What’s important to me/tool kit

Healthcare has been on my mind a lot. It’s always been something that’s been a big part of my life. I used to have it and even with it, my family went into a huge amount of debt. Healthcare is an equality issue. No one should have to die or compromise unfairly or go into crippling amounts of debt over health insurance. Recently there was even a person arrested over their debt due to medical expenses. Some health insurance programs don’t even cover certain procedures and patients have died from abstaining from them. 

Sex trauma is a concern of mine. Primary schools need better sexual education in order to help form healthier, safer sexual relationships, rather than just teaching abstinence. Colleges and specifically CalArts need to create safer environments. I think the consent quiz in order to attend the Halloween party was a good first step. I think there could be more emphasis on helping survivors with their healing, possibly workshops. Not everyone has money for therapy and counselor meetings can run out fast. I think awareness is really key too because a lot of people are unaware of the resources they have or have a hard time processing what's happening/where they should go from there.

Universal higher education is important to me. Without it, it creates a class issue where people can never dig themselves out of the debt of student loans. Without these social programs, people will be stuck in a vicious cycle of paying off student loans and the poor will remain poor and the rich will remain rich. 

I chose the White Privilege tool kit, which I immediately felt like could have clarified a bit more on who it was the intended audience (seemed to me should have been targeted more at cis, straight white people as they take on more of this privilege.) The public spaces issues struck a different chord with me as well as women often feel unsafe in public. I do echo the piece’s emphasis on checking your privilege, whether it’s race, sexual orientation, gender or class. My favorite line was “I will never be asked to speak on behalf of all people of my race.” This particularly struck a chord as I have been watching OJ: Made in America and cringing over the prosecution calling on Chris Darden to be the black voice on how people will react to Mark Furhman’s use of racially explicit language.