The Community Action and Social Justice coalition (CASJ) has a long and rich history here at AU.
Our goals are to provide resources for various social-justice based student organizations and to help coordinate campaigns fighting for a socially responsible university where everyone, regardless of race, class, gender, sexual identity or ability, can feel safe.
Unfortunately, just as that environment was threatened when the Westboro Baptist Church came to our school last year, the same atmosphere was threatened when Gov. Jan Brewer stepped onto our campus.
Through her destructive policies, Brewer has victimized and marginalized minorities in our nation.
Arizona State Bill 1070 is a law that specifically targets Latinos living in the United States as being suspect by law enforcement based merely on their ethnicity. Furthermore, her statewide ban on ethnic studies and multicultural views on history are an affront to educational facilities everywhere.
As a university that takes pride in the diversity of our student body and our curriculum, we feel that Jan Brewer’s presence on campus was a threat to everything this University stands for. Toward the end of her speech, this feeling proved to be well warranted.
A number of students took a stand once the governor finished her speech. As the governor was about to respond to a question asked by the audience, and pre-approved by the event organizers, the protestors started to mic-check.
On top of this, the crowd began to loudly chant “USA!” over and over again in an attempt to drown out the mic-check, thus creating the disruptive environment that caused the governor to leave.
This is not to say that it wasn’t the protestors’ will to have the governor exit the premises; however, the exact circumstances of her fleeing the premises have often been skewed.
Furthermore, a silent form of protest was attempted earlier when the students held up signs that read “Do I look undocumented?” and “How can a human being be illegal?” Public Safety officers responded with orders that the signs be put down, thus effectively making any form of meaningful protest impossible in compliance with what was “allowed.”
Not only do we feel the actions taken last week by students against Gov. Brewer were acceptable, we feel they were absolutely necessary if this institution is going to place any true importance on student empowerment.
What happened was not the work of club presidents or paid professionals, but was the product of pure student will and the belief that their voices had to be heard, especially in the presence of someone who has built a career on exploitation and intolerance.
At the end of the day, CASJ stands for the students. Although there has been criticism and derision from the student body directed toward the protestors who stood up against the governor, we will always defend the right of students to have their voices heard, especially against those who promote racism, ignorance and hatred.
What kind of a society, much less collegiate learning environment, are we to promote if we cannot accept individuals and groups criticizing elected officials to their faces? Since when has “respect” become a term that entails the acceptance of institutionalized racism and hate?
If we are to place the convenience of politicians over our own deeply held beliefs and ideologies, then we deny ourselves an effective voice in the world around us, something we here in CASJ feel is an inalienable right, rather than a privilege.
Tom O’Connor, Dakota David, Mary Donoghue, Mitch Ellmauer, Chris Litchfield, Ethan Miller, Carmen Mason, and Sean Riley Wood make up the organizing collective of the Community Action and Social Justice Coalition.
