October Blog Post

For my October blog post I wanted to talk about advocacy. This semester in particular my definition of what an advocate is and what they do has changed. I have always considered an advocate as someone who stands up for a group of people when they are being talked about in a negative manner. While this is a type of advocacy, it is not the entirety of the definition and all that goes into what being an advocate means. Now I have learned that there are lot of different types of advocacy and they all have different ways of showing it. The dictionary definition of advocacy is "public support of or recommendation of a particular cause or policy", while this may be the literal definition there are lots of different ways to show support and be an advocate. 
One of those ways is through reflexivity, this is done through checking your privilege and how it affects your everyday life. Checking ones privilege is an important part, this shows that even though you don't know firsthand the struggles that people go through but you are trying to learn by setting your own privilege aside. A second ways is through dialogue and conversing with people that have been through what you are advocating for. Talking about the cause and why someone might be a part of it is a great way to be an educated advocate. A third way is through critical inquiry and literacy which is when people that are part of a group teach information about themselves and what they are about. Having something be taught to you is a good way to start building an understanding between two different groups. A fourth way is through listening, any form of listening is advocacy and can be one of the strongest. Feeling heard and understood is important to groups that are struggling and can be a turning point for a lot of movements. A fifth way is through speaking up which is my original thought of what being an advocate is, you have to say something if something isn't right. The last way is through alliance building and working with a wide variety of groups, this is an important part of advocacy because it strengthens the cause by adding more people to it. 
All of this makes me think of all the advocacy going on in our legislature and government. There are so many groups that are fighting to have equal rights and they need people to be advocates for them. I thought I was until recently - and now I am reshaping what it means for myself to be an advocate for those who can't. Reshaping it makes me think of empathy and how it can get confused with advocacy and I found a great article explaining the difference between the two and why choosing to be an advocate is important. 

https://alistapart.com/article/from-empathy-to-advocacy