Race is debated to be one of the most controversial topics that can be discussed. Of course we would all like to believe we left racism and discrimination back in the 1950s and 60s, but that’s simply not the case. Race affects our everyday lives, especially the lives of minority races. One point brought up today by our guest speaker, Georgetown Professor Michael Eric Dyson, was that when a mass shooting occurs, the first thought going through a black person’s mind is the hope that the shooter isn’t black just as the first thought that goes through a Muslim’s mind when a bombing occurs is the hope that the bomber isn’t a follower of Islam. Now that is just his opinion, but his point is that it’s concerning to minorities that a handful of them gone bad can reinforce the stereotypes surrounding their race or religion. No one wants their race, gender, religion, etc. to be associated with the danger of terrorism or bombings.
Another topic Professor Dyson discussed with us is that identity is the center of our citizenship. We can’t act as if every issue affects everyone in the same way. To think that white people receive the same amount of intolerance for being white as black people do for being black is false equivalency. To fight for the rights of the white working class while leaving out the rights of the black working class is one example. Why can’t we fight together for the working class as a whole? We are born without the knowledge of race yet society has shaped us to believe that a person’s race could determine their character and personality. Racism doesn’t go away if we stop talking about it and it doesn’t get better just because we do. It’s a process of all races being able to communicate with each other in a respectful way. We may just gain another perspective on some issues that we might not have thought about until we understood the importance of them in the lives of others.
We were also privileged to speak with Lacie Heeley, a Fellow with The Henry Stimson Center’s Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program. Her studies focus on nuclear weapons proliferation. The Stimson Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution devoted to enhancing international peace through a combination of analysis and outreach. Lacie was kind enough to answer any questions we had about the United States’ nuclear arms and capabilities. When asked how President Elect Donald Trump would handle the nuclear weapons situation considering his background in business and negotiation, she said she honestly wasn’t sure, but it will be interesting to see our new budget for defense spending. While the U.S. spends an estimated $600 billion on our defense system, many republicans have shown a great interest in increasing our budget. The main reason we have nuclear weapons is so we don’t have to use them. If another country is targeting us and knows we have the same or greater nuclear capabilities as them, nuclear war is less likely to occur simply because of the potential for mutual destruction. In other words, nuclear weapons are really just deterrences.
After our visit with Lacie, we toured Dupont Circle, had dinner at Lucky Bar and took the Metro back to our apartment. It was definitely different than anything I have seen in Arkansas. D.C. is incredibly fast paced and the fact that you can travel anywhere here underground blows my mind! It was a little tricky to navigate my way around at first, but it’s getting easier by the day. Tomorrow, we tour the U.S. Capitol and meet with Representative French Hill!