Entering this week with the topic of activism will be very interesting. The topic we were discussing before was Gender/Sex/Sexuality & Feminism where we read a lot of interesting and inspiring readings. Most of the readings were from individuals who experienced oppression whether it be gender discrimination, oppression of females, sexism, race discrimination, etc. These people who expressed their oppression are angry/frustrated and want change. This week with the reading “How To Think Like An Activist” by Wendy Syfret and watching the film “Knock down the house” both provided powerful messages and it really talks about the change that needs to happen. 

The reading “How To Think Like An Activist” by Wendy Syfret is pretty much a “how-to” book on becoming an activist. I actually really liked this reading, it was to the point and simple to understand. The reading begins by describing famous events in history that produced change. These changes are movements that we can look back to, and create movements of our own in the future. The reading continues by talking about the recent movements we know, such as Black lives matter, Take back the night, and March for our lives. Each movement is very well known and we can learn from these movements moving forward. This is where the reading begins its “how-to” where do we even start? Well according to Wendy Syfret change starts at home. She explains that bringing up topics we are passionate about and bringing awareness into our own homes is important. I happen to agree, I’ve done this myself. Older generations are not as open-minded as this generation is, so when I hear older generations talk about topics in a close-minded way I speak up and bring awareness. And I am glad that because I have spoken up the older generations’ language in my household has changed. The reading speaks a lot about the accessibility we have today. For example, mass media is a huge platform. It is true, we use hashtags, tagging, Facebook pages, Instagram stories, and most recently tic tok. Every time I open my Instagram I see many people being proactive on Instagram stories posting what they are passionate about. For example, abortion rights, feminism, cases of innocent African Americans getting killed, native American women going missing, ICE, etc. I really liked that every two or three pages there is a page of tips on how to take “action” or an “explainer.” In a movement, there are multiple individuals coming together to create change. Everyone has a role within the movement. It was interesting Syfret giving tips to individuals who want to pursue a role in “action” and others who are “explainers” of their movement. 

I watched the film “Knock down the house” and it was very educational to see these individuals running for congress. These women all have their own stories and identities but are all striving for the same movement. These powerful women are challenging the system that is not providing for the people of their district. I really loved the civil rights veteran speaking to the group of candidates at the beginning of the film, he was pushing them to keep working to challenge the system and people in power. Coming from a person who has a bunch of experience and is still working on change, his advice was blunt but true. You can see in his facial expression that it will be a challenge. People in power will try to stop us from achieving our movements. What I saw from the film is these women are everyday working people, Amy Vilela is fighting after losing her daughter, Paula Jean is a coal miner’s daughter, AOC was a bartender from the Bronx, and Cori Bush is a working nurse. Hearing these women’s stories is so moving and when they explain why they are in this movement it’s empowering. Seeing the process is very educational. We see a whole team on their computers, walking through communities, knocking on doors, making signs, passing flyers, speaking to the people, public debates. As I said before there are many job responsibilities in a movement and we see this in the film. Throughout the film, we also saw the challenges these women faced, judgment from higher-ups, money shortage, the people sticking to the people they already know (Joe Crowley). By the end of the film, we saw out of the four women-only Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez won in the primary election. It was devastating to see, the teams crying, hugging each other; however, I am so glad they put in the film one of the team members in the campaign speaking to everyone about not giving up. She said, “The primary ended, but the injustice did not.” I was applauding at her words, she is absolutely right, movements need to keep going even if they hit a bump in the road. Seeing AOC finding out she won made me happy, I LOVE Alexandria-Ocasio-Cortez and everything she fights for. I think she is a great representation of the change our government/system needs. I think so many hate her because she challenges the OLD way of thinking. In my classmates’ snapshot, Sadira Mohammad shows a picture of the one and only AOC at the met gala. She is wearing a white dress with the words “Tax the rich” in red. I think it was bold and to the point of the message. She constantly speaks for the working class and the struggle we are facing. It made me think of Joy Villa who was known to wearing dresses with messages across her dress. AOC made a come-back with her dress, fighting fire with fire. We see the team cheering and happy crying along with AOC when she wins. I think this film shows us we won’t always get a win, but we have to keep fighting. We will get special moments of wins, just like this young bartender from the Bronx helping us change our system.