the right to write
Amnesty @ WLU's take on human rights
1/29/2017 0 Comments Making History with Pink HatsAll you could see when you got off at the metro and stepped into the sharp DC air was a sea of pink hats and large signs. You could barely move as people crowded around you, pushing in every generation, nobody quite sure where we were supposed to be walking to. A lot of people, including myself, stopped every five feet to snap a quick photo of a sign they couldn’t resist not documenting. Vendors selling Hillary pins and anti-Trump merchandise filled the streets, squeezing in between food trucks. There was no direction to look towards that wasn’t clogged with human bodies; nobody knew where they were going because you could only see so far. I have been in Disney World when a new ride has just opened in the dead of summer, to South Beach during the spring season and New York in July. I thought I had a pretty solid idea of what a crowd looked like. I am so pleased to report that the Women’s March on Washington very promptly turned that idea upside down. The crowds were so large that you could barely breathe, and it was in the most marvelous way. You were pressed up against strangers in the biting cold and were hit every once in a while by a Planned Parenthood sign that had flopped down from someone’s raised arms, but there was no room to be upset. I couldn’t be upset about any of it. I found nothing in me to be angry that we didn’t march, or even more than slightly annoyed at those who yelled over the speakers. I didn’t have the mental capacity to process how much I needed to go to the bathroom or how cold I was or how I was really tired of the weight on my neck from my camera I’d brought to document an event that looked nothing like I expected it to be. Every part of my mind was absorbed instead in understanding the magnitude of what I was a part of that day. I was standing among over 500,000 women by conservative estimates in our capitol, united by one thing and one thing only: the realization that we could not stay at home while our president threatened the lives of women, refugees, immigrants, the poor, and people of color in our nation. We were all there for different reasons, from different places, and from different backgrounds. And we all had something or someone to march for. I was there not only for myself, but for my favorite little 4-year-old girl in the world. I wasn’t just marching for my rights, but for hers. I was fighting for my reproductive rights, my humanity, my ability not to fear rape every time it falls past 9pm on a weekend so that she wouldn’t have to. I was fighting to close the wage gap, to end stereotyping, and to halt the war on women so that she wouldn’t have to. Because if we’re being honest, we shouldn’t have to fight anymore. This fight should have ended a long time ago. But that doesn’t matter. Because even if we’re still fighting a hundred years from now, one thing is for certain: we are going to win. ~Maya Lora '20, [email protected]
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When I moved to Virginia from 800 miles south, one of the aspects of the college environment I was most excited for was being surrounded by politically aware and active people. After attending the initial meetings of different political clubs and discussing politics in classes, I realized what attracted me to politics was activism. This is when I discovered Washington and Lee’s chapter of Amnesty International.
I think that part of the reward of a challenge is the uncomfortable ways you are sometimes forced to seek to achieve it. Through W&L’s chapter of Amnesty, I’ve had the opportunity to take action outside of my comfort zone. In November we drove to Washington, D.C. for the organization's Virginia chapters to meet and collectively lobby House representatives for their support for the Refugee Protection Act of 2016. I had never sat down with a legislator or staffers to exercise my democracy before then. I learned through this experience the significance of not only exercising your own voice but amplifying the voices of others in democracy. I’ve been pushed out of my comfort zone by interviewing other students on campus about their thoughts on feminist activism to truly listen. Throughout the past few months and the increasing division within our country, I've been in disbelief, saddened, angry, disappointed. But more importantly, I'm motivated. Somehow, my friends who have targets on their backs - who have always had targets on their backs because of the color of their skin, their religion, their nationality, their sexuality - somehow they are able to not be consumed by (albeit, justified) anger every day. Somehow, they are able to first look for the best in people. Somehow, they still have the emotional capacity to love. Somehow, they still have the strength to continue. This is what motivates me to stay informed and take action in support of human rights. Amnesty provides me with the opportunity to seek real justice and change, beyond Facebook arguments and bumper stickers. Being part of our chapter of Amnesty has given me the opportunity to discuss global issues and how they apply to the W&L community with a group of different people with a common goal. I’ve learned empathy in starting dialogue about these issues on campus. On days when I feel stressed from schoolwork or the other day-to-day obstacles, I have a group of people that motivate me to alter my perspective and remind me of my responsibility to advocate for the voices of others. ~Hannah Denham '20, [email protected] Saturday morning, Amnesty International took part in the Rockbridge County CARE Martin Luther King Jr. Community Parade. It was an experience like none other. The day before the parade took place was Lee-Jackson Day, and per tradition in Lexington, the weekend dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. becomes one devoted to the Confederate flag and Civil War history regarding the Southern Confederacy, with various organizations from outside of the county visiting to hold their own parade, leaving many members of the community feeling targeted. This year, CARE, the Community Anti-Racism Education Initiative based in Lexington, VA, took it upon themselves to hold a parade celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his work for civil rights, inviting anyone who wished to celebrate diversity, acceptance, and love to participate in the march. The parade began at the United Methodist Church on Randolph Street at 10:00 on the 14th and the streets were filled with passionate participants.
~Laura Calhoun '20, [email protected]
For those of you saying it's pointless, it actually isn't.
Ever since the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States of America, the country has been consumed by protests. With his official inauguration, a lot of that pent-up anger is boiling over, and protestors are taking to the streets to express their discontent. This of course begs the question: why? Why did protestors spill into downtown with signs, knowing nothing they said or did would end Trump as the 45th President? Why did hundreds of thousands of women travel — from all around the country — to march Washington? Why did that movement gain so much traction there were sister marches on every continent, including Antarctica? The answer is not because we think we’re going to change anything; in fact, we know we can’t. The purpose is to send a simple message: This is not normal, this is not okay, and we will not take it lying down.From a woman who just finished occupying the streets of DC, here are the answers to all the criticisms I've heard about the protests. 1. "You didn't protest when Obama won." This is actually extremely aggravating, and I've read it from conservative websites over and over again. Of course you didn’t protest when Obama won; you didn’t like him, but he was in no way a threatening figure — endangering the tenets of our country. Donald Trump admitted, on tape, to sexually assaulting women; Trump has overwhelming support from neo-Nazis and the KKK; Vice-President Mike Pence believes in psychologically abusive conversion therapy and stripping females not only of reproductive rights, but wants to force them to bury fetuses removed through abortion or miscarriage, and the list goes on. You didn’t like Obama, but Trump is a physical threat to our basic human rights, and there lies the difference. 2. "We could be out celebrating while you're protesting, but we have actual jobs." Inauguration Day is considered a federal holiday, first off. Second, if it was that important to you, you would figure it out. The 500,000+ women, men, and children at the Women’s March on Washington were not all unemployed and waiting for an occasion to break their protest signs out. They took time off work and made their way to DC or any of the other marches happening around the globe because it matters. This is bigger than us or our jobs — it's history. 3. "It's just a bunch of millennial snowflakes out there." Within two weeks, I have been to two protest marches: one in celebration of MLK day in Lexington, Virginia to march against the Confederation flag parade that happens that weekend, and the Women’s March on Washington. In both cases, people from every single generation, race, ability level, you name it, were present. This isn’t a generational thing, it’s a justice thing. 4. "The women's march was just a white feminism thing," along with, "What are you even protesting? I have all of my rights." To address that first one: absolutely not. Discussed at the large rally in DC were issues like economic justice, reproductive rights, the wage gap, Palestine, incarceration and police reform, justice for refugees, undocumented immigrants, and Muslims, and plenty other important female issues. One of my favorite parts of the rally was when a speaker said “You want to talk about women’s issues? Fine, let’s talk about the economy. Let’s talk about climate change. Let’s talk about…” In response to the second one, none of us wanted to be out on an overcast, 50-degree day surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people and spending up to two hours on the metro for kicks. We are fighting for tangible rights that are under attack. Reproductive justice and healthcare have already been put up on the chopping block; we aren’t imagining this. 5. "Do you honestly think you're making a difference?" Yes, I do. Even with our large numbers, we cannot reverse a presidential election. We cannot refute the electoral college even though Hillary Clinton won the popular vote. Donald Trump is our president, and we’ve accepted that. What we will not accept is that blatant fascism, lies, race-baiting, fear-mongering, and a whole slew of other disgusting tactics as our new normal. We will fight to the end, and we will not turn back. This is our country, and Donald Trump answers to us. We are just making it perfectly clear what our expectations are. Maya Lora is an avid writer and blogs with the News Room @ Odyssey. She is an active member of Amnesty @ WLU and is passionate about women's rights. Reach her at [email protected]. 1/24/2017 0 Comments Why I marchEach of the women and men who marched in the One Million Women’s March on Washington, which drew additional thousands internationally, shared one thing in common: the urgency behind their reason to march. The reasons themselves ranged in the thousands. Some women held posters proclaiming “Why I march,” with only a photo of their young children beneath it — nothing more need to be said. Nonetheless, the march was designed in many ways to grab the ear of our new president and inform him of the will of the people he now has pledged to serve faithfully. Mr. President, seeing as how you weren’t in the crowd Saturday, this is why I marched. I marched because, with every tweet and comment about how minorities (comprising roughly 40 percent of the nation you now serve) are ruining our country, you are attacking my family, friends, neighbors and classmates. In the crowd Saturday, one marcher carried a sign that read, “I march for the mothers who are separated from their children.” Mr. President, your proposed immigration policies for Muslims, Mexicans and refugees run counter to every principle this nation was built on. We are a nation of immigrants — immigrants like my mother who didn’t speak English when she arrived but who tacitly understood the promise of the American dream: If you work hard, you can succeed here. She worked seven days a week as a waitress, hostess and chef at our family-owned restaurant to support her growing family without complaint; this is the spirit and story of immigrants repeated across the nation, and it is people like her who truly make America great, Mr. President. Rather than separating families or blocking certain groups from entering our country, embrace the strength in our diversity and allow them to bring their energy, passions and talents to the task of reinvigorating the nation’s economy as they pursue their own American dreams. I marched to demand that President Trump recognize the validity of climate change as we enter the third consecutive hottest year on record. Even though he may not live to see its devastating effects on coastal cities, hundreds of animal species, and millions of people for himself, there is little time before the damage becomes devastating and irreversible. For the sake of the generations of Americans whom he has just sworn to serve faithfully, President Trump must act now to reduce carbon emissions in the U.S. and maintain climate accords abroad. I marched because breast cancer, in addition to devastating women’s lives and their families, is also incredibly expensive. After my mother’s battle with breast cancer, she was terrified of living without insurance because of her “pre-existing condition.” The Affordable Care Act insures my family today at a lower cost than before. If President Trump truly wants to play tug-of-war with the American people over keeping health care plans that provide for preventive care free of charge and that allow my sister and me to stay on our parents’ plan until after college, all I have to say to him is “Good luck.” I marched because women are more than pussies to grab, and while “nobody has more respect for women” than you, you’re now responsible for setting the example of how to treat women for young men internationally. Help us close the wage gap, regain control of choices for our own bodies, and obtain equality with our male counterparts in 2017. Mr. Trump, I didn’t vote for you, but you are now my president, as well as the president for the hundreds of thousands of women (and men) who marched for the causes that you have threatened through your rhetoric, promises and Twitter account. Two months ago, I knocked door to door and made call after call on behalf of Hillary Clinton, because I knew she would fight for my rights and my future. On Saturday, I marched to knock on your door, the White House, and now I call on you because you must defend my rights and my future. I am America’s women, scientists, students, children and minorities — and all that I ask is that you be our president, too. Rossella Gabriele is the Outreach Chair for Amnesty International on Washington and Lee's campus. Reach out to her at [email protected] |
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