ENC 2135
Mariam Mckee | 141
Protesting
Proceeding the rally, I saw protesters lined up across the street. I quickly ran to the "them screaming "MY PEOPLE".
It was October 25, 2016 -- a week before the 2016 presidential election.
I had survived a Trump rally that the nation sensationalized.
I went to see if these rally's were what the media portrayed them as. The rally was a 10 minute walk from my house so I walked not even 30 feet to see cars lined up across the street for miles. People were turning around saying "they aren't letting people in without cars", however we continued. 5 minutes into the walk, we were asked who we are voting for by a random civilian. I played it off as "undecided", and got a speech on why a vote for Hillary is screwing us over in healthcare. We got to the gates and there were people chanting as a helicopter flew over us with a banner reading "Hillary for Prison." The fear of being in a condensed area of Trump supporters built up as people aggressively tried to get past the guards and closed gates. Eventually the gates were opened and a surge of people ran towards the field.
The opening remarks and his guest speakers had more to say on his policies and beliefs before he approached the stage and said nothing new. His campaign ignited hatred, racism, and stereotypes. The people I stood next to were not rude, however when Syrian refugees and Muslims were brought up, these same people went wild. It was a madhouse. The same people who smiled at me were the same ones chanting to get people like me out the country. A man right next to pulled and started waving around a dollar bill that had Obama's face printed into wearing a hijab, in fact.
Little did they know for the better.
No new policies or procedures had been talked about. Not a single "how" to his "what". Yet, his fame continued to spread. I didn't understand.
From observation:
-They had people stand outside for 30 minutes because the field was """full""", then let in 3,000 more people bc it absolutely was not
-Megan (my brown friend) got "randomly screened" after NOT EVEN buzzing when she went through security check
-The media does not portray the worst sides of Trump. He repeated everything Buzzfeed has posted over the past year.
-His speech consisted of (in order): hatred of Obamacare, crooked Hillary and her emails, politicians being stupid, Mexicans bringing in cocaine, tax cuts, removing IsLLAMA radical terrorism, building a wall and saying that Mexicans will be paying for it with their skewed government, being an outsider, and, of course, making America great again.
-He called his rally's the safest place to be, and that liberals paid others to beat people at his prior rally's (forgetting his encouragement of the violence)
-At the end of his incredibly racist speech, he claims he wants to fight for EVERYONE in America, and if he does not win, this was all a waste of time and money.
Me -- Myself - & - I --- The Hijab
As a muslim who does not wear hijab, the strongest communication of portraying my religion has been my voice. Identifying that "I am muslim" is only known when I say those words. No prejudgements. By simply placing a hijab on my head, what could that change? The hijab itself is a form of communication.
Social Media/"retweets"
https://twitter.com/fsu_sos_fanpage
The power of social media in this society molds generations and spreads awareness by any means, more specifically politics/social justice in this case. I created a "Students Organize for Syria" twitter fanpage. SOS is a nationwide organization across campus's in America that organizes protests, raises money for Syria, and inform students on campus of important news.
In my twitter, I am pressing on the topic of how "retweets" have evolved us a generation, while spreading awareness.
Reflection
This project was so difficult to understand at first but it was actually really cool. I liked seeing people "remix" and combine genres. I had a flashback while listening to everyone where Mat was yelling at us saying "EVERYTHING IS A GENRE". So, it was really cool seeing everyone get creative after realizing what Mat meant. Considering there were a lot of freshmen in this class, it was kind of daunting thinking about how to get into the community and make something "real (but fake)". Overall though, it was such a cool experience.