I chose “Act on Racism.” Act on Racism (AoR) is a small group of Grand Valley State University students founded in 2005. The performance group seeks to find a more creative way to discuss the manifestations of race and racism.
During a performance, students reenact the true experiences of racism that have affected their lives. Every scene AoR performs is inspired by true events students or people known to the students have experienced.
The performances by AoR incorporate various forms of artistic expressions, including singing, spoken word, and poetry. After each performance, AoR engages the audience in an interactive discussion. The discussion provides an opportunity for audience members to express their thoughts and potentially share any stories that relate to AoR's performance. Their mission is committed to the maintenance of safe space for race related dialogue, scholarship, and advocacy in our community. Their Method is
Theater of the oppressed is a method of interactive theater that encourages the audience to engage with the cast. Their presentations use individual narratives to stimulate awareness of the role of race in everyday situations.
Theirs Goals is to Recognize anti-racist education as a process that requires individuals to unlearn behavior; To Acknowledge race as a social construction; To Contribute to the body of race scholarship; To Encourage creative education and activism.
Act on Racism deals with sensitive topics, individuals interested in joining must fit at least of the following requirements: A student must have completed or is in the process of completing Professor Jennifer Stewart's SOC-382: Race & Ethnicity course. A student must have been referred by a current member of AoR or a faculty member. Those who fit the above qualifications may email aor@gvsu.edu with a letter of interest. In this letter, please specify the requirements you have met.
Those who do not fit the above requirements may email a letter of interest to aor@gvsu.edu with strong support as to why they would be a valuable member to AoR. Please note, requests may be granted or denied based on experiences, education, and sensitivity of the topics of race and ethnicity.
I chose the Act on Racism because I’m African American and the way African American is treated in the United States is terrible. We’re considered the lowest of the low among other races. Another reason I chose this organization is because it’s not about African American being oppressed but about all people from different racial backgrounds being oppressed.
This activism does not relation to specific topic that was cover in class but related to a few topic we’ve cover in class. The reason being is that race was tied in quite a few of our topic we discussed in class. “Wealth & power”, we talked about the wage gap between the dominant race and minorities races. Poverty, we discussed how most of the people in poverty are people in racial minority groups. Crime and Justice, we’ve discuss that people in minorities groups get harsher penalties.
The struggle between the United States & Racial minorities groups seems like a never-ending battle. I feel as if racism is an illness with no cure. We can’t eliminate it but we can treated and Act on Racism does an excellent job on helping treat the problem.