Calpoly For Equality Case Study

Dear Broncos for Equality,

I would like to express my ultimate gratitude on being selected to provide this new organization with a few recommendations in order to be a successful social justice organization at Cal Poly Pomona. Specifically, I will discuss the Black Panther Party (BPP), American Indian Movement (AIM), Justice for Janitors (JfJ), and Gay Latinos Alliance (GALA) and how each of them faced their experiences of injustice regarding the issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Broncos for Equality would greatly benefit from knowing about these organization 's backgrounds and experiences regarding each of its hardships.

The African American community had long since fought against their oppressors because Black people were seen

Howard Zinn quotes the Oxford English Dictionary in order to explain how Blacks were seen just because of their skin color (31). There are many instances where African Americans fought against white supremacist ideologies on public transportation. For example, Robin D.G. Kelley explains several cases where passengers of color would refuse to give up his or her seat on public transportation or “moving theaters” (57). Another example from Kelley 's " In regards to these acts of resistance, most acts were “unorganized, clandestine, and evasive” which did not result in much positive treatment towards African Americans (Kelley 56). One challenge African Americans soon realized was that they were not progressing in their fight from oppression, so they decided to take a more organized approach which resulted in the creation of the Black Panther Party. This emerging organization formed a more organized and violent way to accomplish their ultimate goals of fair treatment by creating a system where they accommodated and catered to the needs of the African American community. Some of these

Justice for Janitors is a perfect example of a healthy way of gaining equality for an organization. Justice for Janitors was created by Latinas and Latinos to fight for their labor rights. Maria A. Gutierrez de Soldatenko mentions Schimek 's observation that many janitors "experienced a decline in wages while the cost of living... increased in Los Angeles" (230). Due to their low-class ranking, Justice for Janitors began to organize different forms of resistance in hopes of reaching equality for their labor. In efforts to gain better wages and working conditions, the janitors began piling up a list of complaints of having to overexert themselves for the same or lower wages. The community 's invisibility among Los Angeles society was also a problem, so Justice for Janitors decided to utilize their cultural backgrounds to make themselves known such as beating drums, whistling, and screaming in Spanish (Soldatenko 233-236). This organization 's strength was their power of numbers and being resilient. In doing so, it challenged American society to acknowledge their existence which aided these janitors in gaining publicity. Although the Janitors for Justice did not entirely accomplish their goal, their efforts provide a good example about few ways to healthily and safely fight for one