Culture Riot

I’ve concluded that being “liberal” doesn’t cut it. “Liberal” people don’t give you weird looks when you enter a computer science classroom. “Liberal” people don’t shut down a party when all the colored people roll through. “Liberal” doesn’t mean pointing out the color of your skin when you’re looking for housing. “Liberal” doesn’t mean sticking a bunch of witty bumper stickers on your 16-foot SUV. “Liberal” doesn’t account for the Pink Guy or the Balloon Man or the myriad of street performers on Pacific Ave. That’s just weird. And, you know what? That’s okay.

Last week, while watching the workers’ massive protest against University of California’s shenanigans, I realized it was the radical people who make things happen. People who struggle for justice understand that without it, life is not worth it. People who struggle for justice ache for it. They sit in meetings until the morning hours organizing for it. They march around campus, into the communities; they bring their families and tell their peers about it.

I’m leaving UCSC, a place where I’ve grown and learned and loved a lot. But there is still so much injustice going on there. The voices of student workers are being trampled in the name of the University’s reputation. We the students and our families are the people, the humans who make the University run at its most basic level. How long do we have to struggle for the right of education to be fully recognized?

I went out dancing last Saturday night. Or, I tried to. My friend Jessica Y. and I sat in her car a long time talking. She told me, “I feel like we’ve used these years to think. Now it’s time for us to do.” In other words; don’t just speak about: be about it.

I know that students getting stronger (or angrier, or something). I feel it. The generation of students coming through are passionate, organized and ready. Watch out now!