Prompt: How might we be a part of bringing change that is more just through our service?

Description (Describe some aspect of the community experience)

The Back Bay Mission organization focuses on creating equality for impoverished
communities and addresses the intersectional components of poverty, like race and veteran
status. Much of the service revolves around meeting the basic needs of individuals in poverty,
but the service empowers them rather than belittling them. Freire writes on page 56 regarding the
treatment of the oppressed by the oppressor. Even though the opressor is the one who inflicts
violence, the oppressed is seen as the barbaric and wicked group. Impovershed and unhoused
communities have been seen as not much more than an eyesore at best and criminals who
deserve to be on the streets or in jail at worst. These invididuals are seen as less than human and
their treatment, although sometimes well-intentioned, reflects that. Back Bay Mission works to
mitigate the infantilization of the oppressed by the oppressor and instead allows those who need
the facilities to shop for themselves and retain their dignity and autonomy.

Analysis (Analyze how course content relates to the community experience)

According to the reading, the education regarding oppression has two stages. Freire
writes, “The pedagogy of the oppressed, as a humanist and libertarian pedagogy, has two distinct
stages. In the first, the oppressed unveil the world of oppression and through the praxis commit
themselves to its transformation. In the second stage, in which the reality of oppression has
already been transformed, this pedagogy ceases to belong to the oppressed and becomes a
pedagogy of all people in the process of permanent liberation. In both stages, it is always through
action in depth that the culture of domination is culturally confronted” (54). As I prepare to serve
the Mississippi community, I reflect on my experience and believe I am still understanding the
first stage. I am not oppressed in an economic or racial sense, but I do not have a thorough or
complete understanding of how these oppressions look. I have not experience the intersection of
race and socioeconomic status and I cannot yet say I have committed to its transformation.
However, I hope through this experience to move through both stages and be better able to
understand how deeply rooted this oppression is in our culture and how to begin to remove it.

Application (How the experience and course content can be applied to personal or
professional life)
As a person, I like to think that I have demonstrated my commitment to changing the
world and pushing for equality of all identities. However, I recognize that with my age and
experience, there is so much more room for me to continue to grow. Freire writes regarding
changing the world, “On the contrary, the more radical the person is, the more fully he or she
enters into reality so that, knowing it better, he or she can better transform it. This individual is
not afraid to confront, to listen, to see the world unveiled. This person is not afraid to meet the
people or to enter into dialogue with them. This person does not consider himself or herself the
proprietor of history or of all people, or the liberator of the oppressed; but he or she does commit
himself or herself, within history, to fight at their side” (Freire 39). Freire’s concept of someone
who can change the world reminds me of who I would like to become and what I am trying to
get out of this experience. By traveling to an area I am completely unfamiliar with, I hope to
confront the world and see it unveiled. I want to grow from my experience with the people I
work with and learn how to empower them and help them fight for equality. The reading has
shown me how to be a good ally and advocate, and, hopefully, this experience will make me into
one.