Social Justice Conference
“A social movement that only moves people is merely a revolt. A movement that changes both people and institutions is a revolution.” ― Martin Luther King Jr
Social Justice. It's one of those phrases that sounds pretty noble, but what does it mean? Every January when Martin Luther King day rolls around, people all over the country find themselves reflecting on the state of our society and whether or not we, as a nation, are living up to the promises of out most sacred and defining documents. We question the extent to which liberty and justice are applied to all. It is a wonderful place to start; however, for change to truly be effective, it has to be more than an isolated incident. We have to think of the impact of our actions and inactions each and every day. This year, I had the privilege of attending the Why We Can’t Wait Conference during the MLK Weekend from January 17-19th at the First Unitarian Society of Denver.
This was the first time that I had ever attended a UU "Con" and, in spite of the fact that I had been on the 9th grade trip last year, I really didn't know what to expect. I arrived at the church just in time for dinner. In fact, as soon as I stashed my bags in the room where I would be sleeping, we all gathered in the cafeteria for dinner. I was relieved to see familiar faces among the strangers and I spent time catching up with old friends and meeting new friends. The conference was organized so that there were workshops which presented information and offered opportunities to discuss a variety of topics (LGTBQ Equality, Reproductive Justice, Criminal Justice, Environmental Activism, and Racial Justice). Everyone at the Social Justice Conference got to pick two subjects to learn about, although I wish that we could have learned more. We also learned how protests are organized and what you do in a protest. I picked Reproductive Justice, and LGBTQ as my subjects because I wanted to learn more about how I, as a heterosexual male, can support the rights of others to love freely and to be respected fully.
The LGTBQ group featured three main speakers who provided us with information about the history of LGTBQ inequality and the struggle to achieve equal rights. One of the more interesting moments occurred when we looked at a test from the 1920s which purported to evaluate your sexual identity. We also constructed a graph in 3 dimensions which reflected the intersections of gender identity and sexual attraction. There was not much thoughtful audience participation in this group. In fact, there was a clear party line and any contribution to the discussion that did not fit this party line was interpreted as hostile, and the speaker was silenced. I found this to be very disappointing.
The group that I enjoyed the most was the Reproductive Justice group. The lectures were set up in such a way to encourage dialogue. I learned about how women have traditionally been treated as second class citizens and continue to be treated unfairly in terms of earning potential and social standing. I learned about the comparative death rates of live births vs abortion for those who are in marginalized groups as compared to white women. We looked at issues surrounded the sexual education of minors, the difficulties that parents experience discussing sex with their children, and the general failure of the school system in educating students about sexual realities. Many of the girls present talked about the sexual harassment they were subjected to on a daily basis in school. This lead to a discussion about the sexual objectification of women and the fact that even though women of all ages are treated as sexual objects, there is a social stigma and penalty attached to those women who embrace their sexuality. We briefly discussed violence against family members and how domestic violence impacts men, women and children. The conversation was so lively and engaging that we actually ran out of time. I loved this session because even when we disagreed with each other, we respected each other's right to his/her own truth.
Social Justice. It's one of those phrases that sounds pretty noble, but what does it mean? Every January when Martin Luther King day rolls around, people all over the country find themselves reflecting on the state of our society and whether or not we, as a nation, are living up to the promises of out most sacred and defining documents. We question the extent to which liberty and justice are applied to all. It is a wonderful place to start; however, for change to truly be effective, it has to be more than an isolated incident. We have to think of the impact of our actions and inactions each and every day. This year, I had the privilege of attending the Why We Can’t Wait Conference during the MLK Weekend from January 17-19th at the First Unitarian Society of Denver.
This was the first time that I had ever attended a UU "Con" and, in spite of the fact that I had been on the 9th grade trip last year, I really didn't know what to expect. I arrived at the church just in time for dinner. In fact, as soon as I stashed my bags in the room where I would be sleeping, we all gathered in the cafeteria for dinner. I was relieved to see familiar faces among the strangers and I spent time catching up with old friends and meeting new friends. The conference was organized so that there were workshops which presented information and offered opportunities to discuss a variety of topics (LGTBQ Equality, Reproductive Justice, Criminal Justice, Environmental Activism, and Racial Justice). Everyone at the Social Justice Conference got to pick two subjects to learn about, although I wish that we could have learned more. We also learned how protests are organized and what you do in a protest. I picked Reproductive Justice, and LGBTQ as my subjects because I wanted to learn more about how I, as a heterosexual male, can support the rights of others to love freely and to be respected fully.
The LGTBQ group featured three main speakers who provided us with information about the history of LGTBQ inequality and the struggle to achieve equal rights. One of the more interesting moments occurred when we looked at a test from the 1920s which purported to evaluate your sexual identity. We also constructed a graph in 3 dimensions which reflected the intersections of gender identity and sexual attraction. There was not much thoughtful audience participation in this group. In fact, there was a clear party line and any contribution to the discussion that did not fit this party line was interpreted as hostile, and the speaker was silenced. I found this to be very disappointing.
The group that I enjoyed the most was the Reproductive Justice group. The lectures were set up in such a way to encourage dialogue. I learned about how women have traditionally been treated as second class citizens and continue to be treated unfairly in terms of earning potential and social standing. I learned about the comparative death rates of live births vs abortion for those who are in marginalized groups as compared to white women. We looked at issues surrounded the sexual education of minors, the difficulties that parents experience discussing sex with their children, and the general failure of the school system in educating students about sexual realities. Many of the girls present talked about the sexual harassment they were subjected to on a daily basis in school. This lead to a discussion about the sexual objectification of women and the fact that even though women of all ages are treated as sexual objects, there is a social stigma and penalty attached to those women who embrace their sexuality. We briefly discussed violence against family members and how domestic violence impacts men, women and children. The conversation was so lively and engaging that we actually ran out of time. I loved this session because even when we disagreed with each other, we respected each other's right to his/her own truth.
In between the the main groups, there were mandatory lectures sponsored by the UU church. In these lectures, we learned all about the importance and nature of protests, and how, as citizens, we can use our voices to promote social justice. One of the highlights of the lectures was meeting Johnny D. from the Flobots. He told us about his life and what inspired his song writing and rap. We got to beatbox in the background while he was rapping. It was thrilling! He was a very nice, modest person who inspired me by sharing how he used his talents to try and change the world.
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The last part of the mandatory session was that we each wrote down an issue that we would like to use protest to change. Next, the presenters put on music and we danced until the music was stopped. When the music stopped, we partnered with the person in front of us to talk about our issues and find the intersection between them so that we could find a way to talk about both issues at once and find a point of mutual benefit and compromise. |
The conference ended with our participation in the annual Martin Luther King Day March in Denver. We made protest posters with slogans affirming our willingness as youth to be a part of the solution. It was a surprisingly warm day, especially for winter. The sun beat down on the assembled crowd, and I felt a sense of exhilaration in the glow of both the mild weather and the camaraderie of the protesters. I helped hold up the UU banner as we marched through the streets surrounded by the bustle of cars, listening to the faint strains of singing and chanting in the background. It was a wonderful end to a wonderful weekend.