Part 1 – Simon Sinek starts the story off identifying the origins of all world renown successful people (i.e The Wright Brothers, MLK, Steve Jobs/Apple) through using a Golden Circle diagram. He defines the how, why and what made them successful, first by stating that all organizations worldwide know what the center of their focus is, some know how they manage to operate, and very few people know why they do what they do – as in their purpose/cause. A quote in particular that stuck with me was “What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care?” I find these questions to be significant because often times I find myself asking “Why does what I do matter?” and I am beginning to realize that the frequency of this question pushes me to do what I am passionate about, because of the feelings that reside with me when doing so.

Part 2 – For over the past few years, I have been following a series of activists on social media’s, and have adopted new ways of understanding on how to combat racism, whether it is blatant or systemic.  An activist in particular that media has recently been shedding a lot of light on, is Colin Kaepernick. Kaepernick was an NFL player on the 49ers, and is currently a free agent due to his protest of the American flag. Since released from his team due to this action, he has created a campaign named “Know Your Rights,” which focuses on raising awareness on higher education, self empowerment, instructions for black teens on how to handle safe interactions with law enforcement to avoid dangerous situations. Each month he has donated thousands to several different causes, to help put an end to systemic oppression such as those who are impoverished, majority being people of color. Similar to the traits Sinek discussed in others, Kaepernick sets himself apart from others in the NFL that are protesting (which is meaningful) through placing his belief of wanting racial equality before his employment.

Part 3 – Using the Golden Circle method – What, Why and How? I was able to identify the origins of my own cause. What is it my topic of interest about? The eradication of the confederate flags in schools, as it is not a political statement but should be considered a symbol of hate, and how to have more open discussion in schools about intolerances towards hate/racism and how systemic racism affects the lives of people of color everyday. How I plan on doing this is to pair up with my fellow BFA peer, Sophie Venturo, and reach out to members from the Anti Defamation League and Black Lives Matter Vermont. As we both are students in AWOD, we have resources just from there to start with. As for the “Why?”, this matter should be important to even those who it doesn’t affect, because to create a more comfortable environment for everyone, we need to start at the root of our issues: which of one is unnecessary prejudices. Whether some choose to believe they have a racial bias or not, often times blacks are perceived as ghetto thugs who often indulge in a crime-filed life. On the flip side of this, several also seem to neglect the fact that racial discrimination by law enforcement and disproportionate drug war misery suffered by communities of color starting in the 80’s manifested due to politicians such as Ronald Reagan and his administration, who had racial bias’ and held minorities to low standards. My point is, this topic should have universal importance because there are still people today that discriminate against minorities whether it is through blatant statements or integrated in work/school, and that is not okay because everyone has the right to be comfortable in their own skin as well as not have negative connotations associated with a skin color.