Power, Privilege, and the Purse
This project was about power and privilege in America and how certain groups have less advantages than others and that the system is designed in such a way to keep minorities and poor people down. There were many different jobs that we could have had. These jobs included, but were not limited to, speaking on a panel, performing spoken word, fundraising, directing traffic, watching the doors, or creating and running interactive exhibits. Chase, Alizea, and I were tasked with making one of the interactive exhibits, so that's what I'll be focusing on. Before the exhibition, we learned some things about budgeting, investment banking, loans, and statistics. Anyone interested in viewing some work done about those topics can reach me by email at [email protected]. We also learned about inequalities in relation to gender, race, religion, economic status, and education. We did research and wrote position papers about whatever topic we were assigned. I was in the criminal justice group. For our interactive activity, we did a bowling game where the player would spin a wheel to determine their race and economic status. From this, they would get a different sized ball and either bumpers or no bumpers. For example, if they spun a middle class white person, they'd have a tennis ball and bumpers. If they rolled a poor Hispanic person, they'd have a paper ball and no bumpers. For upper class, they would have a basketball and bumpers regardless of race. In this activity, gutter represented prison, the balls represented starting capital, and the pins represented financial success.