MN GCE Portfolio

This is my first action project for my humanities course, Equality. In this class, we discussed different kinds of oppression and privilege. We started by studying racism, specifically in United States history and how the way racial discrimination has evolved over time. Starting from the first slave to arrive in America in 1619 to the structural racism of today's prison system. We also talked about race bias and white privilege. In this part of the unit, we watched the Oscar-winning movie BlacKkKlansman, a well done, honest and timely film. Watching it as a part of this class was fitting for the curriculum, but it was also something that was important for us to watch even if it hadn't been in for a class. From there we shifted to the topic of sexism, gender roles, and fragile masculinity. As a class, we generally discuss these heavier topics rather well in our own way and throughout this class that was a constant pattern. However, this part of the unit on gender and sexism is w...

This is my second action project for my humanities course, Global Peace. For this project we were tasked with picking an issue to act on through a form of peaceful protest. The paper and presentation below is the summation of my research, my action and my purpose. Pride Flag, Wikicommons (2005) In today's world, young LGBT people feel alone. The lack of representation and recognition in the media and minimal at best protections from discrimination. A few small steps have been made towards addressing systematic oppression, but not much has been done to address what is known as cultural violence. Cultural violence is the unspoken stigma of a community or society that can establish, normalize and justify oppression. It is part of the bedrock that sparks direct violence, a specific incidence or an act harming a person or group of people. Direct violence targeting the LGBT community is a norm hardly ever addressed by the traditional mainstream news outlets. This complete disregar...

In today's world, we are facing so many seemingly insurmountable conflicts. On a daily basis, there is a new story about another injustice. Rife with war, corruption, and hate, it is hard to imagine that there could ever be an end to it. While there is no one quick fix or cure-all way to solve all problems, there are a number of ways to view these issues, better understand their causes and how to address them. In my Humanities class, Global Peace, we studied different forms of non-violent protest. Before understanding how to be non-violent it is important to establish what is violence. When simplified, there are 3 kinds of violence, cultural, social and direct. Cultural violence is the unspoken stigmas of a community or society that can establish, normalize and justify violence and oppression. Cultural violence is part of the bedrock that creates structural violence. Structural violence is harm from a formal institution, government or any other body of power that targets and oppre...