Thursday August 15th 2020. That was the first day I started my grad experience and my permanent residence in the state of Minnesota. For the next two years, I knew that I would interact with a lot of people that are not from the same area where I grew up. My first couple of weeks in Minnesota was a huge culture shock to me. Not only its in an area where it gets cold a lot but a lot of segregation within the cities in the state. What’s the purpose in me telling you this? Many people have experiences that others may not know about. The ways you can forge solidarity is by listening to others and to take part in activities, in which you can explore those differences online or in person.
Everybody listens to someone in some sort of capacity on a daily basis. Whether its in person, virtually on a computer or even through handwritten letters, there are effective ways that you can share anything that’s on your mind that’s happening with you and/or various people. When it deals with racial justice, there is no better time to listen to other black and people of color that have been subjected to harassment or not taking incidents seriously in their own neighborhood. Listening to just an experience that may not effect you should effect in a serious way to take immediate action and hold those parties responsible of what they’ve done. In addition, listening can also influence major changes with laws and the way that individuals should be approached by law enforcement. This can have more positive relationships with the police.
When anyone participates in activity surrounding anti-racism or solutions for racial justice, they are making the effort to make a change within their communities in which they live in. Bringing people together to talk about the issues and highlighting the people that have been severely impacted by that can have a change that will have a positive perception. Plus, this will impact a positive way to use this knowledge for new people that may move in and educate local officials.
Forging solidarity is not a hard thing to do. You can always share your experience and to trust anyone that’s around you the situations that are happening around you.