Through this semester, we wrote two justice monologues and watched two films, True Justice and Beyond Standing Rock. These films went into depth of real world issues regarding justice and injustices in history and today through the lens of black lives and the rights of native lands. Our monologues touched on our own ideals and morals around justice. To write our first monologue, we learned about different justice philosophies such as Rowl’s Theory of Justice as Fairness, Utilitarianism and Libertarianism. This speech was a reflection of our newly gained insight on justice and its importance and relevance in society and our lives on a daily basis. Additionally, we learned about environmental ethics and the sustainability of our planet and sacred lands. Our second justice monologue confronted this issue. Our final justice project incorporated all of the different pieces that we learned about over the course of the semester, bringing them together in a final action plan or project to really solidify our understanding of justice, and how it can be implemented in our local community.
Justice Project Defense and Reflection:
My project ended up supporting the greater community through community service. I put together a winter clothing drive with AHS by creating fliers to hang around the school, hand making two large signs reading “Winter Clothing Drive” next to two large boxes, and making announcements in every class to remind people. I brought the accumulated clothing to Companeros after a week and helped to organize and sort other clothing items for the actual distribution of them for the weekend. On Saturday morning I helped to set up for the event and helped the people in need to find clothing and items of use. I also helped with food and keeping the event organised until early afternoon. I learned a lot and was able to speak Spanish with individuals and speak with the main organizers of Companeros who had a lot of important and solid insight to give.
How did your project reflect your personal philosophy of justice? Searching inwardly and in depth of how this issue relates to my philosophy, I have found myself struggling with the balance and importance of every view. My view on the issue of immigration on the US in general is not from the perspective of a Utilitarianist, but rather from Rawls theory of “Justice as Fairness”. I see immigration as a healthy addition of diversity and economic growth in our country. Illegal immigration let alone is a very controversial issue, and when we attempt to confront it through multiple different world views and philosophies, it becomes messy and complicated. Looking at it from an outside perspective with no real background on the issue, it is clear that the solution to illegal immigration is not simple or black and white as it is. Different questions arise when looking at this issue: Do we open borders? Well… no. It’s not that simple. Our economy would crash and then, where would all those immigrants stay? And that isn’t really helping to solve the underlying issues in the countries they came from anyway. How many people do we let in? Who do we let in? Again, there’s no simple answer to this. There isn’t a linear waitlist or typical structure to the people trying to come into the US. It depends on the situation they are in, if they have a family, and if that family is already in the US, if they have money, felonies, etc. With the controversy that already exists with all the problems with the current system itself, it’s very challenging to confront it without some sort of framework for thinking. Hence, Justice as Fairness. Certainly this isn’t everyone’s worldview or philosophy, but in the interest of the people who have fallen victim to their situation, I believe that this provides the best structure. Equity is the goal of Rawl's philosophy. The “Veil of ignorance” is a view that we have to adapt where we are empathetic and understand that our situation is completely by chance, and that everyone deserves to have the same chance as we do. Again, I understand that we can’t just open our borders to everyone, but I think that if we open our minds to the world and the possibilities and opportunities that come with helping people who are desperately in need, we would be benefiting more than just those people.
Why was your project a just way to address your issue of injustice? My project involved helping a local population of immigrants by collecting, organizing and finally distributing winter clothing among those people for this winter. I believe that this was a good way to confront an issue of injustice because it not only helped people to gain a step up in the direction of equity, but it also brought an awareness to my school of the issue of immigration in the US itself. People know now that there are people who live in Durango who don’t even have the means to buy themselves clothing for the winter. That’s absurd. My project took action towards helping the community while sending the message that there are people who are undocumented and living in the shadows and that we have the ability to help them.
Did you do sufficient research and background work to pull off your project, take an informed stance or succeed in your endeavors? Explain! I began my research by subscribing to the Durango Herald and reading old articles from before 2018 to get a solid understanding of what Immigration, legal and illegal has looked like for the past several years. I didn’t have a very strong background on the topic of immigration itself before this project, and I still have a lot of learning to do. I think that I was able to pull off the clothing drive since it was more of a community service project, and less of an awareness spreading project. It was helpful to know about the history and background of Companeros before going to their office and speaking with the organizers. I think that with the little that I knew about immigration, I was able to have a sight opinion on the issue while still being able to stay completely open minded to other perspectives.
In what ways were you successful in meeting the goals you established in your project proposal? What contributed to your successes? Because there was such a short timeline, I wasn’t able to make as big of an impact as I had wanted. My goal had originally been to become more involved and educated on the issue of immigration locally, and I think that I met that goal. I was able to reach out to a local organisation, “Companeros” where I learned, hands on more about undocumented immigrants in Durango, policies in the US and locally and all of the ways we can better support people in need. I think that the most effective way that I stayed organised was by making lists and deadlines. This is a process that I will definitely use in the future.
In what way were you successful in meeting the goals you established in your proposal? What contributed to your failures? What did you do to try to overcome the obstacles? What should you have done differently? I think that it was difficult to come up with an initial action project. “How do I solve the issue of Immigration?” was my initial question…- That’s kind of a tough question to answer. I had to narrow down the issue for my purposes and ability to confront one issue at a time, starting with researching immigration in Durango using the Durango Herald as my first source. Throughout the rest of the project I continued to work using the mindset of taking little steps and impacting a smaller group in a deeper way so that I wouldn’t get bogged down in my inability to reach the greater audience. This proved to be helpful when I was organizing clothing on Thursday before we distributed it on Saturday. I spent two hours folding, hanging and distributing clothes in the Companeros office with other volunteers. Folding clothing wasn’t exactly solving the big picture issue of immigration in the US, but it made the work more efficient and ultimately helped a group of immigrants in Durango who needed the help. This continued to be true on Saturday when I helped distribute the clothes. I was able to connect with five little girls between 4 and 13 who were speaking a mix of Spanish and English with each other. I chimed in and asked in my best attempt of Spanish if they wanted any food which we were serving and if they needed a bag for the clothes they had found. They were excited that I was also a Spanish speaker and rapidly started talking to me. They asked me about my background and were surprised that I wasn’t hispanic. They told me about their families, Mexico, school and what life was like as an undocumented immigrant in the US. Again, I may not have been solving all the world's problems, but by listening to their perspective and stories, I gained some insight, first hand, of what life was like for these people. It caused me to further question my place as an immigrant in the US as well. Overall, I don’t think that I would have gained the same kind of knowledge and awareness from this project without this experience.
To what extent did you SHOW UP for this project? I was very interested in the ideology, politics and laws around my issue. I love helping people and learning more about world and local issues. I did my best to get involved in the community and to help as much as I could in a two week period. As an individual, I had to stay disciplined with deadlines and work time. I spent time making posters, handmade and digital, making announcements over email and in person, helped in school and with a local organization and ultimately put together a successful project while learning a lot about an issue that I am now very passionate about and interested in.
What TWO key lessons did you learn from this project that you can apply to senior project? One of the biggest lessons I learned from this project is to not be afraid to reach out to new people and organizations who could be potentially helpful. In this project I spoke with my pastor at Christ the King who connected me with Matt Karkut, the executive director of Companeros, and Beatriz Garcia and others who work with the organisation. I also spoke with a few members at my church who have a rich amount of experience in social work and immigration. These were all connections I made before even beginning the project. Before I began reaching out to people, I did plenty of research on the history of immigration in Durango as well. Ultimately, I learned that in order to have a successful meeting with someone about any topic, it’s important to have some background knowledge beforehand. Another lesson that I learned was that in order to stay organised and on top of my work, I need to create a timeline and a checklist for dates and things that need to get done. By creating deadlines for myself, I was more productive and efficient with my work. This is a skill that I will have to use for my senior project as well.