How To Be An Activist
FleetusMcGee posted in The F*-Word
By: Anonymous
Believing in a cause and acting in accordance with that cause are the most fundamental steps in achieving activism. It is with these steps that a person learns to thrust all their heart and soul towards something greater than themselves, and when they do, they achieve ownership of their actions and can feel good and proud of what they have fought for; because it is, in fact, a reflection of their own values.
When I was in high school, I thought I was achieving activism when I volunteered to plan and organize a fundraiser to support solving the clean water crisis that affects 1.1 billion people. A teacher led this high school, club-sponsored concert, but the work rest upon the shoulders of the high school club members. Along with a friend, who had done a great job being the primary coordinator for the fundraiser, I helped plan, organize and advertise to make the event happen. We were fortunate to have the event space donated to us, but the owner of the space believed it was for a great cause. We made it a point to say in our advertising that all the money collected would go towards a fund supporting clean water initiative, and many people from the community came to support this non-partisan cause. It was then that I learned that some people might believe in a cause but do not in accordance with that cause.
It was two weeks after the event when the sponsoring teacher told us that the money raised would in fact go towards a club party instead of its originally intended purpose. We were appalled! How could a representative of the education system choose to hold onto money that was raised under the canvas of charity? This teacher planned to make liars out of my friend and me because we communicated a reason to support our event to the public and now we were not following through on our promise.
To this day I believe we did the right thing when we brought the issue to the school administration and pushed for an investigation of the incident. However, after weeks of promised action by the school administrators, we gave up. I learned a lot about activism during that time. I learned that simply bringing an issue to the forefront is not enough, whether it’s about clean water initiatives or corrupt school officials. It’s imperative to follow an issue through to the very end. There was no punishment for the offending teacher and the money ended up going towards a club party, and despite my loss in this battle, it taught me how to achieve activism in the future.
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