Affirmative Action

The social justice event that I attended was the speech given by Shirley Wilcher, she is an affirmative action specialist and has directed the American Association for Affirmative Action. The speech she gave was very easy to understand and connect with because it related to what we have read in class. Affirmative action provides equal opportunities to people of different races, sexual orientation, disability and many more. It takes place in multiple of settings around the world such as the work force, education including at college level.

      Shirley Wilcher talked about a variety of topics mostly racism. Affirmative action includes efforts to prevent discrimination by eliminating barriers to equal employment opportunity. The one thing that stuck out to me most in her lecture was about how her and her friends tried to get a cab driver and one pulled up then proceeded to drive away because of their race. This part of her speech reminded me of White Privilege by McIntosh, Privilege, Power and Difference by Johnson. I don’t get how anyone could treat someone differently just because of their race. I was always brought up, as it does not matter what anyone’s race is, as long as they treat you nice.

 Wilcher not only touched upon how this topic affects people of different, but also people in the LGBTQ communities. This reminded me of Speaking the Unspeakable in Forbidden Places by Allan et al. This article was about the LGBTQ issues in school and how the topic is not discussed in elementary schools. If the kids are taught about it at such a young age then these topics may not be as controversial as they are today. This is the reason some people may not be so accepting because they do not actually understand the topic of the LGBTQ community.

The connections I have made to this speech:

1. My friend, as we watched the video about Cameron Hewey, was bullied and made fun of by his peers and even people that did not go to his school because he is transgender. I have known him since middle school and how he acted when he was “Nicole” , I have seen him transform and what he has gown through, but I can also tell her is much happier as Cameron rather than Nicole. If people were taught about LGBTQ at a young age people may have not been as mean as they were to Cameron when transferring.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bexiIcHWEwI This video on college acceptance vs. racial discrimination. I made a connection with Wilcher’s speech and talking about how some students are not getting in because of their race.

3. https://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=43428 This is an article on Stanford Alumni talking about a kid that said he would have never applied if their was not affirmative action in place. This relates to the reading and how Wilcher states we should not get rid of it because it will limit people of the minority.