Energy Of Activation

Deadline to complete week four tasks is
Post an initial response where you a) choose one or two of the readings and/or videos and identify two
examples of “gatekeepers” (the people the author/speaker encounters b) briefly describe how the
gatekeepers’ actions support structural power and reinforce inequality. Initial posts should be 150-200
words. (You may also choose to post a 3-5-minute video).
Respond to at least two of your fellow students. Responses should demonstrate that you’ve read and
reflected on your classmate’s response. Ask them a substantive question; make a connection between
what they’ve said and what you got from the materials, etc. Response to fellow students should be 50-100
words each.
PLEASE RESPOND TO CLASSMATES:
1. RICKY CRUZ :
In the essay, My Vassar College ID Makes Everything OK” discussed the issues that challenges higher
education and how there are many gatekeepers in the day to day world of higher education. For example
the author wrote about campus security and how on the surface they are charged with keeping the campus
safe for all of the people inside of it but how they target and harass students of color on campus making
them feel unwanted and safe. Then the director said that there is no racial profiling happening on campus.
This to me showcases an issue that gatekeeper are selling a vision. That gatekeeper wants to support the
action of his officers while defending the institution image. The second example is a gatekeeper in the story a senior white member of the English department furthering the idea of “ebonics” This gesture
showcases the misconception that there is a different language or slang that all African Americans have
and use. Also this ideas make discredits the author credentials to teach because the colleague is implying
that they do not speak proper. This is meant to put down his colleague so they can not continue to grow
professionally.
Two reasons essay engaged me so much is because I love NJCU and I want to work in higher education in
the future. At NJCU we are considered an HSI and a MSI (Hispanic Serving Institution and Minority Serving
Institution). Now on paper we rave about the diversity of the students and get extra federal and state
funding because of these title but what are we actually doing for the students that make us a HSI and MSI.
I have been at NJCU for four years now and I have seen little to no resources for these groups. Yes there
are also going to being meetings and committees but a lot times must committee gets lost with different
project and they become they one liners on the end of year reports. This also stuck my love for higher
education because I realized more and more as I read and research higher education that the author story
about feeling alone and targeted is not an isolated case. The author being part of countless committees
and feeling let they have to move the administration in the right direction is not isolated. This is still true and
I honestly believe unless we get more people in administration at a university that looks like their student
population we will never see true change.
2. Amina Benkaddoor
In her poem “you are in the dark, in the car….” And the short video “stop-and-frisk” By Claudia Rankin ( the
author/speaker ) shows how police forces “gatekeepers” target black people and treat them us criminal. In
her poem, “You are in the dark, in the car…,” Claudia Rankin mentions numerous situations showing
various actions of racism which can affect a black person. Using repetition, the author makes the reader
feel like that happen again and again to black people. I meant by that being treated as criminal, being
chased, being suspected. She makes the reader, after each act of racism, notice how black people are
targeted by police. One feels really disturbing and upsetting to imagine how many black people keep falling
in the trap of discrimination and racial label by police forces who use and abuse the law (system) to make
that happen. They can easily provide reasons for that abuse of system. Referring to Claudia Rankin poem,
they make the arrest by just saying “you fit the description of who we are looking for”. She used her voice to
express the experiences for those who have been victim of racism and been stop and frisk searches. In
both pieces one can notice how oppression makes these encounters, between both parties (black people
and police forces), happen again and again in different ways, different circumstances, and different places
but with the same outcome. One feel like these acts become normal.
READ: Rankine, You are in the Dark; Laymon, My Vassar College ID; Strangio, The Unbearable
(In)visibility