On the night I chose not to die . . .

On the night I chose not to die…

I was a woman of color. On the night I chose not to die, I fought with anger and determination, and finally fell asleep with a satisfied smile born not from my own sheltered existence, but from the momentary dissolving of the reality of privilege. That night I watched the hordes of college students exiting the bars and dispersing, walking past those of us confronting police in the streets as if it was simply none of their business. That is the privilege you describe, which has no place in this movement.

Who was left? Who made it their business? If you were there, if you dared approach the dancefloor and “battlefield” of the streets, you’d know what we “looked” like.

And yet according to your fairytale of homogeneity and privilege, on the morning after “I chose not to die,” according to you, I woke up a white man. Let me tell you… NO I DIDN’T!

It’s as though all the work I’ve done, the lifetime of daily struggle, of people acting as if I was naturally inferior and practically invisible, is a waste of my time. Because the people I also struggle for, among others, could flippantly assert that now, because I fight alongside my white brothers and sisters, I have no identity, no history, and no color of my own.

~~~

To the author of the “Open Letter to a White Student Movement,” we respond:

Read the entire statement at Occupy California.

UC Above the Law?

For many students across California, the start of this semester looked unusual. Instead of checking in with their advisers, they were checking in with their lawyers. These students are currently experiencing the backlash of protesting against the University of California’s decision to implement a 32 percent fee increase last November. Several protests included the occupation of buildings on several UC campuses and an alleged attack on the UC–Berkeley Chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau’s home. These actions led to the arrest of hundreds of University of California students. Media attention waned once bail was posted, but the students’ problems did not end when they were released from custody. Many are now facing charges from the university's Center for Student Conduct, but no one seems quite sure of how the code of conduct and the law should interact.


Read More at Campus Progress.