By Whit Chisholm ’17<\/em><\/p>\nI really believe we are witnessing the early elements of a political revolution.<\/p>\n
When I took Contemporary Revolution and Political Violence, I never thought I\u2019d actually witness or play a role in one. One thing I learned in that class was that a sharp reversal of economic fortune and widespread frustration with the socio-political situation are two leading factors in sparking a change. My generation in particular and the those coming behind us, have graduated from college into an economic climate where we are forced to work three times as hard for half the gains of previous generations. The COVID-19 pandemic, followed by the death of George Floyd, not only initiated our current push for change, but will continue to influence our cries for justice.<\/p>\n
As a black man born in the majority-black country of Jamaica, these protests matter to me. They matter because I\u2019ve felt the difference between being black in public spaces in America, and what it\u2019s like to be black in Jamaica. I can just be myself in Jamaica, and it has nothing to do with my skin color.<\/p>\n
On June 6, I joined thousands of others in downtown Orlando to march for equality. The experience of being at the protest felt uplifting. We chanted \u201dblack lives matter\u201d in unison. We repeated the names of those murdered as a result of police actions. I saw law enforcement take an unnecessarily aggressive posture towards peaceful protesters. We are living our democratic principles.<\/p>\n
In that moment I drew on my personal experiences with racism, both overt and covert. When I worked at Starbucks in college, some customers would refuse to take drinks I made for them, but would take the same drink if I passed it to a white coworker to give to them without the customer noticing. Or in more subtle ways, such as crossing the street instead of walking past me, or telling me I “don’t sound black.”<\/p>\n
Recently I\u2019ve never felt more inspired to do something \u2014 whether run for office or be part of an organization working towards real change in America\u2019s legal system.<\/p>\n
This country was founded on the right to protest and to voice dissenting opinions, to be able to demand a course correction when you think those in office are moving in the wrong direction, and to express your dissatisfaction \u2014 without having to wait until “the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November.”<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong>My biggest takeaway from what I was a part of is that we\u2019re the ones that have to bring the change we want. We can\u2019t rely on politicians. The system is broken, and that\u2019s reflected in how unresponsive our legislature has been. And when they take action it\u2019s rarely in the favor of the average citizen. We have to be angry. We have to use this anger to bring change. Our anger gets things done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Whit Chisholm ’17 I really believe we are witnessing the early elements of a political revolution. When I took Contemporary Revolution and Political Violence, I never thought I\u2019d actually witness or play a role in one. One thing I learned in that class was that a sharp reversal of economic fortune and widespread frustration […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":26772,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5962,20,16,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-science-alumni","category-psaclassnotes","category-political-science-departments","category-top-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
Political Science Alumnus Sees Change Coming in Fight For Equality - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Political Science Alumnus Sees Change Coming in Fight For Equality - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Whit Chisholm ’17 I really believe we are witnessing the early elements of a political revolution. When I took Contemporary Revolution and Political Violence, I never thought I\u2019d actually witness or play a role in one. One thing I learned in that class was that a sharp reversal of economic fortune and widespread frustration […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-16T17:59:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-06T15:55:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/06\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kyle Martin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kyle Martin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kyle Martin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4\"},\"headline\":\"Political Science Alumnus Sees Change Coming in Fight For Equality\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-16T17:59:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-06T15:55:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":501,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Alumni - School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs\",\"Alumni News - School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs\",\"School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs\",\"Top News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/\",\"name\":\"Political Science Alumnus Sees Change Coming in Fight For Equality - College of Sciences News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-16T17:59:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-06T15:55:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/29\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":1600,\"caption\":\"Man wearing a mask and a black t-shirt raises his fist during a protest, with people and buildings in the background.\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/\",\"name\":\"College of Sciences News\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/sciences.ucf.edu\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4\",\"name\":\"Kyle Martin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kyle Martin\"},\"url\":\"\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Political Science Alumnus Sees Change Coming in Fight For Equality - College of Sciences News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Political Science Alumnus Sees Change Coming in Fight For Equality - College of Sciences News","og_description":"By Whit Chisholm ’17 I really believe we are witnessing the early elements of a political revolution. When I took Contemporary Revolution and Political Violence, I never thought I\u2019d actually witness or play a role in one. One thing I learned in that class was that a sharp reversal of economic fortune and widespread frustration […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/","og_site_name":"College of Sciences News","article_published_time":"2020-06-16T17:59:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-06T15:55:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":1600,"url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/06\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kyle Martin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kyle Martin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/"},"author":{"name":"Kyle Martin","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4"},"headline":"Political Science Alumnus Sees Change Coming in Fight For Equality","datePublished":"2020-06-16T17:59:17+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-06T15:55:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/"},"wordCount":501,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/06\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Alumni - School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs","Alumni News - School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs","School of Politics, Security, and International Affairs","Top News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/","name":"Political Science Alumnus Sees Change Coming in Fight For Equality - College of Sciences News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/06\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2020-06-16T17:59:17+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-06T15:55:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/political-science-alum-sees-change-coming-in-fight-for-equality\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/06\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/06\/Whit-Chisholm-1-scaled.jpg","width":1200,"height":1600,"caption":"Man wearing a mask and a black t-shirt raises his fist during a protest, with people and buildings in the background."},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/","name":"College of Sciences News","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6e7fb06e1762315ca4a62c08e625d0f4","name":"Kyle Martin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/64a6430ffba3643f71cacfb2fdfb509a9e9e808d64ed16ef5e998f835212ccad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kyle Martin"},"url":""}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26770"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30222,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26770\/revisions\/30222"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/06\/Whit-Chisholm-1-768x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n