Being that I was unable to attend class on Thursday due to strep throat, what I do want to reflect on, although it only somewhat relates to the main class material is the walk-out. Firstly, I think it is so inspiring and I feel lucky that my own professor was the leader of this #WalkOut4LockedOut, it emphasized my desire to take part in the walk-out, and it also gave me more reason to brag to my friends about my IP course. It was freezing cold out and many many students had important classes at 1 pm on tuesday, but it wasn’t stopping them. Since tuesday/thursday classes only meet twice a week, missing one of the two I found made it even more of a passionate and powerful walk-out, because for some students I can imagine it would hurt their studies a little bit, by missing their hour and twenty two minute class. I think it is more than appropriate, because Trump’s executive order was not something to be taken lightly. This order directly impacts Bucknell as an institution, and what makes up this institution: the students. Although Bucknell isn’t known for it’s diversity, it still exists here on campus. With students from the effected countries, this is no matter to be taken lightly, whatsoever. Truthfully, I cannot fathom how the directly affected students feel about this order, or how their families, friends and loved ones feel. This executive order is something that has completely turned their lives upside down. We are a country that is born from immigrants, so to be placing orders such as this one we are going against the very foundation America is built on. The Constitution reads “We The People” and the “People” in that very phrase is supposed to represent all people of this country, even if they are immigrants, even if they aren’t here to stay. To relate this back to the Chicago World Fair, the film we watched in class, we saw how each country brought something to the table. That countries all over the world came to this fair and brought a part of them, and millions of Americans came to see those countries offerings. That is because America is made up of all those countries, diversity and immigration is what makes America so unique, and also so strong. I’m currently taking a Women and Gender Studies course, and we are currently talking about the suffrage movement in 1919, the protests and activists that lead to the 19th amendment. A truly inspiring quote from the film is “America’s strength comes from the love of it’s people.” It is true, and in order to be the strong, powerful and free country we claim to be, we must stick to the foundations that we have built for ourselves. We did not come this far to take steps back, and steps back is what we are seeing with this executive order.
To go back to the walk-out, it was freezing cold and classes were in session, yet there had to be at least three hundred people there. In retrospect, three hundred people is not a lot in comparison to the number of faculty and students here at Bucknell, but as one of the three hundred people I felt like a strong member of a strong and passionate community. The protest taking place on the quad I feel really gave it the feeling that we were in the center of campus, with everyone around it still listening and seeing it and being aware of it. So much of what we have discussed in class relates to the very idea that this executive order is un-American. I’m very much looking forward to further discussing these topics in class.