I'm constructing this letter as a letter to the editor. I wanted this to be a public response to a sent out email titled "Black Lives Matter: Our Commitment to Black Student Career Success" from the Career Center. I received this email on June 6, 2020 at 8:14 p.m. from the Interim AVP Catherine Voss Plaxton.
Opening the letter she writes: "As a week of global grief surrounding the murder of George Floyd comes to an end, we, the Career Center team, stand in solidarity with our Black students in the firm belief that Black lives matter."
Who is Catherine Voss Plaxton?
To simplify current events as she has done is ignorant. Spartans, students, or any individual experiencing these events in real time do not need a Plaxton explanation.
What is Catherine Voss Plaxton trying to say? We the people do not know how to grieve properly... that we people do not know what it is, therefore this is how we publicly grieve... our version of grieving... our behavioral norms.
— I hope Plaxton and readers can disagree with this incorrect trope — because it's an asinine simplification that fits the preferred narrative.
Yes, much of the globe is in solidarity with Americans - because other countries are also experiencing authoritative abuses and marginalization. Police brutality and cops murdering people in the street, in daylight and on camera, does not fit within what the Global Dream, formerly American Dream, is believed to be.
But these events are not Americans grieving — do not mislabel the events for something you, Ms. Plaxton and others cannot personally identify or publicly address. You cheat and rob authenticity from protestors and the underlying issues.
What I feel Ms. Plaxton and others, like Joe Rogan - fail to identify and chase back the causes, the failures and the abuse — resulting in the breaking of the social contract in America. The agreement that does not allow one group of people to unjustly and illegally abuse my people, and we will not unjustly and illegally abuse that group of people. Be it purposeful omitting or blissfully ignorant — the tracing of past events always seems to favor a social comfortable narrative.
What news network narrator has told you it has been a week? These "grievances" and protests have been present everywhere for a lot longer than a week!
Or is it the case that you just woke?
It's not our revenge, it's not our form of justice, and it's definitely not anyone’s version of grief. The marginalized are people not looking for special treatment; we want equality in opportunities, protectionism and accountability, among much more.
It is great that the Career Center can support students, and wants to raise the awareness of supportive efforts for BLM, the dreams of minority groups and the whole diversity of Spartans. San Jose State University has openly and respectfully catered to a diverse population - which is not always the case for a CSU (HSU).
But don't fake solidarity, and don't cheat people and the conversation from meaningful substance. Please do not try to explain "what it is"; rather, acknowledge the 'whys'. Why this email was sent out; why Black students have a long history of being screwed by the education system? Why minorities get classified for jobs in specific underpaid occupations? Acknowledge that this email is the Career Center, and yours, Catherine Voss Plaxton, effort to control dissenting thought.
Just open with the third paragraph:
"Black lives matter; Black dreams matter. Wherever you are in the process of designing your life, we are devoted to helping you amplify your strengths and find opportunities where you can belong and flourish. You are not alone in your career and life journey. We are with you."
Show the bullet points, then show the team’s solidarity by acknowledging the reality and understanding the obstacles racism and classism presents. Otherwise you come across more as ignorant and part of the problem, [rather] than our ally making her own progress in life.
Sincerely,
John Aguilar Villanueva
Graduate student in library and information science
