Contrary to other definitions, I grew to embrace that social change or activism required the actor to give something up. The conversation was about action but action not while completely serving and forgetting convenience, or being comfortable or safe. I remember having a brief struggle regarding the inconvenience of going to Horizons because my other course conflicted with the trips. Fortunately, my commitment was able to accommodate my absence. From this, I learned that change (revolutionary or not) does not happen when it is the most convenient. Social media activism is often convenient: posting online about Ferguson and Eric Gardner is safe and comfortable. Being among the hundreds of students who participated in the Die-In on the cold hard Diag ground during finals was neither convenient nor comfortable but meant more and had more impact (Geva & Sugerman).
Some of us had endured a slew of science coursework thus far, making it difficult to put ourselves second despite our knowledge, but that was secondary to the hegemony of academia potentially interfering with our front lines work. The epidemiology, research, and hard facts are important when encountering situations involving HIV/AIDS (given that a life with HIV includes visits to hospitals and medical side effects). However, social stigma behind HIV/AIDS is an aspect that science has yet to address; that is another reason why the module is revolutionary. In the age of PrEP, ARTs, and other advanced techniques, there will never be a pill that addresses the debilitating effects of people not understanding what an HIV+ person is going through. No peer-reviewed journal article is going to be able to universally address awareness and prevention for the groups of people that need it the most: for poor communities of color, for religious communities, or for queer communities.
Perhaps the most important exchange of trust became realized after realizing who the module was for: the most essential aspect of our teaching took form in trusting the community members to own the module more than they may have trusted in themselves. If we did not stay committed to their learning and expect that they would wholeheartedly embrace what we taught, who else would?
The one difference that converts of the Pedagogy of Empowerment have over others is our effort to transform the unjust order while embodying Freire’s idea of true generosity. While some of us may lose sight of what that means because some of us are that privileged and because it is very difficult, I still seek to continue “fighting to destroy the causes of which nourish false charity” (Freire, 27). That means trying to eventually take myself out of the equation and prepare the human hands of the oppressed to transform the world. I do believe that this mentality holds true to all of us in the course; whether we are in the position to keep on doing so is still undetermined.
