literature, politics & activism

Literature, politics, and activism are three forms of creating change that all work together in harmony. For so long I thought about these three forms as all individuals from one another, however throughout this semester I have quickly learned that they are in fact intertwined. These three forms come together to provide new light upon our daily lives, they work together to retrieve information and push us to move forward as a society. Literature is used with power through poetry and grand speeches, politics in the day to day runs our lives and how we work together as a society, and activism is how we combine everything and make change ourselves. With the three working in harmony we can see just how powerful people can become. 

Literature gives society the basis of our lives and how we are to build them. Literature can spark change, an idea and even a movement to form and it is with literature that we can idealize a new future. Within literature we can find famous works of art forever to be remembered or a new reality we desire to reside in, we can also see behind the walls of color and read poetry that is the purest form of who people are. The emotions we learn through literature are valuable in how we look at life and the tough situations we are sure to come upon. The ability to get strength, bravery, and the courage to stand up for oneself is powerful. People are able to learn from the words they read how to be a better person and how we would like our governments to treat us. In literature we can gain the strength to protest for our human rights, we are able to learn that as a society we must not be taken advantage of by our government. Herrera shows just how we can use literature to change our lives. For many hispanic americans literature is how they learn to speak and write in english. For my father it was how he learned to write in english, and is how he was able to overcome adversities in life, for my grandmother it was how she would bond with us, she chose to read to us in Spanish so we would learn. Literature is their power to overcome adversities, it is the power to find others like us. 

Politics is the form in which we function as a society. Everything is give and trade, elected for the people by the people. This is what is supposed to be our structure, our guidance. However as seen for as long as our government has been founded, politics come with a level of discretion. The ability to change our government is one that was given to us as a right from birth. We have the ability to make our society one that we see fit and it is through literature that we learn that the people will always win. We are shown and transcended into a different universe of thought when we see how the people win in literature. In every story the people win, they are able to fight for their government to win their battles. Through the power of our society, politics is how we make change. Wicker shows us how politics run things depending on race. We see how the killing of innocent black people is broadcasted over the television for everyone to see. Murders are becoming political and Wicker points this our by showing just how numb we are to it all. It is the ability to change our government for the better that gives us power. 

Activism is the core of our person. For decades we have been fighting for what is rightfully deserved. In today's climate where women are being attacked over our reproductive rights, our right to protest is stronger than ever. Activism ignates people to stand up for what we believe in, to rise against our government. Activism gives us our voice, it allows us to stand up for what is right, to demand change. We use activism to solve problems and overcome anything that may stand in our way. Vang shows the hurt her people have been through and calls for justice. Through her poems the detailing of her struggles every day are what lead activists to rise. We are shown the damage done that we are never taught of. 

In life there have not been many places where I feel as though I belonged. With family, friends and after school programs I never truly felt that I had a place where I could be myself. A lot of this stemmed from being too Mexican for the white kids and too white for the Mexican kids. With my family it was me being an independent child and always figuring things out, never truly relying on any of my family. Throughout this course I have been able to finally see that I was not the only person going through the issue of never fitting in, never having a place to truly be oneself. 

When we first started reading Slincer by Whicker I thought it was just going to be poetry I would never understand, however, the more we read the more I realized that I did understand. Wicker was just a man who never felt he belonged. Minority children are born into a society where they can never truly belong without losing a part of themselves. Trying to fit in with the majority will cause you to lose your background, culture and the things that make you different. However trying to embrace your culture will cause people to look and stare, and judge from afar. Neither option leaves minority kids feeling safe, but I believe that is the point of everything. To never feel safe and create safety, if I had looked past never being enough of one culture I could have found people like me, people who never fit in with one side and together we would have been each other’s safety. All throughout life I tried time and time again to fit in and mold myself into a cookie cutter version of the people I was with when I should have been breaking the mold. 

Farewell my youth, farewell my innocent mind not yet tampered with the knowledge of age.

There goes my pure mind, know longer filled with cartoons and jokes, instead riddled with the reality of the world, the reality of war.

Grandma, how I will forever cherish the bubble of love and safety you gave to me, the protection and guidance you radiated for me.

Grandpa how I will miss the times you lifted me up in the air, the freedom I felt from flying in your arms.

Here I stand a new woman, marked with the burden of knowledge. 

All of the songs on this playlist perfectly depict who I am or was at some point in my life. I grew up listening to Duran Duran and any and all “old school” music. With my parents being from South Central LA, listening to Snoop Dogg, Eminem and Micheal Jackson was a cultural thing. Those artists are a part of my identity as a kid who was raised with strong South Central LA influences. Tying that in combination with Elvis Crespo, Selena, and Shakira I was born with the strong realization that I am a strong Mexican American who happened to be raised in the ghetto. Moving to Ascension by Phil Wickham I have to pay homage to 13 years of my life as a kid who went to private catholic school and had an identity crisis as soon as I wasn’t forced to attend church every week. However I soon became the punk pop child I was meant to be, and realized my sexuality thanks to Hayley Kiyoko. The last four songs however are my reasons to live, my wanderlust is uncontrollable, to make the world mine and conquer everything, to live life to the fullest is all I want and those last three are the songs that will play in the coming of age teen movie about my life and the impact I will leave on this world.

For this poem I chose “Conjecture on the Stained-Glass Image of White Christ at Ebenezer Baptist Church''. This poem starts off with a verse from 1 Corinthians 12:23 white states that we are “all baptized into one body”. I believe he Wicker chose to start with this because if we really are all baptized into one body then why does racism still exist, why is our mainstream image of Jesus - a Jewish man from the middle east - white with blond hair and blue eyes.

Going deeper into the poem Wicker constantly pulls specific words and phrases from the bible. An example of this is “If in his image made am I,” he talks about how we are made in God's image and he constantly repeats this theory and the word “make”. He depicts that what he wants is to be seen, in the example he gives they are things that people would notice - a miracle, the body of a 28 - year old black woman.

Further on he also notes our 'sins’, “blood on leaves, insides diamond mines, in under-developed mineral rich countries” I believe this is to further evaluate that we are not made in God's image if we are still sinners. We as people are not made of his image for we do not hold the same morals, we are still mortal and creating blasphemes which Wicker points out.