top of page
The Justice Project
Overview

This unit we learned about the injustices that are occurring all over the world and finding personal philosophies that matched our reactions to these events. We started going in depth with philosophies of people like the Dali Lama and Howard Zinn in hopes to find one that correlated best to us. After reading multiple papers from a lot of different philosophers we then had to write a monologue about an act of injustice that interested us. We also had a debate regarding Bears Ears and whether or not it should be declared as a National Park. This was helpful especially in the sense that you had to look at the research and values that were on the opposing side of the argument. We then had a debate discussing the information we had each found and stood up for the side that was assigned to us.

Justice Monologue #1

I remember so clearly how often I had let my eyes flood out as Brett Kavenaugh was let into the Supreme Court, infuriated with how easy it was for our own government to let this pass and let this monster of a man join them. 
As a victim of sexual assault, I see the side of the justice system that most people don’t tend to look at. I was offered so many options for how to resolve my problem as it just wasn’t big enough for court, one of them including Restorative Justice. I still remember how much I hated the thought of ever looking that person in the face again in order to talk them through what they had done to me, almost like they wanted me to apologize to THEM. I declined the offer and it never moved further. While reading the Dalai Lama’s passage I read the line, “Punishment has an inevitable and important role to play in the regulation of human affairs, both as a deterrent and to give people a sense of security and confidence in the law” and couldn’t help but be reminded of my past because I never got to feel that. I feel that a lot of people want our justice system to be like that but it simply can’t be until we are all seen as equals. 
The Dalai Lama says  “The past is beyond our control...it can be difficult not to feel hatred toward the perpetrators of those crimes.” and continues on about how we need to seperate the action and the person, but it is a very difficult task for a lot of people. I don’t think what the Dalai Lama is saying is inherently wrong, but I don’t think that the way he views the justice system in the eyes of punishment and fairness is “correct.” The fairness in the justice system seems so obviously skewed to me, and that may be because I’ve experienced it firsthand,but I believe that in order to fix this problem we need to really look at the stories of the victims of any crime, and try and realize what they see as just. 
So, as our country progresses I hope that we can become a system in which there is no bias in the laws and no bias in the courts, and that we can see every case that is brought up from both the victim and the defendant's eyes and not overly question either party. Justice isn’t just a clear and universal solution, it is different for every case, and I think it’s time the world sees that.

 

Justice Monologue #2
Justice Project

On November 9th, I posted a video showing Ryan Bartholomew, the owner of Top That, a local yogurt shop here in Durango, shouting slurs out of his truck at a group of people who were celebrating Joe Biden’s victory. Subsequently, this video went viral, currently sitting at around 7000 views and 200 shares. The popularity of this video is indicative of just how much Top That’s actions have affected the community of Durango, Colorado. 

The controversy revolving around Top That began when a post reading “10% off for saying Happy Columbus Day, and as always 10% off for not wearing a mask!” was posted onto their Facebook page. This agitated many people in Durango, but especially the local Indigenous community which recently reclaimed the controversial holiday on October 11th, changing it from Columbus day to Indigenous People’s Day. Shortly after this was posted, an Indigenous People’s Day march began, which started at Buckley Park, went down to Coldstone, and then came back up across main avenue. As the marchers went past Top That, the owner and customers (all without masks) stood in front of the business, chanting “USA'' and flipping off the crowd, waving Trump 2020 signs below Thin Blue Line flags. This is just one of the many events where Top That unknowingly sparked conflict with the younger population of Durango. A video of that day was part of many installments that an Instagram account with the username of @endtopthat2020 posted. The Instagram account has been bringing awareness to the situation and has reached many of the teenagers that populate our town. 

 

After this video and others like it came to light, an unexpected uproar from the young adults in our community who have actively been protesting Top That materialized; some standing with a sign to protest in front of their store, some playing music that goes against the political beliefs of the owner. However most are posting on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat about how the company displays what protesters consider “blatant racism”. This includes comments on multiple posts such as, “Embarrassing”, “Someone should egg them”, “Top That disgusts me”, and “How’s this guy not ran out of Durango yet?”, but very few of the voices we’ve heard are black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC.) With 87% of Durango’s population being white, it was a proud moment to see so many citizens standing up against the yogurt shop. “Their racism hasn’t affected me, but the fact they’re offering 10% for not wearing masks has obviously affected me and Durango” says a black nurse from Namibia, “When they came up with this, the number of positive cases in Durango has gone up. I think it has an effect on all of us, not just me as a black woman.” I also spoke with this woman's younger daughter who said, “They’re basically saying my life doesn’t matter, and that’s not OK, especially to be so vocal and disregard what it’s actually about,” I wanted to hear from the Native community as well, so I also asked a high schooler from the Navajo nation regarding his thoughts on the situation. “When I hear the name of the business [Top That], all I think is it’s just negative and unwelcoming. They’re Trump supporters, anti-BLM and just rude in general if you don’t align with their views and opinions.” As a white person who is consistently protesting in the name of others, I also wanted to hear BIPOC opinions on this subject, in order to make sure that I wasn’t being a “white savior”. The nurse said to me in reference to this worry, “All the power to you guys [the protesters], I’m too afraid to stand up to that guy.” The two younger participants seemed to have very similar thoughts; The Indigenous boy stated, “To me, if they aren’t BIPOC, and they aren’t protesting them [Top That], then other businesses who may have similar owners will think it’s okay to do that in their own shops to their customers. In general, that wouldn’t be a very good look for our town, because it’s touristy and tons of people from different places are gonna see what’s going on down here and think ‘they’re rude, racist, mean, judgemental kind of people’”. The young mixed girl stated, “I am all for it. You guys are the majority and we are the minority; if we can get the majority to stand up for us that’s the best we can do. No matter your race, sexuality, or gender, you stand up for what’s right.”

The reality of Durango being a very white town is that the majority of protesting against racial injustice comes from white people. By no means should the protesting cease, but those who are protesting and aren’t a part of BIPOC need to be cautious with their voices. The voices of those who are actually being silenced and suppressed are much more important than ours in these types of situations. Continue to protest, but if a BIPOC tells you that something you’ve done can be considered offensive to either them or the movement as a whole, you must listen and take a step back because we are fighting alongside not against them. 

Project Overview
Reflection

For my project, I worked with a group to create a 'Zine about the injustice towards BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) specifically in our community. As someone who really likes protesting for others rights, I decided to write an article about Top That, a frozen yogurt shop in town that has sparked a lot of controversy. After I finished writing my piece I edited others and helped by looking over the 'Zine before we purchased copies of it. We will be handing it out hopefully later this month! I think that my essay perfectly portrays my philosophy, (which is in short human rights and equality for all,) without making myself seem to be a "white savior" or speaking over the voices that really matter in situations as big as Black Lives Matter and racial injustice. I feel like the "research" needed for my piece was just looking back on my personal experiences with Top That and listening to the voices of those who would actually be affected. I interviewed 3 BIPOC which is how I wrapped up my essay, showing that although I am fighting for them I can never be fighting with them because I am white.

Our goals were to properly represent the voices of those in the community and educate those on the injustices that we face in our communities no matter how small. I would say after reading the Zine in full we definitely accomplished our first goal but the second is to be determined because we have yet to receive the finished Zines to hand out to the community. I feel like we incorporated the voices of BIPOC in our community as best as we could and I think that the results are going to be great! I think I really showed up in this project, more than I have in any project before. I attended every meeting, was very active in our group chats, and was always open to help edit others pieces whether it was writing, art, photography, etc. I also worked very hard on my article and was rereading and overediting it almost daily. I wanted to make sure that it would all fit into one-two pages however, so there were some things that I had to leave out so there were rooms for my peers' work. Honestly, I could write and talk about the Top That situation for hours which is why I think my article came out so nicely. I think the two traits that I learned that really stood out while I worked on this was my ability to collaborate with others (even those who I don’t know,) and my persistence. This was probably the first time in a long time where I didn’t procrastinate everything until the last minute and it really paid off, my work was done correctly without any small mistakes and I bonded a lot with my group which seemed very unlikely. 

Humanities

bottom of page