I define activism as taking a stand against something or someone to create a positive change. Activism doesn’t have to be expressed through violence. The idea of people saying what they thought or how they felt about a certain situation. Having a voice is probably one of the first  steps of activism. Using that voice to speak when there is an issue is the second step of activism. I think there are steps to being an activist, for that reason being, there are many people who see and disagree with something, but they never actually do anything about it. Others would disagree and speak up to create some type of change. Reading “How to think like an Activist” by Wendy Syfret was a big eye opener for me. In her book the chapter starts off by talking about the French Revolution. During that time craftsmen and store owners stormed the Bastille in 1789. They wanted changes socially, economically, and a whole new government thinking system. This is an example of activism. She goes on to talk about how Mahatma Gandhi  was very influenced by the Parisians. However Gandhi did not engage in violence he held peaceful protests and marches to create a change. I was always aware of activism and how it works. This reading made my understanding a bit more clearer. On this topic the film I watched is “United in Anger”. I thought this was a pretty increasing film to say the least. I am a history nerd and AIDS was a huge part of the 80’s and 90’s. I felt so happy seeing these young gay and lesbian be very active in their community. They held protests and conventions against the American government not providing help to people with AIDS. They had many different groups, one was called “Act up” They were persistent, fierce, and Angry. Act up wanted the government to stop treating them like sinners but as a human being. I think they inspired changed to groups today such as “LGBQT” group. Throughout the film, they participated in sit-ins that were non-violence and sang chants while holding hands. This is what activism looks like. People coming together to change a problem that affects them. One way that I have engaged in activism is at my job. I was overworked, talking for granted, and ignored. So one day my two co-workers and I decided to lock up the store and go home. We were fed up and tried, we felt like nobody cared about us. Long story short, we were fired. However not the company is taking more precautions and putting the employees first, which was what we wanted along.