The Bring Education and Activism Together Club is a new San Diego City College organization aiming to raise awareness and encourage activism by creating a forum for art, music and political expression.
B.E.A.T Club was created by a group of students to offer City College teach-in’s, film showings, debates, other events and meetings which will allow students to become more involved with their community and to make a difference in the lives of others by focusing on important issues
“B.E.A.T. represents the next generation of leaders that are gonna rock the nation,” Crystle Browning, one of B.E.A.T.’s creators, said. “Honestly, that is my biggest dream for our generation, that we would get off our butts, unplug ourselves from all the media that distracts us, and start making the changes we see need to be made vs. just complaining about it.”
Club co-creator, Anthony Ortiz, also expressed his feelings about B.E.A.T.
“The B.E.A.T. Club is an outlet for me to put across any concerns about the world. It is a place of open discussion for other members and me to analyze current events and possibly come up with solutions to problems that we may be having as students, concerned American citizens, and as a society on a whole,” he said.
Alarmed with the rise of homeless students and students who can’t afford food, B.E.A.T. has begun networking with other community organizations to get donations to help feed students.
“The goal is that by the end of the semester we have a fully functioning Food Bank to assist those in need,” said Larisa Dorman, faculty member and club advisor.
B.E.A.T. has also begun a mentorship program with Garfield Senior High School students. Selected students are partnered with a B.E.A.T. Club member, and they receive help with homework and life lessons, advice and guidance.
“Nowdays people are not encouraged to bond together. They’re divided by common grounds. We want to make them believe that change is possible,” BEAT Club member Jose Rodriguez said.
Another major area of interest for B.E.A.T. students is the current budget crisis and its impact on education and employment. B.E.A.T. students have started making a documentary that chronicles the real life impact of these cuts on student’s livelihood, and further, details how legislation and policy have brought us to the situation we are in today.
“B.E.A.T. does not believe in creating hierarchical positions…all students are given a voice and no student is more powerful than another,” said Dorman.
“You don’t have to be (a) student; anyone can join. Its open forum, united voices, protest and rallys, all to make a bigger impact on today’s policies,” Rodriguez said.
The B.E.A.T. Club has more than 60 on their roster, and they welcome people that are passionate in making a difference in life.
The next event will be on Oct. 14 in room R-113 from 2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. B.E.A.T. will be showing the documentary film “The Take” by Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis about Argentine factory workers who reclaim control of their closed factory and turn it into a worker controlled cooperative.
