Frustrations

I've been feeling very frustrated lately.

I am taking a class called "Perspectives on Race, Gender, and Ethnicity." I am more and more glad I am in the class every time we meet. We are reading so many interesting articles and engaging in discussions that I really have never sought out. Those topics are generally pretty uncomfortable, but it's absolutely essential that we discuss them because there are people everywhere experiencing discrimination based on these characteristics. (Obviously, there are people experiencing discrimination who do not fall into those categories, but the class can only focus on so much at once.) How can we fix these problems if we don't start by discussing them?

Anyway, I'm loving the class. I finally feel like I can have a dialogue about racism and sexism with other people who are interested (or maybe just need the course requirement) and hear different viewpoints.

At the same time, I am frustrated because I feel so helpless. We keep saying that we need to change the system of racism along with our own personal racial issues. How am I supposed to do that? I am, like I said in my last post, trying to be more active in issues about which I feel strongly. Not only is it hard to prioritize these when someone is always suffering no matter which cause I act for, but it is also hard to know what to do. I will try to be more open in my own dialogue, but how do I change a society historically based in racial discrimination?

For now, I'll just keep my eyes and ears open and act when I can, no matter how insignificant or small.

-Jackie