My Personal Testimony--Renee

 I am a student of the Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Center in Oakland, California. The Freedom Center is an independent nonprofit that gets youth involved in civic engagement and community organizing following Dr. King's principles of non-violence. We advocate for democracy and civic engagement. Alongside the freedom center I have been exposed to many social identities and experiences that I will forever be grateful for. It was with them I discovered my social bending passion for public service and activism. 

Saturday June 19, 2021, I attended a Juneteenth festival at Lake Merritt, which is located in the center of Oakland. The three-mile shoreline was filled with vendors and businesses mainly from the black community in order to commemorate and honor the roots they share with Juneteenth. It was a historical and moving experience as I have never been immersed in any single culture as much as I was on Juneteenth. Signing petitions and supporting small businesses reminded me that mobilizing is stronger in numbers. The environment was comforting and lively, attendees were walking, picnicking, socializing, and exercising unity. Juneteenth affirmed my cultural vision of rooting my service within my heritage. 

With the Freedom Center I phonebanked for political candidates. Phone Banking is a form of voter outreach; I called registered voters and asked about their plans for the upcoming election and talked them through the process including ballot drop offs or mail ins. Initially I had this perception that people would not want to speak to a seventeen year old about politics. I was proved wrong shortly after, my first phone call ended up being one of the best and the other woman on the line showed tremendous gratitude for helping her. I was also one of the few Spanish speaking phone bankers, meaning the majority of my calls were in Spanish. I felt proud acting as a resource within a system that does not cater to the Spanish language demographic as heavily. I used to always be embarrassed of my accent as a child and my job as my grandma’s translator because I felt outcasted by so many. Having to prove myself proficient in the English language in fourth grade made me feel unworthy of the dominant culture’s standards. But just because I did not fit into society’s box should not dictate how I feel about myself. Spanish is a tool and I have learned to put it to good use within my own community. 

We are all molded into who we are today because of the several instances we have lived through that implicitly mold our minds. These perceptions may more than likely hold you back from being that essential tool for your community or acting as an ally for different social identities. How often have you heard “I already know they won’t like me” or “I know I won’t like it by just looking at it”? I encourage all of you to look past the instances that influenced you to view a certain topic a certain way; soak all that you can in like a sponge without having any bias towards how you think a scenario might play out. Let go of what you know doesn't serve you and take on what you think one day will. I have learned to never invalidate myself without having even taken the chance to prove these perceptions wrong.