There are few things that will energize me as much as a good, deep, complex conversation about a pressing issue. I love finding nuance as I analyze social issues, finding where ideas clash and seeing where the solutions may not be black and white. It drives me.
Social work researcher Brené Brown has researched how to have difficult conversations and lean into vulnerability to solve issues within institutions. She wrote that she has often found people tend to “[rush] into ineffective or unsustainable solutions rather than staying with problem identification and solving.” People often want quick resolutions, but do not take the time to explore the complexity of the issue to make sure their solutions will be effective.
I used to not care for nuance. I liked winning. I was the high school activist, rallying for changes in mental health support, dress code and even helping to lead protests to replace an unpopular principal. I don’t think this was for nothing. Speaking up against problems is vital. I’m suggesting the value of something else now — a more slow, deliberate approach to making change. It’s not because I care less, but that I’ve learned how complicated the issues around us are.
In the summer of 2020, during the Black Lives Matter movement protests after the murder of George Floyd, I attended a webinar titled “Making a Difference in Revolutionary Times” that my public affairs professor, David Campbell, was participating in. He shared how he is often at a loss for what to do when faced with such big issues. I have never heard a solution to this problem illustrated better than by what he said there. He said when considering what to do, he asks himself, “What levers can I pull?”
This was a new idea to me. I used to think that I had to do everything I could to participate, instead of using what strengths I can without burning myself out. I felt a tension between this idea and the phrase “white silence is white violence,” which I saw a lot online at the time. I now think this statement is misleading. I think it leads to a lot of performative, public actions just to check off a box. In the almost two years since then, I have barely made any public statements or shown any support for social issues I care about. Instead, oftentimes quietly, I have pulled the levers I have been able to pull for change, whether this has been speaking up at leadership team meetings I am a part of, writing Opinions articles or designing research projects.
The main reason I haven’t taken many public actions is because I have often felt that the solutions proposed aren’t nuanced and effective enough, or that these public actions in and of themselves won’t help generate much change. I’ve told myself this just isn’t a lever I choose to pull.
At the same time, I recognize the truth behind the argument of Martin Luther King Jr. in his book “Why We Can’t Wait.” He wrote this book about the civil rights movement and why, despite all the calls for him and others in his movement to find a better time, to be more methodical, to wait, he could not. He brings up the very true fact that we can’t keep waiting to find the perfect approach to issues, as this often leads to no action at all.
This is not what I want to do — to stand off to the side and do nothing but think and talk about injustices instead of acting. But I’ve become worried lately that my slower, more deliberate approach has translated into something like this. While I am working toward understanding how to address the issues I care about in the long term, I’m starting to wonder if I’m not doing enough in the present day. Most of my actions may lead to something happening a while from now — the results of my research project may eventually be published and inform social change. All the reading I’m doing now might make me an effective professor who can impact more lives than I can now. However, the question on my mind has been, what about my impacts today?
A month ago, on March 4, I went to my first rally in several years, Binghamton University’s Latin American Student Union’s “Justice for Professor Ana Candela Rally.” The rally was meant to show support for sociology Professor Ana Maria Candela after she gained national attention for a student Title IX complaint made about a progressive stacking policy in her Sociology 100: Social Change: Introduction to Sociology class that was made to prioritize marginalized voices. I was still forming my opinions on the issue, but decided to attend anyway, as I felt that Candela was addressing a really important issue through progressive stacking, which should, in general, be supported. I did not regret attending. It let me understand the issue better by hearing what others, especially people of color who were impacted by the issue and who organized the rally, had to say about it. I was able to support others who also wanted to find solutions, even if they were different from mine.
I have begun to see public actions to support issues I care about as another one of my levers for change. I plan to attend these more often now. I also don’t think we should be shaming or denouncing those who don’t choose to engage in these actions, as we don’t know if they are taking other actions that they may feel are more effective for them in the moment. Let’s encourage them to pull their own levers. Instead of looking down on those who don’t seem like they are doing what we feel is right, we should encourage more acceptance of the fact that there are so many different ways to contribute, especially the more long-term, slow and methodical actions in change-making that often get less attention. This includes what Gladys Jiménez-Muñoz, associate professor and chair of the sociology department, one of my closest mentors, has referred to in conversations I’ve had with her and in her speech at the rally. She encourages “activism of the mind,” or the difficult work of problem identification through reading, listening and putting all the pieces together. There is more to activism than what is seen in public. Both have their place.
I’m still working out the details — the nuances — but I think the question of how we can optimally get involved in causes we care about while still staying true to our values and considering what the best solutions are is a vital one to think about for anyone invested in social change.
Max Kurant is a junior double-majoring in English and an individualized major in social systems science.