The Triangle shirtwaist factory fire was a sweatshop company that caught a wide variety of attention because of their most tragic and deadliest disasters ever in history. The work area was filled with about five hundred employees who suffered long hours, low wages, and unsafe conditions. These employees, who were mostly women and teenagers, on March 11, 1911, had finished their 11-12 hour shift when a fire had started. By the first attempt to try and put out the fire by one of the employees, the manager, there was a malfunction with the hose, one of the most important things in any workplace, plus sprinklers were not installed in the workplace. Even the exits played a part in the workers’ inability to escape the building, causing many to jump to their death out the window. The next exit, the stairs, had a locked door that could only be open from the outside. The last existing exit was the fire escape, and it was in such bad condition that it had collapsed.

A total of 146 people died from that disaster. Yet, it could have been prevented if proper safety standards and better conditions could have saved the workers’ lives and stopped the fire’s growth. According to the video from youtube, “HISTORY,” that this industrial disaster was man-made. Man-made disasters can be defined as humans being the cause of disasters. There can be a sense of negligence and a certain intent behind disasters.

Going back to the idea of intent, it’s important to know people’s intentions when you’re looking for a job or pursuing anything because sometimes they don’t align with your needs and intentions as a human being. Sometimes business owners could care about profit and product, and that can create them not to care for their employees properly. This concept I am speaking on connects to Erick’s Luevanos snapshot with people holding signs, and one of them says, “If we are essential, treat us as such.” From my own perspective, that sign means that if I’m working overtime and I bust my butt creating more quantity for a company for hours, I would want some bonus or even some type of benefit since I’m being held up into producing and making more money for the company. I am super important to the company. You would think that a company that’s overworking their employees would increase employees’ place of work, whether it is increasing pay, increasing break time, or even doing reconstruction to have more employees and have a safer environment and not crowded. Yet, it seems hazardous to me that so many employees worked on that floor, and there was not one single exit available or stable enough to get everyone out. If there are that many employees, there should be more safety procedures.

I think it is also important to emphasize teaching employees proper protocols on what to do and how to handle their mental state in emergencies. Of course, the Triangle shirtwaist factory had people panicking because of the lack of resources on their floor because the business owner’s part is not creating a safe environment. Training employees to follow emergency guidelines can reduce the cost of employees hurting themselves and not thinking logically.

Someone’s snapshot post that really stood out for me was Junie Vallon’s snapshot post. I think Junie’s post really stood out because we talked or learned about women’s suffrage, which is the right for women to vote in any election. In the snapshot, there are women, specifically white women standing up for their state of being free from authoritative restrictions such as the president. The poster the woman is holding says, “Mr. President, How long must women wait for liberty?” For me, women’s suffrage should include every aspect of women, whether white, African American, Native American, Asian, or Latino, yet this image gives a false narrative. It promotes just white women fighting for their rights to end their feeling of inferiority, and what about the people of color? It is like white women advocate for themselves to vote while others have to do the same for their own skin complexion. It questions the idea of why women’s suffrage wasn’t universal.

It’s important to be able to promote women’s suffrage, including everyone. Association and organizations for women’s suffrage should be continuously dedicated to women of any skin complexion, for white and black women. It goes back to the idea of privilege. I’m not saying white women don’t have it hard compared to women of color. Still, women of color suffered more because of racism, apart from their education and economic status. Women of color should be able to support women of color and white women and vice versa. Women and men should support women, isn’t that the idea of being a feminist.

A piece of evidence that supports my idea in the paragraph above is from the text “One Hundred Years Towards Suffrage: An Overview.” According to the text “Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony formed the American Equal Rights Association, an organization for white and black women and men dedicated to the goal of universal suffrage.” Of course, these two women were part of painting the path towards the 19th amendment, but they stood for universal suffrage. Even though the 15th amendment allowed men of all races to vote, it still presented some form of hostility or some form of resistance because of education. African Americans were held as slaves until 1865-1870. These men had the lower end of the stick when it came to the idea of voting because of certain tactics that prevented men from still voting.

There was still a continuous fight for voting rights even after the nineteenth amendment was ratified. There was still continuous development that needed to be made to get resources for everyone, especially the colored communities. Whether a black woman coming into politics or a white woman, they should be approached as an “us,” not breaking apart every skin complexion. Being able to be consistent with the power of bringing in and supporting different cultural and ethnic groups. It is important to redirect different areas of problems just not for one group but multiple groups. It should be universal.

I liked Nancy Susano’s snapshot post of an image of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. I watched some of the documentary that she was in with three other democratic female parties who weren’t politicians but were actually a part of their community and district that wanted change in all areas. She was an activist. Alexandria was a bartender. She was one out of many civilians in the world who lived the reality of survival, like financial issues. Being elected wasn’t just about her and what she needed; it was about them, us, the community, and what they needed, such as healthcare and being debt-free from school. She always had a deep understanding of what she was fighting for, and the way her body language is presented in this image says it all about how powerful she is and her voice. She is experienced enough to be as strong as she is for people, and that’s where being prepared for anything comes from.

Activists aren’t just fighting. They are consistently extending their approach or goal by really stepping into the process that never stops teaching you, helps you reevaluate, and helping others to pursue better. Activism can start with the community and building it from there. In the film, Alexandria was out in her community, I believe, with her niece handing out flyers. Not everyone in her community who passed by her or spoke to her had fully comprehended her story and approach. Some even were already supporters of her opponent. She was fairly new and didn’t have the promo she had later on in the film, but just because they didn’t support her at that very moment didn’t mean they should be counted out. They would soon get there, even though the first engagement would create easier access to understanding an activist’s point of view, especially if it relates to something personal.

I think one of the most powerful things Alexandria did was create a grassroots campaign. A grassroots campaign is basically using the people of your district or community to be the base movement, whether it is socially, politically, or economically. The best thing as an activist is when people have pure self-interest in what you’re doing and what your goal is, and they work and support your greatest accomplishment because it isn’t just a win for the face of the project; it’s the reasoning behind it. The people know what they need because it belongs to them.

I want to elaborate on the idea in the text “How to Think Like an Activist” by Wendy Syfret is the power of the youth. There is a big power shift when it comes to generation, and it includes the power of bringing the real issues they see that are more global now than the ones from before because they didn’t live it as the older generation has. It’s about what can be brought to the table by the young generations because their playbook is starting from scratch to resolve the global problems of now. The old plays didn’t work out for the older generation, so now there’s a use of social media, protests, parades, gatherings, debates, and more.

The interpretation I had about the text “Patriarchy the system” by Allan Johnson is that the author is defining patriarchy but is unwinding the why we define patriarchy the way we do. Patriarchy is a common word that presents a system where men dominate and hold primary power. Yet the author defines patriarchy as “a kind of society organized around certain kinds of social relationships and ideas that shape paths of least resistance. (Johnson, 32). The “least resistance” is the easiest path to follow instead of making one of our own because we depend on easy living because of society and the benefits and consequences it has on us. An example of this is the idea of men defining patriarchy. Men identify with patriarchy because of the privileges. Still, some men get defensive about it because their individualism or personality doesn’t correspond to that term, but the term automatically defines them. It leaves a grey area of patriarchy because it can exist without men the same way oppression towards women can exist without men.

I wanted to respond to Lizbeth’s snapshot post, a picture of a spider web with different people attached to it while someone is holding it. As Johnson says in the text, “the system” to which we blame is the problem is more like a scapegoat. It unfairly blames, it doesn’t seem ever to get resolved because truly the system isn’t the issue; we, as human beings, are the root of our social systems and relationships. We don’t take the time to understand why or why we participate or promote patterns. We are the ones that manifest these systems consciously or unconsciously because we feel limited by our perception of acceptance and the environment. This idea goes with Lizbeth’s picture of people being stuck because people are trapped in a culture where patriarchy is power or domination; even if we want to prevent failure for ourselves or others, we resist it because it is a requirement.

The web holds the reality and ideas of patriarchy. The idea of men and women being pinned against each other is a form of norms that keep both sexes and genders trapped. It’s like a man cannot bear what a woman can, such as breastfeeding or having a connection with a child, and then women cannot be masculine or aggressive because it is not expected standards of their images. Many elements present a patriarchal culture that builds our privileges or what we can define as our resources and distribute power.

To be able to start dismantling the idea of patriarchy is by educating, raising awareness, and communicating other forms for individuals can grow. Having more available paths other than the “least resistant” path. The way we distribute power is important. The first step should be women and men not being at odds. Women should dominate in things just like men because where we see ourselves is where we stand in the social world. Patriarchy can continuously be reshaped depending on how we alter our path and freedom.

The snapshot I am responding to is Hillary’s. This snapshot really represented the theme portrayed in the article about white privilege. I had a similar post to Hillary that spoke upon the idea that white privilege is an advantage to certain resources or even the smallest things because of their skin complexion.

Lately, the topics of these articles have caused me to think about shows or movies I’ve watched. Many shows and movies nowadays present the reality that we face every day. One of the shows that relate to this topic of white privilege is called “Degrassi.” I remember this one episode where one of the character’s names was Shay, who has this goal of getting scouted at her high school because she loves volleyball. Still, she consistently feels she has to work twice as hard as anyone because she feels disadvantaged because of her complexion even though her parents work good jobs and have good resources. There is this scene, I believe, in the show, where she’s working out after volleyball practice, and her friend Frankie comes to her saying that she is overworking the team and herself and needs to relax. Shay kind of burst out all of her true feelings towards Frankie about how she has a better opportunity of getting scholarships and scouts to check her out than she does, especially because her parents can afford her greater resources, and it’s just easier for her. Frankie is ignorant for a couple of episodes about the privileges she has compared to people with darker complexions than her, and that doesn’t mean Frankie doesn’t struggle in her own way. Still, her daily privileges she always took for granted. Frankie didn’t understand the idea of her being able to walk somewhere and not have people stare at her because she would harm them or steal from them in any way because of her complexion. She didn’t understand what white privilege meant until she didn’t get the benefit of the doubt over a racist prank she made towards a volleyball team of color that caused her to lose everything. Her prank was basically a poster she had created and hanged it in front of the school of the opposing volleyball team of what they looked like. They were called the “zoo,” and it wasn’t because of their skin complexion. It was because they were a low-income school. Frankie had assumed the team was called the “zoo” because they acted wild like monkeys, so that’s why she had created that poster of all the players looking like monkeys and gorillas.

I believe a big issue of white privilege is that people don’t fully understand the term. It isn’t easy to understand because of so many things that go into it because of our own assumptions and experiences. We can become very biased upon the word. Sometimes we don’t educate ourselves, and if we are privileged, we don’t use to speak for those who aren’t. According to McIntosh “After I realized the extent to which men work from a base of unacknowledged privilege, I understood that much of their oppressiveness was unconscious.” (McIntosh)