{"id":151844,"date":"2023-02-17T14:47:05","date_gmt":"2023-02-17T19:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=151844"},"modified":"2023-03-01T16:27:31","modified_gmt":"2023-03-01T21:27:31","slug":"video-put-energy-into-changing-the-space-rather-than-changing-yourself-sam-jean-francois-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2023\/02\/17\/video-put-energy-into-changing-the-space-rather-than-changing-yourself-sam-jean-francois-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Video: Put energy into changing the space rather than changing yourself \u2014 Sam Jean-Francois ’23"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Here\u2019s one definition of what it means to be a college activist from someone who knows, Sam Jean-Francois \u201923. It means \u201calways questioning ways that I can make my voice heard\u201d while paying it forward, \u201censuring that everyone who’s walking in after me is also heard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Africana studies major with a concentration in Racism and Identity, Jean-Francois\u2019 voice and presence resonates all around the Bates campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEspecially as a Black queer student on this campus, I felt like I had to take pieces of myself away to fit in. I didn’t always have the approach I have now, where I’ve reached a place in my life where I’d rather put my energy into changing spaces than changing myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/lite-youtube>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n

Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

On a recent Monday, you could see and hear Jean-Francois in a historic Bates space, welcoming the community to the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day keynote in Gomes Chapel, making a powerful call for a day celebrating Black activism: \u201cinnately beautiful, resting on the demand for humanity, the love for our differences, and the act of reconstituting life in the world that deems Black people dead at birth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlack activism has reshaped our capacity to love, listen, and care for one another in restorative ways. It is about community building, uplifting voices and radical love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On another day, Jean-Francois could be seen working with students in the Academic Resource Commons, or at a meeting of the Bates Black Student Union, or, last Friday, with friends taking part in the Puddle Jump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Martin
A member of the college’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Planning Committee, Sam Jean-Francois ’23 offers the student welcome to the MLK Day keynote address in the Peter J. Gomes Chapel on Jan. 16, 2023. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I think about the creation of space, I’m impatient. Why wait for someone else to create something when I’m here and I have the skills and the resources and the support around me to do it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if not on campus, look for Jean-Francois downtown, carrying the flag of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships by teaming with community-based nonprofits \u2014 or at a local thrift shop. \u201cThrifting is my go-to pleasure. Just this weekend I got a down jacket from the Salvation Army store. I’ve been told by friends that I\u2019m a good-luck charm for thrifting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A first-generation Haitian American who grew up in Fort Myers, Fla., and later moved with family to the Boston area, Jean-Francois is completing a senior honors thesis, advised by Associate Professor of Africana Sue Houchins, Ph.D., who co-chairs the Africana program. \u201cShe’s always challenging me to do more than I think I’m capable of. At first I was very hesitant; I didn’t know if I could do it. And she was like, \u2018You can do it. You can do it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Every
Another of the many ways Sam Jean-Francois \u201923 is seen and heard in Bates spaces: offering remarks during this year’s Sankofa performance on Jan. 16, 2023, on the evening of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, featuring poems, dances, speeches, songs, and skits reflecting Black grief, Black resistance, and Black joy. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jean-Francois\u2019 thesis confronts the conventional \u201cdisaster narrative\u201d propagated by Western scholars and media about Haiti, that the island nation is defined by disaster, like \u201churricanes, earthquakes, and floods \u2014 an island in constant disarray, void of leadership, stability, and progress as a reflection of our community\u2019s short fallings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s untrue, says Jean-Francois. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The real disaster is not natural but intentional: \u201ccolonialism is the true disaster, in support of Western imperialism across the Caribbeans. And until we can address the remnants of colonialism or newer forms of it, we can never truly understand the disasters taking place in Haiti because the disasters are coming from a source that’s continuing to cause chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reflecting on nearly four years at Bates, Jean-Francois\u2019 values have stayed firm and strong. \u201cI\u2019ve always been committed to justice, equity, safety and belonging \u2014 ensuring that anyone in this community, which includes Lewiston, feels comfortable. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has changed \u201cis my confidence. I think I feel confident as a reflection of the community that I’ve gained since being here and the love and the strength that they imbue in me \u2014 always.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sam Jean-Francois \u201923 shares what being an activist means: \u201cAlways questioning ways that I can make my voice heard\u201d while paying it forward, \u201censuring that everyone who’s walking in after me is also heard.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":148,"featured_media":151845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[4,11012],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-151844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-life","category-student-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/148"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151844"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151869,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151844\/revisions\/151869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}