I had told my group if friends that we were having a small march and that they should come, but they all had classes at the same time, so none of them were able to make it. I do wish that I had played a bigger role in promoting the event, such as sending a notice to the school's paper or just to some of the clubs on campus.
The 17 Minutes to End Gun Violence march was very inspiring, due to the fact that it was organized by high school students. Many of my classmates had heard of this event due to social media sharing and from listening to news stations, I had heard of it from my younger sister, who is still in high school. She had told me that many of the students were going to be allowed to participate in the walk out, but she could not due to an off-campus class. The of the walkout and march, Dr. Kubal took a class vote to see who would like to participate in the walk out, and most, if not all of us, raised our hands to participate. Since it was a last minute decision, there was no way to get a large organized group of people to come together. That would have been the best thing to happen for that day.
In the beginning of the walkout, our class stood in a circle in the pavilion outside of the social science building and we began to shout out the chants that were designed for that day. Our voices were so loud, they echoed throughout the pavillion. As students were walking by, a couple of them began to stop and listen to our chants, after a couple of minutes, they began to join us as well. After that, we decided to take a short walk around the campus to see if we could get anyone else to come and join us. As we began to march, people mostly stopped to listen or just watched us walk by. As we walked we kept our chants going and I led them a few times, I stopped because I was starting to mess up the chants. As far as spur of the moment decisions go, I believe our that our class walk out was successful: we were able to get a few students to join us, our class's chants were strong, and we all had a good time. The only thing that would have been better is if we were able to get a larger group of people participating in the walkout with us.
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