Journalism – like law and politics is absolutely fundamental to our American democracy and subsequently to our pursuit of the promise of equality. For a democratic state cannot exist without a free press just as it cannot exist where the government is not required to prove guilt and where there is no competition between political factions. My desire to make my life about the struggle for equality and social justice is what draws me to these fields and it has been an honor to serve as the Virginia representative for MTV’s Emmy Award-winning Choose or Lose Street Team ’08.
Although I can’t be certain where my career path will ultimately lead, I intend that whatever I do be in furtherance of social justice. We all have reasons why we’re committed to our causes. For me, my commitment to the fight for equality developed at a very young age. From my earliest years, I recall an express awareness of the wrong of inequality as I learned about many who suffered terrible loss but who overcame prejudice and discrimination. While on a different scale, I have overcome a number of challenges in my own life during which it was very present to me that as a woman I would have to work harder; that to do the things I wanted to do in my life I would have to give more of myself – and fight. So I made the commitment to fight.
As a woman, even a young woman, society’s stereotypes hit me hard. When my father retired from the Navy and my family moved from Maryland to Virginia, I was accepted into the honors program at my new elementary school. I walked in and saw three other girls in the honors class of 30 children. I struggled with the obvious message that there were many more advanced boys than girls. It seemed wrong to me – and I wouldn’t accept that message though I remember my initial insecurities in believing that women could not accomplish the achievements of men. At the height of my struggle I emphatically told my mother that women could never be doctors. The following week she introduced me to our dentist, our female dentist, and I began to believe that discrimination – all discrimination – could be overcome by the more powerful determination never to give-up on the struggle.
As I grew up, my consciousness of the reality of discrimination evolved into a young but developing understanding. I let my instinctive hostility toward intolerance and bigotry meet what has always been my commitment to action. In high school and especially in college, I involved and over involved myself in causes and meetings and activities many of which were important to me for the work involved, but also for opportunity as a woman to lead organizations.
In this work, I continued to have the opportunity to learn. For example, in my pursuit for class office I campaigned to men who told me outright that they would never vote for a woman. I was threatened and physically assaulted for my leading role in the process of disciplining a student who violated the University’s Code of Conduct. These were not experiences of the same magnitude as the civil rights movement. Yet, they were continued symptoms and symbols which taught me that as a woman I would have to fight for the opportunity of involvement and leadership. I learned perseverance; I became more committed. And I learned that the drive I have felt all my life was finding its role. I intend to put this drive to work for the rest of my life.
More specifically, in college, I found my passion for social issues. My awareness of the presence and nature of discrimination was expanding. The class that really woke me up was called Social Organization and Social Problems. For me, this class revealed often hidden inequality and discriminatory process in the structures of our institutions. I was struck that seemingly minute administrative policies can be the life and death of critical social programs. In my view, one of the most tragic and perhaps ironic examples of this occurred in 1996 when former president Bill Clinton, long committed to equal opportunity by policy, reformed the welfare system. These systemic alterations cut food stamps, funded welfare through finite block grants, and enacted a time limit on eligibility. As a result, millions of people, many of them children, were moved into poverty. My point in this discussion is not to advocate policy (I believe Clinton should have raised the minimum wage; subsidized childcare; exponentially increased subsidized housing and scholarships for higher education; and limited the consecutive years of dependence to five years instead of the three years his program mandated, to allow women sufficient time to earn the education necessary to permanently lift themselves and their children out of poverty.) Rather, my point is my own realization of the incredible, geometric power of micro steps in the application of policy. That was powerful to me. Now, all of this keeps me up at night. But I’m happy to be awake. I am grateful for the opportunity to dedicate my life to the fight for equal opportunity.
I was committed that my time between college and law school would be spent toward the same focus that drives my commitment to practice law. And because it was an election year, I knew working within a presidential campaign would allow me to make a real contribution. I quietly applied for and received a position with a campaign, managing and coordinating volunteer efforts in Southwest Virginia. While most people at Virginia Tech were busy watching the Florida State football game, I was petitioning the crowd of 50,000 people, ultimately securing more names than anyone in the region.
As exciting as it was to volunteer for a political campaign, working as a citizen journalist contributing to MTV’s Street Team ’08 has been by far the most exhilarating and socially important experience of my life. As a political correspondent for Virginia, I had the opportunity to produce video news reports, harnessing the unbelievable power of the media to bring compelling political news to my peers – a segment of the population which I believe will be absolutely instrumental to the election of the next president of the United States. I see my ability and new opportunity to stimulate young people to involve themselves in the political process as intricately tied to the fight for social justice. I believe early involvement of young people in the political life of our country can literally reinvigorate our democracy.
My friend and mentor, Mr. Lichtenstein, tells me that no battle can be won if there’s no one there to fight. I intend that my life be about being there to fight – for what I know is right and against what I know is wrong. And I am so grateful for the opportunity I had as a member of Street Team because I believe that it gave me an outlet to bring a greater awareness to myself and to my peers so that we are now better equipped to defeat not only the more obvious and prevalent racial, sexual and age discrimination, but also the more subtle process and institutional inequities that paint whole demographics with unfairness and ultimately with despair.
In the media business people are said to be having “a moment” when their popularity suddenly soars. I think we – young people – are having a moment; and I can’t wait to see how it develops in November.