Blog 1 - Thoughts

by: Michael Hsu

6/13/19

Journal Entry #1

I’m not going to even lie… arriving in DC was sort of a culture shock to me. Let alone that I’ve never been to the east coast before this, it was, in a way, uncomfortable for me to be here, especially because of the current times we live in this country. As an aside, I’ve never been around this many people wearing “professional looking” clothes in my life. I don’t like wearing them myself, and I have a personal stigma with those in professional clothing, including suits and ties, because often times, I associate them with the amount of harm that has been done by people wearing those kinds of outfit in this time. Or maybe I’m just being out of my mind, I don’t know.

My placement site is at the Democracy Initiative (DI), which is an organization that advocates for voting rights and removing big money out of politics. They have many partner organizations that advocates for many other issues, but one of DI’s main goal is to help bring those issues to the forefront through democracy reform. On my first day at DI, for some reason, I was pretty nervous coming in, maybe because I didn’t truly know what to expect. However, as time went on, I settled in. At DI, one of the things that I will be doing is a special project on a project that’s related to DI’s mission around voting rights and removing big money out of politics. One of the topics that I thought about doing was ranked-choice voting (RCV), which I believe should be implemented because it would give voters more candidate choices rather than the standard Democratic or Republican candidate, especially as many voters register as independents. I believe ranked-choice voting gives candidates a chance to create coalitions instead of doing negative ads and campaigning.

This past weekend was Pride weekend in DC. It was no doubt a wonderful celebration of the LGBTQI+ community, and the reminder of the continued struggle that they face. It’s also a reminder that we need to stand in solidarity with them. Ask them what their needs are and how we can be good allies. Nevertheless, I did cringe at a few moments during the Pride parade, mainly when we were watching all of the floats. Some of the companies that had a float made me cringe so hard. To name types of company, big banks and private health insurance companies had a float showing that they are inclusive. These are the same companies that have screwed over people in this country and around the world, including LGBTQI+. In addition, I can’t help but think that it was trans-women of color that started the current Pride movement. However, trans folks of color are some of the least visible group of folks in the Pride movement. Their lived experiences need to be lifted up, and we need to amplify their voices and perspectives in this struggle for justice.