The View From Here

In the past month there has been news about the place I had worked regarding racial profiling by the security officers. As a result there was a rally but this isn't the first time this has happened. There was a rally there two years ago about the same issue and reality about racial profiling of students, staff and faculty of color. There's much to comment on but I will focus mine about the statements made about how there has been "only one" formal report in the past two years by one faculty of color, which must mean there is no problem, right? Well, that's no different than saying that there have been no reported sexual assaults and rapes (and unfortunately there are many campuses who report such statistics) so that must mean it can't be happening on our campus. I believe that many would say that such a statement is ignorant at best and outright false at the worst. For those who made such comments haven't thought about how the bias incident protocol ...

It's hard to believe that I just ended my last day at my graduate assistant job. I also find it hard to believe how different the ending is as compared to what I imagined at the start of the academic year. I thought for sure that I'd be gritting my teeth until the very end but that hasn't been the case. I'm not quite sure at what point things began to change although I can definitely put my finger on when I started seeing a therapist to specifically address workplace difficulties. Once I did, I was gently encouraged or even challenged to reconsider my thoughts, which in turn affected my feelings. Once I began to release some of the thoughts and feelings I had, my actions and attitudes were less defensive. This doesn't mean the people I was working for were any less mean or hurtful but when I began to recognize that much of what they said to me was not personal, I actually did feel better. At the same time I can't help but be reminded how very subordinate I am ...