When people typically think of activism, they might think of protesting, lobbying for better laws, and being on the frontlines helping people in need, which is so important.
But there's so many other forms of activism and two of my favorites is using your voice and gathering as a community.
Many of us might be afraid to say what we think and feel out loud, which is why I try to create a safe spaces for people to come together and do just that.
This reminds me of my college days because when I was a junior, I created an organization called UNIFY and the mission was to bring men and women from the four Greek councils together to work towards a common goal.
To provide some context, that included the Panhellenic Association (traditionally for white women), the Interfraternity Council (traditionally for white men), the National Panhellenic Council (traditionally for black men and women), and the Multicultural Greek Council (a catch-all for Latinos, Asians, and other cultures).
When segregation began to dismantle at Indiana University in the mid-1940s, there was some slow housing integration inside campus dorms and so on.
But while I was there in the early 2010s, the class pictures at Greek houses still looked mostly like their historic roots.
There's no rules that say people of color aren't allowed in the PHA sororities and IFC fraternities, but while I was in a sorority, I was maybe 1 of 3 Latinas in a house of over 200 women and we were arguably white-passing.
It was also sad to see how separate the Greek councils were from each other so one day, I had a big idea...what if we came together once a week to have discussions and once a month to do community service?
So that's how it started. Food kitchens, trash clean-up, after-school activities with kids, and so on. Eventually, I created a big event called the Greek Olympics (lol) to fundraise for organizations in our surrounding areas.
Every participant was on a team of four with each council represented. The games were fun but what was even cooler was to see people bonding with someone they might not have met otherwise.
My senior year, I wrote an article about my experience with UNIFY, explaining how it softened the edges of modern-day segregation.
Even if we don't legally segregate anymore, some people tend to stick to social comfort zones, which can sometimes be based on similar race and culture.
But when we deepen connections with people who have different backgrounds than us, so much magic can happen. Our perspectives are widened, our compassion towards humanity expands, and we learn from a rainbow of experiences.
For this reason, UNIFY got the Organization of the Year award from the Commission of Multicultural Understanding (COMU for short).
I also got the Unsung Hero award at the Greek Awards, which I wasn't expecting because I was hardly involved in Greek life outside of UNIFY haha.
But recently, I found out that COMU doesn't exist anymore, which was shocking to me.
While people were celebrating the undefeated national champion football team at my alma mater a month ago, I was trying to make peace with the fact that IU was one of the first universities to eliminate DEI programming last year.
Yes, it was still cool to see their wins cuz when I was on the Redsteppers Dance Team from 2010-2014, I was on the field every single football game watching the Hoosiers be good for the first half of the game then fumble their way to a loss.
My dad still talks about it! He says, "It's incredible how many ways they found to make mistakes in the second half!"
I was dancing on the sidelines my whole college career, my big smile projected dozens of times up on the Jumbotron, transmitting rays of hope up to the stands LOL.
That didn't help them defeat the other teams though! Not while I was there! That's why the string of football wins this year was such a surprise!
Either way, if I had to choose between a university that has excellent football and one that has systems in place to make sure every person from every culture feels safe, I'd choose the latter.
More than a decade later, I'm feeling the ping of activism and community gathering coming back to me, how about you?
With the year of the Fire Horse starting today, let’s create an activist space full of hope, honesty, and maybe even a little joy, because even activism can be joyful sometimes :)
Big hugs,
Kimberly
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