This is our second profile of a member of our Solidarity Brigade for Southern Solidarity Summer. Solidarity Summer is a project to win Progress and Power across Virginia from July 16th-August 24th, 2011.
Meet Carol De Souza, an MSW student at Virginia Union University and a founder of Unity of Consciousness, a community group founded to 
address the high drop out rate in the Petersburg school system.
Name: Carol De Souza
Age: 23
Where did you grow up?
I was born in Brazil, but raised in Bolivia. I moved to Virginia with my immediate family in 2000, and now I live in Petersburg.
Why are you excited to be a part of this?
First of all, I love people. I feel united when we work together for the same cause. When we work collectively, we can evoke a lot of awareness about the things that need to be done to make a change. If I wasn’t doing voter organizing this summer, I’d be focused full time on building a youth program I’ve been working on for years called Unity of Consciousness, where we mentor and tutor young people that have social and economic imparities.
Who is your organizer hero?
To find my hero, you have to go way back to Harriet Tubman. She was amazing and inspiring, and she never gave up. She knew what was necessary for her people to be free.
What is one talent you have that your fellow voter organizers will be surprised to learn about?
People think I’m quiet, but I’m actually paying close attention to what’s going on, and I’m taking mental notes. I do artistic writing and I’m also athletic: I like to play volleyball, basketball, soccer, and run track.
Why do you think voter organizing is an important way to build power?
Because when there’s a common goal that we’re all working for, we can see the impact of what we do. For example, in Petersburg, most members of the City Council didn’t have real intentions to improve education for youth, but there’s real power at stake is we can have the right candidate in office.
Why do you think Virginia is such an important place for communities of color, women, and working-class people to organize?
There are many different locations across the state where there are a lot of underrepresented groups, lots of poverty and social problems and people don’t know what they can do to make a change. Organizing is the best way to make change, achieve our common goals, and get our movements doing what they need to do.
How do you think this will have an impact in your community or on your life?
I think I’ll have a better understanding of how things work, and how to make people more conscious of a system that impacts their life everyday.
What makes you nervous or scared about this experience?
I just want to make sure I know what I’m doing when I’m out there!
What is one thing you’re excited to learn about during Southern Solidarity Summer?
I want to learn how we are gonna make sure that we’re being effective at voter organizing and really accomplishing our lofty goals. I’m really looking forward to meeting all the great minds that are coming together to be part of a movement that makes a difference.
http://virginianewmajority.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/head-south-for-freedom-southern-solidarity-summer/
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