An Underdog Story
Today I went to a Women's Studies Center Brown Bag. The panel was talking about their experience at the Creating Change Conference which is put on each year by the National LGBTQ Task Force (https://www.creatingchange.org/).
The panelists talked about the amazing feeling of freedom, acceptance, and genuine appreciation for people of all colors, genders, and sexualities. The panelists talked about how awesome it was that even at this conference devoted to such issues, there were protests and critical discussions about the way the conference was handling tough issues and potentially leaving out some communities. But, they all agreed that the main take away was the powerful experience that it is to work with others towards a common goal; to fight the good fight; to be the underdog working with others passionate and hopeful that large, paradigm-shifting change can and will be accomplished.
All I could think was how similar this sounded to my experience at the Omega Center when I went for the Seeds of Change Conference. This conference was centered around the environmental movement, but I had similar takeaways.
The atmosphere was the most powerful thing. It just felt SO GOOD, freeing, uplifting, to be around so many other people who were interested in fighting the good fight, willing to be the underdog, challenging big business, working on an uphill battle trying to save the planet, often in the face of huge economic, cultural, and traditional road blocks. I remember feeling more connected to the people at that conference after 24 hours than I have ever felt with other students at Colgate.
And the Seeds of Change Conference was self-critical as well! We talked often about how the environmental movement has historically been a rich, white movement, even while the frontline communities to be effected by climate change and the depletion of natural resources are the poor, minorities, and indigenous people.
The talk at the WMST Center ended with a discussion of the importance of all oppressed and marginalized communities to come together in support of one another, to raise their voice as one against the status quo and call for drastic, institutional, rhetorical, political, and cultural change that acknowledges gender fluidity, that recognizes and accepts non-heteronormative sexualties.
I raised my hand at this point and spoke about the intersection of the environmental movement with LGBTQ interest groups, feminist groups, race-focused groups, economic inequality, indigenous cultures, etc.
I really believe that environmental justice is a form of social justice and that both forms of justice will not come without the underdog fight of the century, maybe of all time. What is more entrenched and ingrained in western civilization as gender roles, heterosexuality, race, and consumerism?
Join me in fighting the good fight! I am hopeful, we will prevail. But it will take time. In the meantime, enjoy a connection to a community of activists, empassioned, socially conscious and motivated people, who see the odds weighted against them, but charge forward into the unknown anyway, pursuing a better future for us all.
