When it comes to being a leader, one characteristic that is often associated with leadership is the ability to stand up against popular opinion in order to advance the rights of those oppressed. We have seen wonderful leaders who have fought for the rights of marginalized people everywhere. From Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., P!nk, Kate Chopin, these people in their own ways have shown characteristics of leadership by standing up for those that are often misrepresented.
What is most important to understand with anyone wishing to be a leader is that they should never fear changing society to help everyone, to create a world that is more inclusive, diverse, and accepting. Currently, we live in a world where the people mainly empowered is cisgender, heterosexual, able, thin, rich white men. People that don’t face these characteristics have, in some way, faced oppression because they don’t hold all these privileged identities. A true leader is someone who should be able to fight for the rights of those who face oppression; to those that are not heterosexual, to those who do not identify as female, those who don’t have economic privilege, etc.
As leaders in the making, and as loving human beings, we should all take a moment to see and plan how we can make this a more equal and loving society that supports people of all identities.
February 8th, 2013 at 6:08 pm
So true Rodrigo! Fear is one of the biggest obstacles we face when it comes to shaking up traditional society, even if the traditional way is wrong. Whether you’re in a dominant groups and have to gain the courage to reach out to a subordinate group, or in a subordinate group and have to reach out to a dominant group to get the support you need to make change, it takes serious guts to get up and speak out. Just in my short time here at Mason, I have realized its much better to speak out than to keep it in. I hope moving into our projects this semester that we can all help each other to realize this and make some serious social change!
February 18th, 2013 at 4:57 am
~Currently, we live in a world where the people mainly empowered is cisgender, heterosexual, able, thin, rich white men. People that don’t face these characteristics have, in some way, faced oppression because they don’t hold all these privileged identities.~
‘We don’t see the world as it is, we see it as we are!’
It is true that there are certain kinds of people that face repression every day but
‘no two people read the same book!’
You might see a transgender person handing out flyers and people not taking the flyers and instead ignoring him as ‘white people oppressing the transgenders!’
Another might look at it and say ‘Hey, it doesn’t matter if they are transgender or not, people don’t like receiving random flyers!’
Keep fighting for what you believe in Rodrigo
Memento Mori