On Thursday, November 10th, our LGBTQ Social Justice group took a trip to the Bronx to meet up with a small organization called FIERCE. It is made for children of the LGBTQ community, specifically children of color. We agreed to do volunteer work from 1-4pm. After taking the train we met up with Mustafa Sullivan, the executive director. We visited their temporary office, which was a house. No one was there except for Mustafa. He said that most people came after school, since they are kids. Mustafa gave us a short tour and sat us down. He decided to do an exercise called Flower Power. It was a sheet we filled out to get to know each other. Before we started, Mustafa told us his personal experience with gender and sexuality. He identifies as a gay male. He told us about gender, how expression, identity, and biology are all on a spectrum, along with sexuality. Then Mustafa told us that we were to choose two colors; one that represents power, and one that does not. The sheet had a flower on it, and inside each petal was a topic. For example, a few said: gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, looks, and wealth. We were to color each petal with either a positive or negative color, depending on how much power we personally feel that we have in that topic. Afterwards, Mustafa gave us a gigantic piece of paper and told us to draw a poster that represented justice of all sorts. We decided to draw an earth shaped like a heart, a rainbow, and a fist in the air. The overall trip was a fascinating experience, and I hope we can meet up with Mustafa again.
