By: Amelia Schafer Layout: Kate Furr
A Summer of
Protests
Photo submited by Soundra Buehler
S
oundra Buehler is a senior elementary education major at Simpson College looking to make a difference in children’s lives and generations.
After gaining a solid grasp on white privilege and how it’s influenced her life, Buehler realized she could use this for good and mawke a real change in others’ lives.
Buehler spent her last summer in college protesting for Black Lives Matter.
“Just using my white privilege and talking about it and if I hear a racial comment I say something, and if it’s at Thanksgiving with my family and they’re saying inappropriate things or being racist then I need to say something it’s not going to stop unless I say something,” Beuhler said.
Part of her efforts to make a difference comes with making a difference in her own life and how she perceives herself and others through learning about her privilege as a white woman and how it influences her life. “I wasn’t one who thought I was privileged just because I didn’t grow up having money or getting everything I wanted. I had a hard life too. I had to work for things, and I never really thought that I was privileged,” Buehler said. “After attending these events and protests, I realized that I am privileged. I have white privilege, white privilege is real, and the only way to make a difference is to use that privilege stand up, and just talk about it.”
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One instance of Buehler using her white privilege for good came from Simpson’s Sept. 2 protest, where she led the crowd of over 200 students in various chants. “At the protest here at Simpson, I didn’t want to stand up there and lead chants and stuff, but I did because I was using my privilege to raise awareness and use my voice and lead those chants because that’s what I felt like I needed to do to help them,” she said.
