Introduction and Reflection

Madison DeLoach
Marie Lo
Race and Social Justice
29 September 2015
Everywhere Ive lived has been a destination location. I was born eighteen years ago in a beach
side hospital in Boca Raton Florida, a retirement town for rich and elderly. My early years were
accompanied by resort visits, long days spent at the beach, and the occasional trip to Disney
World. Yet, just at the tender age of three we packed up and moved to the wine country, Sonoma
County Ca. Things changed quite drastically once we settled, a new rabbit, a new dog, a new
baby brother. I thrived on the ranch we called home, having horseback riding lessons on
Sundays, and playing in the wide-open space of our acres of farmland. Unbeknownst to me my
life would take another unexpected change, by age ten we were off yet again, this time to a place
that smelled like chocolate, Hershey Pennsylvania. My mother had landed a job at Hershey
Entertainment and Resorts, creating and merchandising all the Hershey Park and Hotel Hershey
boutiques and shops. With in a year of living in The Sweetest Place on Earth my parents
divorced, my rabbit died, and my father fled back to Sonoma. While the early years were tough,
we made the most of it by driving to DC or New York on the weekends. It was on trips to New
York I discovered my passion for Musical Theater, seeing a show whenever we got the chance,
the revival of Gigi being my most recent. But like all the other times before, we left. Once I
graduated high school, my mom quit her job and she, my brother, and I packed up to go drive
through the south to Los Angeles. We arrived in July to the wide and open arms of my whole
family, and after finally getting settled I had to start all over yet again. Now I am officially living

in Portland (on campus mind you) and attending school as an Art major just trying to readjust
like all the times before.

Now, after just reading that Im an art major, one might question my reasoning for choosing such
a serious Freshman Inquiry as Race and Social Justice. I could have easily chosen A Work of
Art or Imagination and Power such as many of my art class peers chose to do but I chose
something that I knew would both interest and challenge me. In all honesty it wouldnt be too
much of a stretch for an art major if my reasoning was related to how many artists often
showcase their critical thinking upon the world we live in with their own art, but Im afraid thats
still not why I decided to take Race and Social Justice. I chose this course because of current
events; events such as the death of Mike Brown, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the
Baltimore riots. I recall the moment I learned Mike Brown was killed; I asked, Didnt this just
happen? in reference to Trayvon Martin. Before the Baltimore Riots even happened my Law
and Society Class was examining the unlawful arrest and then sudden death of Freddie Gray and
wondering how could something like this even happen in 2015. After watching a black lives
matter protest on the news, the first thing I heard from those around me were not cries of
injustice to lives lost, but annoyed murmurs of Why isnt it all lives matter? Its not even
solely racial inequality that concerns me anymore. Events like the GOP debate in which each
republican candidate declared that they would defund Planned Parenthood make me feel
unsecure about the rights of my own body. Not to mention that Planned Parenthood is the sole
medical provider to many women with low incomes as well. Even things that seem insignificant
like the whitewashing of The Stonewall Riots in the new drama about the gay rights protests in
the 1980s make me frustrated. Because of such actions and injustices brought onto minorities

groups, I want to do more than just hear or read about them in the news. I want to examine them
and understand first why things such as this are happening in our world today, and then look
toward a solution.

I am looking hopefully toward what I will be learning in Race and Social Justice. I know that to
understand why inequality is still so prevalent in daily life, we will have to look back on history.
By exploring the roots of how racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism came to be in our
modern world really intrigues me. Surely there must be a reason why people hold unconscious
prejudices and malice to groups that are different to them? Nobody woke up one morning and
declared the systematic dehumanization of Africans that lead to slavery and racism, as we know
it today. Surely theres instances that explain how Spartan women could own land, go to school,
and were near equals to men, and yet in Greece during the exact same time, women were not
allowed to even leave their homes. I feel once I can understand and dissect racial and social
inequality, I will be informed enough to hold conversation and debate on the controversial topics
of race and social justice. In this class I want to leave confident in my teachings enough to
debunk ignorance and connect rational thought about race and social justice to society so that it
may change for the better.