The 4th Journal!!!!

Sept. 10th

9:40am

In class today we started off by reviewing our discussion about Binti from last session. We ranked her leadership skills in relation to ourselves and were asked how much being a peacemaker/master harmonizer meant to us on a scale of 1–10. My answer was an 8. I’m 100% a people pleaser almost to the point of my own self-neglect however, that peace and common ground that exists for us all to walk on does exist and it’s very important to me that I find it with everyone I meet. On the other hand though, those last 2 points that I deducted were because there are people that refuse to make peace and there are situations that simply can’t be resolved by one person. Also, I myself am not the most confident person so I doubt that I’ll be able to bring about reconciliation and harmony but I am working on the construction of that confidence through this leadership development journey.

After this review, we started to hone in on reconciliation within politics. “Are you wanting to bring about reconciliation between the political divide?” Professor Sandridge asked us this question which immediately made all of us want to say yes but then we actually sat down and thought about it. Ollie in particular stated that the political divide was too large and that we should simply “burn it all down” to start the government off from scratch. I personally think a clean slate would be beneficial however, there is no way that the entire country would agree to it thus leading to an uprising and immense chaos if someone tried. Other people commented that we could seek common ground and find compromise between the political divide in America. This side of the argument seems more achievable however, there’s always going to be people that hate whatever ideas that are proposed. Considering the fact that people can’t even fight for equal rights and treatment without being ridiculed, called horrendous names and killed. If the Black Lives Matter movement is coming to mind then good that’s exactly what I intended to happen. The “All Lives Matter” protest is a protest to their protest and an insult to the actual mission of BLM. It’s trying to fight for freedom from being afraid to walk down the street alone as a black man or woman. It’s screaming from the rooftops the names of the many Black Americans that have been killed by police brutality. It is fighting for their place in this country as they have been doing for years upon years but people still have the nerve to say that racism was solved in the 60's and that it doesn’t exist anymore. If anything is going to change we need to stop yelling over each other and start listening to what everyone has to say and find that common ground, find that peace.

After this discussion about politics and reconciliation, we honed in on Binti’s schooling and decided to come up with our own School of Binti. My group specifically, was chosen to answer these questions: “How would students be chosen to attend the school? What would their character be and would they need prior training?” For the selection process, students will take a standardized test in addition to a character test in order to understand their intelligence level as well as their emotional maturity and reactions in situations. If they pass these tests then they will be selected to be interviewed in person that way their character, personality and behavior can be analyzed face to face. As for their character, we said that they would need to work well with others, consider the benefit of groups they are in, be open minded, passionate, have communication skills and patience. These are only a few ideal characteristics that they would need to have. Lastly, we decided that students would need prior training in terms of character because we cannot teach them how to be good people and how to want to lead so they would need a prior knowledge of what leadership is as well as training on how to be all of the characteristics above.

Self-Reflection:

• Have you had an education like this? I have not had a character building education as shown above.
• Are you getting one like this? Currently I am receiving a leadership and character building education through this Antiquity class as well as the basis of Howard University’s mission to build leaders.
• What are can you do to get it? I can continue putting myself in positions and classes that teach on personal development.

Sept. 13th

7:30pm

Reading for Class on September 15th

For this week’s homework assignment we had to complete chapter 4 in the Kallion online textbook. This chapter included a couple self-reflection activities as well as a reading. The reading for this week was Aristophanes’ Lysistrata.

Activity 1:

List 3 times you tried to lead but couldn’t because of a negative stereotype.

1. My high school had a BSU (Black Student Union) which all of my friends were a part of so naturally, I wanted to be a part of it too which they didn’t mind about. My 3 closest friends were the leaders of the whole group and would ask me on occasion to take over some leadership tasks in order to delegate some of the work load. It wasn’t the group that had a problem with it but the community outside of the group that questioned my legitimacy due to me being white and helping lead a black student union.
2. During sports in gym class I was always left out of being passed the ball and never allowed to play as QB during flag football despite my killer arm. All of this was because I was a girl and apparently too frail.
3. This last one isn’t really a leadership based thing but in school girls can’t wear what they want without being overly sexualized by teachers. Our shorts can’t be too short and our shirts can’t be too revealing and God forbid we had our shoulders out. I’ve been dress coded various times because my shorts happened to ride up from me sitting down and I’ve had an adult male teacher bring a ruler to my skirt to check the length. All because I’m a girl and will distract the boys from learning with my body.

I believe that all three of these had both denial of agency and denial of experience wrapped up together in a little bow.

• Denial of Agency: treating someone as though they cannot plan or carry out a plan.
• Denial of Experience: treating someone as though their emotional or psychological experience of the world is closer to an animal or robot and they are inferior to the basic human being.

I personally didn’t do much to address the dress code scandal but by the end of the semester of gym those boys respected me because I would intercept passes and play just as hard as them in order to show I wasn’t frail and worried about breaking a nail. As for BSU, I stood in front of the whole school and hosted a Black History Month Jeopardy game to show I was there to stay and just because I was white didn’t mean I wasn’t qualified or thought I was black.

Activity 2:

Plotting Your Leadership Development

In my family you will see the following aspects of harmony.

• A shared sense of mission — We all stand together as a unit no matter what we’re facing.
• An open exchange of opinions — We may disagree in politics and various other situations but we sit and openly talk and try to reach understanding.
• Support for one another — We always stand by one another and support each other in every endeavor.
• Constructive Criticism — When you do something stupid someone is going to tell you but for your own good.
• Enforcement of commitment — If you gave your word or are supposed to do something, everyone is going to be on your tail about making sure you get it done.

Who in your family would you improve and why?

• 2 people I would want to improve would be my mom and my papa. They are hard headed spitfires that have the worst tempers on the planet. They get defensive when you try to correct them on things and refuse to believe that they are in the wrong. They have great qualities like pushing you to do your best and always being true to themselves as well as having that natural born leadership independence but it’s hard to talk to them sometimes.

What would you improve about yourself to make you a team player?

• I would make myself stop being such a push over. I let people walk all over me because I’m afraid that confrontation will make them hate me or hurt them. I’d tell myself to stop being selfish and find that balance between selflessness and selfishness because I usually lean towards one side or the other and can’t find the middle ground. SPEAK!!! I hold things in and think my opinions aren’t valid when in reality I need to speak up because my voice is powerful. Lastly, I’d tell myself to be myself because I try to fit the molds other people like when in reality I need to be me and stay true to that.

Activity 3:

Read Aristophanes’ Lysistrata

What are the stereotypes the women in Greece face and what do they do to overcome them?

• Stereotypes included being unable to live without a man or sex, good for no more than taking care of the children and sleeping around, small and frail, sex crazed, in love with alcohol and makeup and clothing, unable to handle money or government decisions and had no real thoughts of their own.
• They overcame this by having a sex strike to end the wars, taking over the citadel, speaking up to the magistrate, handling household finances while the men were away at war, challenging the soldiers to a fight and making them poop themselves in fear because of the strength and truth that they stood together in and by having a well thought out plan that they all backed as a united front.

Sept. 15th

9:40am

During this class we reviewed the reading from the homework and made many connections.

Tips from Professor Sandridge:

1. Increase you appreciation of leadership.
2. Make connections about leadership through your readings because it helps retain information.
3. Being a leader you may step into a world that is not your own.

Notes from class as written:

• Dehumanization = when we treat other people with prejudice and as something less than human or not human at all. Typically off of their agency and experience as spoken about earlier in the journal.
• Experiences are real and everyone’s opinions and experiences are valid.
• As stated by a student, “being young and told you can’t do something affects your actions in the future and causes you to dehumanize yourself.”

I couldn’t agree more with the last statement because since I was little I’ve been called a mistake by many people due to my mom having been a teen mom so all my life I’ve battled dehumanizing myself but classes like this and personal self-reflection activities help me to see I have purpose and I am a person.

We also discussed key passages in the reading that proved the stereotyping was incorrect and showed how Lysistrata and the other women were able to overcome them however, majority of the class we discussed this issue of dehumanization within society today. African Americans have been dehumanized since the birth of this country and have yet to be considered as equals by all citizens of the U.S. Dehumanization is still an issue and keeps happening right alongside racism. People shared their own personal experiences throughout class which I would rather not discuss over a published journal but dehumanization and racism is something that needs to be paid attention to and put to an end.