Activism- simpler than it seems.

Recently I finished reading a book called “Jumpstart the World” by Catherine Ryan Hyde. It deals with some issues in the GLBT community, with a focus on the Transgender aspect.

One of the characters, Frank, said “We all [as humans] pretty much agree on certain things. Equality and stuff like that. But whenever it turns up missing, people just let it slide.” This is true for all types of discrimination, whether towards race, gender, age, sexuality, or other things. If it doesn’t apply to them, people they know, or people in the same group, many people simply ignore discrimination, or don’t even notice it in the first place.

So activism shouldn’t be about fighting those who oppose you, rather about getting the world to notice there’s a problem in the first place that needs to be addressed rather than being ignored or unseen. Even as little as wearing a shirt or a button, or putting a bumper sticker on a car, can do wonders. Many people don’t help causes they believe in because they don’t think there’s anything they can do, but that couldn’t be more wrong; every tiny little thing helps, because it gets people to notice, which is the most important thing. Once people notice, they become aware that there is a problem and then steps can be taken to change that problem.

This is also connected to the “single-story” theory (which states that discrimination arises out of only hearing one story about a group, thus making that story part of the group’s definition); simply making people aware that there are multiple stories can be a great form of activism for any group, since then people discover that there is more to a group than just the “single-story” they have heard.

Don’t let inequality slide. Show them the gritty truth of discrimination, by doing whatever you can, even if it’s just a little bit, to make people aware of the full-picture.