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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Atlanta, GA | Posted: November 1, 2011
Alison Sillins
First-year, Environmental Engineering Major
On a semi-daily basis, I find myself correcting the ignorant remarks of sheltered young adults on campus. While I had never seen myself as a minority, my uniqueness from my Jewish heritage and gender becomes not only a part of me that is frequently noted in conversations, but also one of which I must justify and defend through my discussions with others. I am the first Jew that many of my friends and classmates have ever met, which forces me to listen to remarks such as âNo you canât be Jewish, your nose is smallâ and âOh my god youâre Jewish, thatâs so cuteâ and realize that these comments donât stem from racist or prejudiced backgrounds, but merely from people who remain thoroughly misinformed about diversity.
While Tech students are either outright or closet geeks (myself included), everyone clings to their own personal superiority complex. Those in the Greek system claim to be âcoolerâ than non-Greeks, computer engineers look down upon the âintellectually inferiorâ liberal arts or management majors, men judge intelligence based on outward reproduction organs, and exchange students wonder how those dumb southern hick Americans got into such a prestigious college as the Georgia Tech in the first place. While Tech may appear to be a school filled with diversity in every possible meaning of the word, high school never ends, and stereotypes prevail.
Does that mean that these seemingly harmless slurs with racist undertones are okay and should be disregarded? No. I was thoroughly inspired by Associate Dean of Students Stephanie Rayâs GT1000 lecture about Martin Luther King Jr. and his fight defending social justice. In every essence of her speech, she was right. Itâs not enough to just agree with social justice movements, but itâs my, your, and our duty as human beings to fight against every single form of injustice we see. Martin Luther King Jr. believed in supporting the rights of all suppressed peoples, whether or not you can relate. Even though these examples of social injustice that I face on a daily level cannot compare to the intolerable segregation of the pre-civil rights America, it is my duty to spread understanding every time it is opposed. To follow in the footsteps of Martin Luther King Jr., I will use every joule of energy in my being, every last breath of air I take from this earth serving as a drummer for justice.
