Reflections – #Blackintheivory

Reading #Blackintheivory stuck with me because it reminded me of one experience I had at Tufts. I was gathered around a table with other executive board members of a Tufts organization and one of them noted how another club only had white members, to which our president noted “Well, so does ours…except for…” and then she looked at me. Such a moment was particularly memorable for me, as it was one of few instances in my life when I was “othered” — seen as an outsider within a larger group — due to my ethnicity. If at home I am seen as white and can reap the privileges that come with this identity, a change in my geographic location — for instance, being at Tufts — can place me into a category of racial otherness, as a Latina. It was uplifting to find stories like mine and to see that Twitter can a tool for solidarity-building within and among oppressed groups, which is an integral part of organizing for change. I hope to continue exploring this potential for solidarity-building in our class and perhaps employ it in my future Twitter stories. I wonder, though, if this solidarity would be more fragile, voluble, or short-lived because it takes place in an online setting. I am also curious about the consequences of this digitally-based solidarity for organizing — does it make for effective organizing? What do folks think?