Auctioned for Bobby Seale

Today we tend to overlook the buying of people, and continue to be auctioned off with our experiences of life within the education system to fill a quota. - anonymous e-board member of the African Latino Society

Just a few moments ago, I was literally auctioned off during the African Latino Society's fund raiser, "Taking Back The Block" which will give all proceeds towards Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panthers, coming to Ithaca. Their event at first shocked me, I thought, "Hmmmm... selling bodies and services for money, isn't that an awful lot like the slave trade?" but after experiencing it I realized that it was the purpose of the auction; to start a dialogue about the education system and the potential problems with academia's capitalist agenda when regarding race and expectations/control by means of scholarships. Sure, people were not engaging in spending money to kill another human being through forcible work, or discriminate as a result of attempting to look diverse which often happens in academia and but it was an interesting, thought provoking affair.

As the individual being sold it was a terrifying experience (this is not to say I have in any way an idea of what it would be like to be sold as a slave that is not what I mean at all- that would be irrationally disproportional). Just getting on stage for me is just a few steps away from panic attack or collapse from leg failure but having to get up there in the bright lights with a room full of people watching and listening to me sell myself... it was just bizarre. My legs were shaking, my head sorta spinning, but my voice did not falter. I was able to even joke a little bit... when someone asked, "How long of a massage are you offering to give?" I replied with a quip, "It depends on the body part **sassy face**." Overcoming stage fright has been a long term goal of mine and doing it in front of an audience of strangers was uplifting to say the least, especially considering the cause... what an opportunity! To have Bobby Seale breathing the same air as myself. Jeez!

My concerns with academia are well rooted in my overall feelings toward capitalism in general. It just destroys me to think sometimes that money is such a powerful force that people are continually punished for something so meaningless. Money has little to show for itself. Consider where it comes from, a family generations ago could have benefited hugely from the slave trade and then they pass that money on through inheritance to the next generation, so on and so forth until today where their great great grand-kids get to go to a private college which they pay completely out of pocket, worst situation... but nonetheless accurate. Therefore, what is the point of allowing education to be disproportionately easier for the people who have money? If a student has money, they are not forced to work outside of academia to maintain their lifestyle. They do not have the stress of worrying about their grades to carry them through college if they do not have scholarships that are dependent upon GPA or participation in several activities.

I feel that higher education is a born right, and should be equally attainable. What is the remedy? TBD???

Here's "Chicago" by Crosby, Stills, and Nash which references Bobby Seale and the Chicago 8. It has a bit of the history of the situation in the video portion of it as well as the audio track and stock footage.