At one point in the reading, the author uses the example of Rosa Parks. He asks who would have believed that an act as simple as Parks refusing to give up her seat on a bus would spark a movement that would completely transform the American South. I think this is a really interesting point that I have never really considered. Rosa Parks was probably not intentionally trying to start a huge movement. She just saw an injustice and did her small part in fighting it. The movement that came after it was a fortunate accident. This proves the point that it is worth doing the small things to fight injustice. Even if it seems insignificant, that small action may have a much larger impact on the world. A person does need to be in the public eye already to cause the change that they want to see.
I thought the end of the reading was pretty ironic. The author argues that in order to get involved politically people need to put down the computers and physically show up. Now, we are living in an age where showing up is not an option. Computers are really the only connection that we have to the outside world. I think it definitely raises the question of how do we continue to make political progress from our own homes. It is something that people need to figure out together and over a period of time.
In the reading, I thought it was interesting how we don’t consider the start of movements too much. The Civil Rights Movement occurred in the 1960’s, but the ideas and beliefs of the movement had begun by activists in the preceding decades.
I like your analysis at the end of this post how physically showing up is not necessarily an option at this point in time. It just makes us think how we can virtually show up for vulnerable communities and use resources (e.g. monetary donations, food donations, sewing and donating masks, etc.) to contribute to the slow of COVID-19. I wonder how, when this dissipates, political and social justice activism might shift after we have acclimated to this unprecedented time.