As a social justice advocate, I am quite familiar with having opponents to my cause. However, it wasn’t until my most recent campaign that I realized how adamant some people are about halting progress and tearing down people with different perspectives.
In March, I led a campaign for gun-free campuses through Guns Out. This initiative works to avoid adding more guns into the equation and solve campus violence. I don’t think arming ourselves should be our top priority on campus, and I think it is a distraction to learning to know that students in my class might have a weapon on them.
Because of my work on the Guns Out campaign, I was invited to a prestigious event in Washington D.C., and the story was picked up by the Tennessean. Unfortunately, it turned into quite the learning experiene. Here are a few of the lessons I picked up along the way.
1. Reporters don’t always care about you. They care about the story.
This was the first newspaper interview I had ever done. It was a phone interview that wasn’t recorded, and I was not given approval to view the article before publication. As a rule, “The Tennessean” does not allow interviewees to fact-check before publication because they trust the journalist to represent the story correctly. I do not feel that this was the case in my experience.
The reporter didn’t take away from our interview that I wanted to adequately represent both sides of the argument and reach a consensus that will create more safety and security on college campuses. Rather, instead of focusing on the heart of the campaign, he painted me as an “ironic Southern Belle liberal living in the conservative South” and an “uneducated millennial that is spewing outdated solutions.” He took my list of previous solutions that others have suggested and passed them off as my opinion, conveniently leaving out my main argumentative point that legal law-abiding gun carriers are not the issue in this matter.
My advice to anyone being interviewed for the first time is to ask that the reporter records the conversation, to ensure that they cannot misrepresent the standpoint. When discussing a political issue, be aware that the interviewer may have a different opinion than you, the interviewee. As a reporter, it is their job to be unbias, but it never hurts to ask the reporter to read your quotes back to you. This can help guarantee that your words have not been warped to fit an agenda you’re not comfortable with.
2. Make sure your social advocacy work cannot be associated with your employer.
Since “The Tennessean” had recently published an article about my Congressional Award presentation, the reporter chose to link that article in the body of this new one he was writing about me. The issue with this is that, in the original article, it lists my position and employer, and angry readers of the “Guns Out” article ran with it. They called my place of employment and attempted to discuss my views on gun control.
Due to the fact I work for a nonprofit organization, we are unable to take a stance on any political issue. While I am passionate about the work I do, I understand that my political views are not associated with my employer. Unfortunately, “The Tennessean” failed to create this distinction in linking the articles. A lesson learned: ensure before speaking to the media that no mention of your place of employment will be connected with your views on the issue.
3. Never read the comments.
When engaging in social justice advocacy, there will always be people on the other side of the argument. While some of these people will be respectful, others will say whatever demeaning and degrading comments they can to try to undermine your position. Rather than understanding that not everyone holds the same point of view, they will tear apart your character and credibility.
The comments I received on the article ranged from small insults such as “children shouldn’t tell adults what to do” and “she’s just a child” to scary comments, such as “she should be enslaved and sold on the auction block.” I spent hours reading these comments and responding to them, thinking if they could just hear my defense, they would stop.
This was not the case. And then, in the following days, third-party websites picked up the story and wrote their own articles demeaning my intelligence. I realized people in the comments are the radicals; they are the people who spend the majority of their day searching for articles that they can offer their hateful comments on.
They are simply looking to get a rise out of you, so don’t give them the satisfaction.
4) “You can’t change anything if you aren’t getting hate mail.”
This is a wonderful quote from my best friend after she read the article and comments. This is the biggest piece of advice that I took away from this whole experience. I know that this is probably only the beginning as I continue to fight for justice. While this article and the comments really shook me when I first read them, I have realized now that this is only validation that I am moving in the right direction. People are only so hateful and angry because they are afraid that I am going to be successful and make a difference.
To those fighting for your own causes: the work you are doing is important and meaningful. Never let people distract you from the ultimate goal.