Be the Change you Want to See

Change is an enormous topic to tackle. The only way I felt completely confident that I would be able to express my thoughts was through video. The creative aspect of it enables me to send a message that I would be able to using words. I am a big believer in the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words.” This is also why I chose to use more visuals than text in my video and let the pictures take you through a specific event in history.

There are literally a million ways I can portray the message of an individual creating and sustaining change. However, I chose to focus on the topic of racism and the individuals who have helped change the perspectives of others. Racism is a very powerful indicator of how much our country has changed and how far it still has to go. We have all stories of racism or have encountered them ourselves, but I decided to focus on an event in our history that hasn’t been taught in school or hasn’t been talked about among peers.

My video opens with the march that occurred on January 17, 1987 in Forsyth County, GA. A march organized by many leaders such as Hosea Williams and Coretta Scott King to lower the level of racism in a county that suffered terribly of segregation. Georgia is the sixth most racist state in our nation. Forsyth County started with just one black and over 100,000 whites. Slowly the number of blacks has progressed but the ratio is still very unbalanced. What I am getting at here is that change is not possible without the hard work and commitment that happens behind the scenes. And although the county’s diversity has come a long way it still has room for change and that room will never fade. Like Dean Carter said at the Forsyth County march: "Today we have embarked on a journey, a journey that will take a lifetime to fulfill, the journey of worldwide brotherhood and understanding. Without this, Forsyth County, Georgia and even our nation will fail. Without brotherhood in a community, violence and intimidation will exist.”

You can’t sit back and expect change. This expectation is unrealistic and will never happen. Along with this comes the fact that change is constant. Nothing is ever perfect, which means things can always get better. Without the help of each individual a change cannot occur. We must go forth and conquer!