STOP the BULLET! BLOG

  ‘A Spin on Social Change: Is It True that Change Doesn't Matter?’

26 December 2012
By Charise Frazier

Agunda Okeyo, Editor 

My grandmother often reminds me whenever we speak that a lack of empathy exists amongst my peers.  She is not alone.  Pundits, writers, intellectuals, and many over middle age articulate the same perspective. Commentary dictates that generation Y is apathetic, and our contributions to the world are pretentious and vain. Sometimes I have to agree. There are moments when I feel that I would have rather grown up in the 1960’s, during an era where people felt compelled to provoke change in their communities. I am convinced that as each generation grows older their nostalgia grows and conjures contempt for those that follow—rightly or wrongly so. Therefore, in our defense, my generation has, ousted dictators and completely changed the way the entire world communicates. A change in priorities may be one reason for our occasional apathy or that geopolitics and technology has separated us.  Yet a more collectivist paradigm drawing on globalization and social media has reintroduced us to shared community values. This is a great moment for social change and STOP the BULLET! (STB) is a part of this collectivist shift.

​

Taking on the task to define social change is daunting. Social change is this large ideal that is casually thrown around in conversation. But, what does it mean, and how will it touch the communal apathy my grandmother laments? A formal definition of social change states that it is  “the significant alteration of behavior patterns and cultural values and norms.”  However the crux of it is in understanding that we as collaborative agents possess the power to change the status quo.  STOP THE BULLET! is committed to mobilizing the talent and resources developed  within Mathare towards nonviolence and inclusion.  As a long-term peace program, STB recognizes the slow and necessary transformation of social change.

 

Close to home in New York City, the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy mobilized thousands of New Yorkers, plus domestic and international volunteers to participate in community re-building—yet another illustration of everyday people as change agents. Most efforts were locally generated and based in neighborhoods where Sandy hit the hardest. Social tools like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram kept New Yorkers connected to one another since the transportation infrastructure was completely shut down. My neighborhood in Brooklyn was kept safe from the wrath of Sandy, yet communities less than 2/3 miles away were deeply affected. I relied on my Twitter account to keep an eye on what was happening in my surroundings. On the Wednesday after the storm, I read that volunteers were needed at Brooklyn Tech High School. I sent a text to two friends who lived a few blocks away. The next day we took the B38 bus down DeKalb Avenue to volunteer. 20 years ago, or maybe even 10 years ago, this quick call to response that social media offers would not be possible—again owing to social change.

​

A Walden University 2012 Social Change Impact Report shows that individuals feel the need to volunteer, or share resources when there is great economic disparity. This further explains the increasing shift from an individual mindset back to a shared sense of community considering the widening gap between rich and poor around the world. If one voice calls out for action and is answered by at least two or more, I view that as a win. My choice to volunteer had to do with the fact that I have always felt this great weight of responsibility to help my neighbor in any way that I can. My parents were of a generation that pulled together and changed their world through Civil Rights activism.  People must look at this moment as a great opportunity for transformation. In a world of abject poverty juxtaposed to extreme wealth, we must find our voices and unite to challenge expansive injustice. There should be no reason why one woman or man must go without while others hoard and cling to their material possessions.

​

The so-called ‘trickle down’ theory in reference to wealth and opportunity will never occur. We must force our way into the faces of politicians and lawmakers and remind them that the needs of the disenfranchised must be met for oneself and for others. Recognize the power of your voice and use the tools that you were afforded to shed light on inequality. Agency is at the heart of STOP THE BULLET! as a coalition developed by passionate ghetto youth in Nairobi’s Mathare Valley. STB youth leaders decided to mobilize against violence and exclusion in their own community. In so doing our peace program has been able to reach out to more than five hundred youth who all have been able to get counseling, gain skills and obtain accredited diplomas and/or business loans. None of these youth have been involved in political gang violence and all have been able to improve their social and economic conditions and that of their families. As a co-creator of STB, the Duara Foundation is equally committed to collective agency and helps the STB platform with project development, planning project implementation, fundraising, accounting, monitoring and local capacity building.

​

Whether you are an artist, a musician, a writer, a teacher or still finding your calling, you have a responsibility to be active. Not everyone will be immortalized in history books, and more than often the real heroes never receive their just due. But praise and adoration should not be your concern; social change and justice is not about the glory.  We must acknowledge that a collective will always hold more power than an individual. Therefore, lasting change, true social transformation, can only arrive with sustained cooperative action.