Activism is making an effort to intervene, direct, impede, and promote environmental, economic, political, and social reforms to have a better society after the reforms. The text I read gave examples of activism, such as the French revolution and the salt march. The French revolution on page 6 was a rebellion against the brutal authoritarian rules. It was bloody and led to the end of the monarchy and the establishment of the French republic. The salt march on page 7 was a peaceful protest against the oppressive rule of British colonialists. The Indians, led by Mahatma Gandhi, a social activist, politician, and lawyer, marched to the Arabian sea coast and picked up salt as a nonviolent way of protesting the British salt act of 1882, which prevented Indians from selling or collecting salt.

I have watched the film ‘American Revolutionary The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, who is a Chinese American woman in Detroit with several revolutionary works. Jeremiah (8:43) begins to give her story where Boggs devoted her life to a revolution that involved America’s past contradictions and its potential future. Her actions cut across major US social movements such as feminism, black power, civil rights, and labor. Jeremiah (13.31) explains how jobs were few for the blacks and Boggs felt she needed to do something about it. Her constant strategy is the willingness to re-evaluate and change tactics in relation to the changing world. She believes that revolution does not involve aggressive behaviors and protests but is an act rooted deep within the human experience involving the ability to change oneself in order to transform the global society.

Activism is seen in the multi-generation urban gardening program named Detroit Summer, which was founded by Boggs and aimed to create change in the community. She did this after witnessing factories closing, municipal resources drying up, white residents moving out of the city, and the soaring unemployment rates. She believes that such social changes need to be two-sized transformations involving evolution and revolution. Revolution is the evolution into impressive ways that help human beings.

I can engage in activism around gender justice by getting the press involved, engaging in gender-related community services, doing surveys of gender injustices and sharing the results, demonstrating, creating public awareness campaigns including on social media platforms, running for gender-related office positions, advocating for legislation by collaborating with groups having similar goals and writing letters to advocate for specific federal, state and local laws, and educating others on the importance of gender justice. Demonstrating or protesting can have symbolism that shows ender injustice, such as using songs, lying dead, and having posters. Engaging in community service can be done by donating time to help families with gender injustice and talking to people directly. For issues that carry more injustice, the press involvement through doing press interviews and writing press releases conveys the message to many people.

The initial version of the Equal Rights Amendment, the Lucretia Mott Amendment, was first introduced by Alice Paul in the 75^th celebration of the Woman’s Rights Convention in 1923 (Tara Law in TIME Magazine Online at time.com 3). The rights stated that both women and men should have equal rights within the US and every other place subjected to its rules. The change was also introduced to the parliament in the same year. These amendments of the equal rights were to support the liberties and the rights of all women. For instance, in the great Chicago fire, a young immigrant woman was accused and convicted for being the cause of the fire (The Great Chicago fire…, 00:0036). This occurrence is attributed to lack of rights supporting the well-being of all human kind.  However, the labor unions were still striving to protect workplace laws, as social conformists considered the amendments of equal rights a threat to the available power structure. Suffrage, equal rights, and labor rights were related in many ways. The three movements were fighting for the rights of women. For instance, the equal rights amendment focused on equal rights between men and women within the US. Labor rights also called for fair treatment of women and other minority groups at workplaces. The suffrage rights gave women freedom and liberty to vote and even hold a political position in the US. Therefore, these movements were focused on ensuring equality of all humans within the US irrespective of gender, social class, and ethnicity.

Labor rights can sometimes be referred to as gender justice for several reasons. First, the rights were advocating for the rights of all humans at the workplace. It advocated for the rights of all people regardless of gender, age, class, and even ethnicity. Labor rights strived to have the laws that burns the import of child labor goods and forced labor goods to the US (Institute for Global Labor and Human Rights 00:08:12). In the older times, only men wore to work to provide for their families. The gender roles describe women’s functions to taking care of children and doing house chores. However, the introduction of Labor Rights broke this stereotype and myths allowing women and other minority groups to work at any organization. It gave women equal rights and liberty to work.

Historical issues have been enacted in today’s world. The majority of nations in the current world are calling for the equality of all humans as far as gender is concerned. They are calling for the equal rights of both men and women. This is proven by many women who hold political positions around the world. Therefore, women’s rights have been enacted in different States, giving women equal power to perform different activities.

I feel that I have expired privilege throughout my entire life. Since I was little, my family always told me all the things they had to do and everything they went through back then. One of these things as the video says was to carry very heavy gallons or buckets of water and walk miles to their homes. My mother told me that she didn’t have shoes to go to school and therefore she had to go barefoot.  I also remember hearing that my mother, along with her sisters, had to wash their clothes in the river which was a little far away. These are only a few things that my family had to go through. There’re many people who are still going through moments like this. Despite everything, my family and many other people are very grateful and feel very proud to be who they are today. The simple fact of having a home with food and water is already a privilege. Some of my privileges are having had the opportunity to study and go to college, having had the opportunity to come to this country to follow my dreams, receiving the love that many people give me, being able to work, being able to travel, and go on vacations, being able to have a home with food, water, and clothes, etc. I am not rich, and I do not have everything I would like to have, and I will not deny that sometimes I complain about things I should not, but at the end of the day, I feel very grateful to God for everything I have.

The way I experience oppression is because of the simple fact that I’m a Hispanic woman. Being Hispanic for me is a source of pride, but there are many people who take advantage of that to discriminate. When I first came to this country, it was very difficult for me to adapt and learn the language because many people used to make fun of me instead of helping me or correcting me. Now I know how to speak English almost perfectly but when I say something incorrectly, people still make fun of me. A lot of times I get very embarrassed, and they make me feel insecure. Being a woman is one way in which many of us have experienced oppression.  Many women are judged and treated differently even because of the way we dress. Many people believe that a woman who respects herself should not go outside in inappropriate clothing.

Thanks to the video and the readings I learned a lot more about the concept of privilege and oppression. I realized that I am more privileged than I thought. I don’t think I’ve ever sat down and thought about all the things I should be super grateful for. I didn’t have much knowledge about oppression, but I can say that it is the unjust treatment act, of oppressing, suffocating, pressuring, subduing, either a person or a community.