Social Justice Club sparks thoughtful discussions

The signature red bandanas tied around their heads, their red lipstick and denim jackets stood out in the midst of students’ everyday attire. On March 23, these individuals wanted to do more than just arrive at school in matching outfits.

Members of Social Justice Club dressed up on Career Day as Rosie the Riveter, a World War II-born American image who encouraged women to help the war effort by working in factories, in an effort to raise awareness of the wage gap in the U.S. today.

The Social Justice Club, founded by junior Caroline Oliver near the beginning of this semester, meets Tuesdays with adviser Amy Keys in room 006. The 10-member club provides a place where students can discuss and learn about current social issues.

“I wanted to have a space for students with all types of backgrounds and opinions to talk out how they felt about current issues that we face as young adults,” Oliver said. “There are members in the club who don't have the same opinions on certain topics, but we are able to come together and talk openly and respectfully about very polarizing issues.”

Members choose a central topic to explore over the course of several weeks, and during each meeting, they discuss subtopics of the overarching theme. For example, students have recently focused on modern feminism; during one meeting they discussed wage inequality in America, and in another they debated ways to combat the misconceptions about feminism at the school.

Other themes have included issues in the media, such as the biases and perspectives of different media outlets. Oliver plans to end the year by covering transgender rights.

She first decided to form the club because she is highly involved in political activism. Oliver is a member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), an organization that advocates for equal civil liberties and rights, and has participated in political rallies.

“I know that I’m very personally interested in it,” Oliver said, “so I just kind of assumed that other people would be.”

She guessed correctly. Club member junior Maya Sripadam joined in order to debate and share her own ideas with others.

“It's really cool how I can sit down with a bunch of my peers and discuss hot-button topics in our society,” Sripadam said. “Beats just thinking about them in my mind.”

Starting this club was more fun than Oliver had anticipated, although there were and are still occasional difficulties in facilitating the discussion at meetings.

“Everyone is really opinionated, so trying to get people to focus on one thing can be kind of hard, but that’s [both] a pro and a con,” she said. “I’m so happy that everyone has opinions, and I find that there’s very rarely a time when there’s an awkward silence.” Members work on projects centered on an idea of their choosing; for instance, the Rosie the Riveter dress-up and the upcoming wage inequality bake sale focus on the topic of feminism. Oliver also plans to sell baked goods to girls for 78 cents while boys must pay one dollar “just to hone in that symbolic message that this is what we’re facing right now.”

Later when LGBTQ rights are discussed by the club, Oliver hopes for the club to attend a San Francisco Pride Parade, which celebrates LGBTQ culture. She also plans to set up a showing of the movie “Milk,” which traces the gay activism of California’s first openly gay elected official Harvey Milk, in the Thermond Theater.

By gathering a group of thoughtful individuals, the Social Justice Club creates a place for students to ultimately appreciate and discuss modern issues.

“I hope to have club members discuss these issues with people who they don’t necessarily agree with in a way that [will benefit them], so that they’ll be able to see different perspectives,” Oliver said.