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THE YEAR OF THE UNDERDOG
A Feeling: Activists for Change
intheAUC
By Clarissa Brooks
"Where there is power, there is resistance
Michel Foucault, French philosopher
The 21st century can feel like living wi
th ghosts. Activism in this day and age
can feel like living out a legacy that no
one can pin down. Trying to live up to
phantoms and outlines of great men
and women can seem like trying to
catch smoke. Chipping away at oppres
sion, white supremacy and the patriar
chy have been the long-fraught battles
of countless nameless ancestors.
In 2018, it can seem impossible, un
comfortable and ill-fated to step into
a legacy that has killed many before
you. To declare to the world that you
will put yourself on the line for others
can feel like walking blindly in a dark
room, grasping at ghosts. There is no
guide to organizing, no guide to the
do's and don’ts of being an activist in
the age of cancel culture in which so
cial media tries to end the careers or no
longer support people who have made
problematic statements.
The terms of insurrection are catchy,
the language of revolution and change
are easy to say at panels but rarely are
they met with action. Rarely are these
words met with matched energy and the
sweaty passion that it demands. Few
can illustrate what it means to be a part
of history.
“I work to liberate the people so that
future generations will have a world free
of systems that hinder their happiness,”
says Mar’Taize Gaines, a graduating se
nior from Morehouse College. “[The]
work looks like visceral feelings of joy
and pain! The work is more related to
an inner feeling than to an outward ex
pression."
As a sophomore at Morehouse Col
lege, Gaines joined a small organiza
tion called AUC Shut It Down, where
he found a space to organize around
fighting for black liberation. Outside of
his organizing work, Gaines also was a
residential advisor for three years and
a proud member of Morehouse’s Glee
Club for all four years. Through his own
work to liberate black folks, Gaines
wants to create a better world. He will
continue to do this at Vanderbilt Univer
sity next year through a Ph.D. program
in Sociology.
In 2015, Gaines and eight other mem
bers of AUC Shut It Down interrupted
then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The group of organizers looked to hold
Clinton accountable for her tokeniza-
tion of black college students and her
assumption that they would support her
candidacy for president. The direct ac
tion led to national coverage and much
pushback from students, alum, and
faculty around what blackness and the
Democratic Party are guilty of in the
face of a conservative majority.
Yet, it is not the national attention or
notoriety that keeps Gaines involved as
an organizer and scholar. Gaines stays
for the momentary connection to a taste
of unadulterated liberation that is hard
to verbalize.
"The organizers that I have met, the an
cestors whose work I continue, and the
future I fight for! What keeps me going
is a feeling. It’s a feeling of euphoria
that vibrates through the community
in our highest moments. That’s what
keeps me going,” Gaines says.
The want to change the world is far off
and hard to conceptualize. For black
students in the AUC, it can seem eas
iest to stay the course than to travel
down an unbeaten path.
For others, the unbeaten path is the
only way to freedom.
Mary Pat-Hector is a giant among men
and women. A rising senior at Spelman
College, Hector’s name was known be
fore she arrived on campus, her legacy
as an activist in her hometown of Litho-
nia, Georgia, is the thing of legends.
MAN OF THE YEAR
Fighting to work around gun control 1
since the age of 11, Hector is not new j
to the call for justice and speaking up ;
in a world not ready for your voice. Hec-1
tor ran for City Council in Stonecrest, j.
Georgia, this past year at the age of 19 i
and is currently the National Action /;
Network's Youth Director alongside Rev. ;
Al Sharpton.
“By the time I was 15, I had attended lj
more funerals than graduations,” Hec-;|
tor says. “Following working on gun vio-
lence where I grew up, I got connected J
with the National Action Network where j:
I became vocal on issues impacting
people of color such as police bru
tality, student hunger, gun violence
and more.”
Hector's run for City
Council in Stone-
crest made na
tional news.
A college
student
at the
age of
1 9
was
L
mak-
i n g
a new
path,
walking
blindly into
a legacy of
change that was
unknown.
During the spring semes
ter, Hector’s AUC chapter
of NAN (National Action
Network) was able to lead
an effective hunger strike
that led to the creation