Most of my focus as a human rights activist has been on Africa, specifically the numerous conflicts and instances of genocide. However, I am starting to realize the enormous potential and numerous opportunities for social justice and human rights work in Washington.
I am taking an applied anthropology class this semester with professor Tony Whitehead. A major requirement is for students to conduct community asset research and fieldwork in Washington neighborhoods, specifically in wards 7 and 8, including Marshall Heights and Congress Heights. Both neighborhoods are older, historically black communities — at least 96 percent of the population is black. I only make this distinction because these neighborhoods are also what most international (and domestic) nongovermental organizations would deem marginalized communities.
The neighborhood I am working in, Marshall Heights, is home to 24,000 people who suffer from functional illiteracy (at or below a ninth-grade reading level), and one-third of those individuals cannot read above a fourth-grade level. Washington also has the highest rate of new HIV/AIDS cases per 100,000 people in the United States — 12 times the national average according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The epidemic disproportionately affects blacks in the city. These are just a snapshot of the enormous problems facing these communities. They are marginalized because of the enormous disparities between these historically black communities and the greater metropolitan area.
Veteran activists in Washington always tell me what a crazy place it is, and this is taking on new meaning as I realize how many opportunities there are for human rights and social justice work right in the backyard of the university. Also, because Washington is a district rather than a state, there are numerous parameters and dynamics to consider when trying to work in one of the city’s communities.
Whitehead’s program, the Cultural Systems Analysis Group, has a “philosophical orientation towards facilitating social change” and “provides anthropologically based knowledge and skills to people and groups involved in community-based initiatives.” Basically, he decided to build an applied anthropology mechanism after coming to the university in 1989 to help agencies based in Washington neighborhoods at the epicenter of the “crack epidemic” that were being victimized by the early years of the prison-industrial complex’s war on black men.
Students and young professionals (myself included) have a tendency to focus on the global scale of issues, something that is obviously crucial. However, as a student living near Washington, I am beginning to see the need for a university activist community dedicated to the District. It is much easier to conceptualize the enormous challenges that need to be addressed in a global capacity. However, I believe fostering a student activist community on this campus to work with community activists in Washington would be an immeasurable, positive step in the right direction.
In many ways, Washington is a bubble, a place to experience and confront the numerous social justice issues we see on a national and international scale. It would force us to come to terms with bigger questions we do not always think about, such as how and why “our” federal government is able to get away with indirectly perpetuating these extremely complicated situations through neglect.
Grace Goode is a junior anthropology major. She can be reached at goode at umdbk dot com.