JDA Lecture

I finally got to see the Jesse Danial Ames Lecture: Transgenderism and Citizenship: A Dialogue between Eli Clare and Matt Richardson.” During the lecture, much was argued about how citizenship is falsely defined. Eli Clare suggested that citizens believe that the government of there land should protect its citizens when in fact they do not, well not all of them. It seemed to be suggested that the government is biased to which people they protect, bringing race, disabilities, and sexual orientation into the mix. I disagree with much of the argument made. I feel like the government has made great leaps in the not to distant past to help all of citizens regardless of race, gender orientation and disabilities. I still believe that much improvement needs to be made but you can not change the minds of individuals by changing a government. Examples of hate crimes were spilled out left and right. While I do find hate crimes horrific I do not think it is right to assume a majority of people feel or act the way of the hater.

I did enjoy the lecture in the sense that I did not understand much about transgenderism. Reading the articles before last class period helped me understand the lecture a little more then I think I would have if I did not read them. Much of the information presented was new to me so I do enjoy that I learned something new. The speakers definitely did present a different view on things that I never would have thought about, such as the questions presented on paperwork. From my point of view I felt like some thoughts were a stretch maybe an over exaggeration to a poorly worded sentence. For example, the question are you a citizen or are you an undocumented alien, seemed like an over exaggeration. From my view point an alien is defined as belonging to another country or government. Eli interpreted alien as some sub human form. While there are two (maybe more, I am not sure) interpretations of an alien in today’s society, one being a foreign creature from space, I believe that the term alien first originate as a person who does not belong to the current government. I am not sure if this is what Eli mean but that is how I interpreted it. Overal the lecture did make me think. I thought about my own points of views and how I interpreted things. It made me think how different each individual is and how selfish it would be to ask someone to conform there ideas to suit your own ideas. I thought about how I wish every individual can see that everyone is different and not judge how they live their lives.