I just graduated, but as I\u2019ve been reflecting on how it has shaped me, I realized my most important lessons came outside the classroom. [Insert trite aphorism about learning happening everywhere here.] You\u2019d think as a Human Rights and Political Science double-major I\u2019d have spent a lot of time in class digesting social movements, understanding the complexities of justice, and studying to make the world a better place. But you\u2019d be wrong. When I was working on a campus social movement, I even tried to research it. In the end, nothing quite substituted real world experience. These are 20 lessons my BAs didn\u2019t teach me, but I learned anyway.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizens Councillor or the Ku Klux Klanner but the white moderate who is more devoted to order than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says, “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can’t agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically feels that he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by the myth of time; and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a “more convenient season.” Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Those who are more concerned with the \u201coffense\u201d of being accused of racism rather than the potential harm of their racism are part of the problem. Those who are more concerned with policing methods of protest than challenging the police brutality that necessitated it are part of the problem. Those whose activism can be delayed until it is convenient rather than demanding liberty and justice now are part of the problem.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I just graduated, but as I\u2019ve been reflecting on how it has shaped me, I realized my most important lessons came outside the classroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":644,"featured_media":37091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[767,6,1477,2347],"tags":[2505,3023,471],"yoast_head":"\n\n
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