Latest Updates: social justice RSS

• 

  Social Justice In Action :: My Trip To New Orleans

  Dillon Doyle 9:13 pm on October 18, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: action (2), new orleans, social justice, together in action, trip

  This weekend I was asked by a very smart and dedicated union organizer “what drives you”. I was taken aback. This seemingly simple question had so many answers, yet so few came to mind. Trying not to sound like a beauty queen (sorry Mrs. Colorado), I responded that I am driven to have influence for the good. What I was trying to get at is this seemingly tense relationship between politics, power, and social justice organizing that sums up my life at the moment.

  I feel I have a great internal motivating factor which I think is characterized by the following (which BTW are some of the wisest words ever uttered): it is both the duty and responsibility of the world’s fortunate few to help fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the unfortunate many.

  It is in this, acknowledging and working within my privilege, that I work everyday to better my community. It is also in this that I often struggle with my identity. Am I a social justice organizer? Am I a politician? Do I serve to gain power and influence for purely personal fulfillment and if so is that social justice when used for the betterment of others? These questions, the ones that will decide my future career, are ones I am currently struggling with.
  
  read the rest of this post at http://ow.ly/v8xr

   

  Reply Click here to cancel reply.

  Name (required)

  Email (required)

  Web Site

   
• 

  What Being A Democrat Means To Me

  Dillon Doyle 7:23 pm on May 30, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: American, Americana, democrat, fabric, moral, social justice, United States

  To me, being a Democrat is not only an ideology, but a way of life. A community.

  For me, a community is the ability to have a unilateral subconscious whose vary fabric binds our group together; the unspoken bond between Democrats can manifest itself in friendly conversations with complete and sometimes scary strangers within our community. It can manifest itself in a harsh critique of all that isn’t “Democrat” or “progressive” that can further unite the sometimes large gaps between us. But for me, the ultimate manifestation of this Democratic fabric is a strong respect for that which is living; social justice and environmentalism are great exhibitions of this ideal. Democrats have a strong sense of what is fair, and how to better attempt to balance what is currently unfair. This is what being a Democrat is to me.

  Being a Democrat isn’t just a passive existence. Being a Democrat means that I spend everyday of my life trying to make a difference. Never satisfied with unequal status quo, I am always trying to contribute to some greater good and to right what is wrong.

  The fabric of our democracy weaves us all together, whereas the quilt that is Americana lives within us; with multifaceted patterns, fabrics, and colours we are all intricately intertwined into a system. With out one, the other could not exist. We are a whole, and we are a nation. Perhaps above all, no matter how strong my moral convictions may be, no matter how strong our Democratic community grows, I am a citizen of these United States of America and I therefore have the moral conviction to live my life for the betterment of the peoples.

  I am a Democrat. I am free. I will be all that I can be, doing all that I can to make a difference.

  –

  These cheesy remarks are a product of very little sleep, and do not represent the views of all that are Democrat. Just one lone college student trying to change the world.