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March 10, 2019 at 1:27 pm #4772ANGELA DANGParticipant
This week we talked about how the movement at Standing Rock contrasts other movements around the nation. We also talked about the ways some movements, including Standing Rock, have been coopted by non-indigenous allies for purposes that are less helpful to the movement than harmful. It is important for these allies to remember that these movements and actions have very different implications and consequences for indigenous folks than those allies, especially white allies. The racialization of indigenous folks is such that they are more vulnerable to harm for peacefully protecting their waters than white allies who may be more violent.
Source: https://sacredecology.com/mni-wiconi-the-stand-at-standing-rock/
- This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by ANGELA DANG.
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March 10, 2019 at 1:13 pm #4765ANGELA DANGParticipant
I wanted to share a piece by Noname because I think she’s an absolutely brilliant rapper and is underappreciated. Noname released a track last year called “Blaxploitation” which examines the way black folks are exploited not only for profit but also to present an idealistic, false image of a post-racial America that ignores the ways in which black folks are valorized for certain purposes and profit and yet are denied the right to space, life, wealth, and health. She speaks about minstrelsy segregation, and the rendering of black bodies and black folks as second-class citizens. The particular lyrics I’ve shared highlight the ways that black folks continue to be segregated and relegated to types of labor that are undervalued.
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March 3, 2019 at 8:22 pm #4646ANGELA DANGParticipant
This week we talked about white spaces. I know that there was a heavy emphasis on the policing of black and brown folks in these “white” spaces by white folks, but I wanted to stress that this policing isn’t always upheld by white folks only. Non-black and brown people of color are also guilty of upholding these structures that exclude and endanger black and brown folks. A few weeks ago, there was an incident in which a Korean American man posing as a police officer began harassing a group of black folks by flashing white power signs and saying white power repeatedly. The reach with which the idea of exclusively white spaces has penetrated other communities is a really disturbing narrative that unfortunately has been concocted for ages. It’s another way to prevent communities of color from creating solidarity and allyship, and it promotes intracommunal discordance and fighting.
Source: https://blog.angryasianman.com/2019/01/cop-yells-white-power-at-black-lives.html and black lives matter LA
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March 3, 2019 at 7:01 pm #4642ANGELA DANGParticipant
I don’t think very many of us can deny that #MeToo has done a lot to spread more awareness on the alarmingly common experience of sexual assault. I think, however, that it’s been extremely limiting and exclusionary, perhaps even revisionist in the ways that the movement has been portrayed, in whose voices have been privileged in the movement, and in the very problematic tropes that I don’t believe it intended to push forward, but I felt ended up ultimately doing.
I’ve spoken about how black trans women have not had as much agency in this movement, and I also would like to highlight how sex workers have been left behind. One of the most common tropes I started hearing during the height of the #MeToo movement was this idea of unprovoked sexual assault, that we somehow needed to convince men of how utterly wrong and abusive sexual assault was and is by highlighting the experiences of women who in no way “encouraged” sexual assault through clothing choice or actions, and yet still were. This in no way means that these women who were coming forward were saying that women perceived to be “promiscuous” or other “deserved” to be assaulted, but the very fact that stories of women who suggested they did not provoke or encourage the assault in any way became the upstanding examples of #MeToo is very telling. Again, in no way do I think that this was the intended narrative of #MeToo, but it started coming off that way. The dichotomy of the virgin vs. the slut unintentionally became this overarching theme, and quite frankly it was disturbing. In doing so, sex workers voices were dismissed. A movement that should’ve included and protected these women who are incredibly vulnerable to assault and rarely if ever are heard, protected, or believed because of the nature of their profession, were again being spoken over. If #MeToo is going to continue its movement, it needs to do a better job of including these women.
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February 24, 2019 at 8:51 pm #4422ANGELA DANGParticipant
In thinking about the exclusion of indigenous folks, especially from areas that are advertised as if they are open spaces accessible to everyone, I wanted to examine how native folks are not only excluded, but stolen and endangered on land that is rightfully theirs and that is purported to be safe and secure for all. The statistics of missing or murdered indigenous women are, to say the least, alarming, and because of our longstanding history of disregarding native folks altogether, it’s not hard to imagine why we rarely hear about these missing or murdered women. You have spaces like national parks that are supposed to be accessible to everyone, yet excludes the very people that have a right to that land in the first place, and then you have spaces that were “generously” relegated to native folks after their land was stolen from them, and that land isn’t even safe.
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February 24, 2019 at 8:38 pm #4420ANGELA DANGParticipant
This was a photo that was circulating around during one of the Black Lives Matter protests that I believe really encapsulates the experience of black folks in relation to law enforcement and the criminal justice system at large. The perceived criminality of black folks no matter what form their protest or even existence takes more often than not results in targeted violence. The very concept that if you live by all the rules and behave “well” then you’ll have nothing to worry about is contested by this photo. Black folks and non-black people of color are taught to behave twice as well and do everything twice as good and yet it still isn’t enough.
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February 17, 2019 at 5:32 pm #4194ANGELA DANGParticipant
We’ve been talking about incarceration, specifically the mass incarceration of black men, as a form of racial segregation and oppression, and how incarceration can significantly diminish the future prospects of formerly incarcerated folks. I think we tend to focus more on the physical realities of incarceration and its effects than the trauma and the emotional violence that it inflicts on formerly incarcerated folks. Kalief Browder is one of the first people that come to mind when I consider the ways that segregation through incarceration can significantly affect and determine a person’s outcome.
Kalief Browder was wrongfully imprisoned at 16 for supposed theft. He spent three years on Riker’s Island, one of the most dangerous and violent prisons in the states, and was forced into solitary confinement for at least two of those years. He was eventually released from prison after it was determined that there was a lack of evidence to support that Browder had committed the theft. Browder and his family sued the NYPD, the Bronx DA, and Department of Corrections for his imprisonment. I don’t believe any of these institutions were found guilty or held accountable for the incredible violence and damage they caused to Browder and his family. After suffering from years of trauma and depression following his incarceration, Browder died by suicide. His story is one of gross abuse of a system that allows for the targeted oppression, incarceration, and segregation of black men that has far more serious consequences than we could ever imagine, beyond just the physical.
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February 17, 2019 at 5:17 pm #4188ANGELA DANGParticipant
This week I wanted to share some photos from a grassroots, student movement for liberation in the “Third World” in alliance with black liberation movements in the U.S. during the time of the struggle for the establishment of Ethnic Studies. Around this time, Asian American students at UCLA began to mobilize in solidarity with their black and brown brothers and sisters. They started a student-run zine to bring attention to issues of police brutality, black rights and liberation, and the Vietnam War. It’s a great example of forgotten histories that contest the idea that Asian Americans are apolitical or apathetic to the plight of other communities. It’s also important to note that, given the amount of recognition we give to male leaders of activist and liberation movements, the zine was largely produced by women that also took the opportunity to critique the male-dominated world of activism and the lack of liberation movements for women that also aligned with other liberation movements at the time.
Source: Gidra Zine, December 1970 issue (https://www.topic.com/the-forgotten-zine-of-1960s-asian-american-radicals)
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February 9, 2019 at 3:04 pm #3805ANGELA DANGParticipant
A couple years ago, a video of a high school junior opening his acceptance email from an Ivy League university in front of his classmates went viral. A couple weeks later, another viral video was released of his brother also getting accepted into an Ivy League. Both brothers appeared on Ellen, and the school that they attended, T.M. Landry prep, was praised for uplifting their students and preparing them for success. Even more noteworthy? Most of their students are black, and they had an extremely high acceptance right into high-profile and Ivy League universities. Michael and Tracy, the founders of the school, were celebrated for creating an alternative school that would ensure black students’ success. They were portrayed as this bastion of hope in an education system that has consistently failed its black students. It would seem, for once, that there were educators and a school that actually cared for the most neglected demographic of students in the U.S. public school system.
Then came the scandals. The New York Times released an article with shocking confessions about the school and its founders. Michael was accused of abusing the students, with several students and parents reporting that the children were beaten. Michael and Tracy were both accused of falsifying transcripts and exaggerating or completely making up false stories about the students on college applications to garner more sympathy from college admissions boards. Students said they spent the majority of their time preparing for the ACT and SAT instead of actually learning the material, and alumni who contributed to the investigation have cited this as the reason for their struggles or even failure in higher education. Some have even had to drop out of their universities altogether. The joyful videos of students getting accepted into Ivy Leagues covered up a much darker, more sinister story of abuse and violence within the school, of students getting coerced and blackmailed into silence, and parents fearing that their children’s chances of getting into college significantly diminished as Michael held the threat of bad letters of recommendations and secret connections to college admission boards over their heads.
At first glance, it’s easy to immediately criticize Michael and Tracy. I, for one, wouldn’t dream of excusing their behavior or trivializing it. It’s unexcusable. But the existence of the school, of the extreme measures that they both took to ensure that these students, who have been failed time and time again by the public school system, rose to “success” points to a much larger and saddening trend of school segregation and its effects. The. U.S. public education system is segregated. Predominantly white schools are better funded and therefore offer their students a chance at greater academic success. Majority black and brown schools, on the other hand, are severely underfunded and have much less opportunity to even be somewhat near the same level as their white counterparts. Many black parents believed and hoped that T.M. Landry offered an alternative for their children, and with two black educators at the helm of the school, they believed that their children really had a chance. Perhaps this was Michael and Tracy’s aim in founding the school. Whatever the case, the institution took a dark turn. Michael and Tracy’s abuses of the students are disturbing to say the least. In many ways, I think it also offers a rather depressing view of how much harder and how much more drastic measures black students are forced to take just to have, to a very minuscule degree, the same opportunities that white students take for granted.
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February 9, 2019 at 2:31 pm #3803ANGELA DANGParticipant
I chose to share a photo of Vic Mensa for this week’s weekly share. Vic Mensa is a particularly interesting figure, both the perfect embodiment of a figure in the hip hop world and its greatest challenger. Vic Mensa is from Chicago, which in many ways has influenced his work both in terms of his music and activism. The environment that Vic Mensa grew up in galvanized him into activism, as with many rappers, and much of his artistry is based around political and social issues pertaining to the greater Chicago area. Hip hop and rap, genres that have historically been vehicles for political and social commentary, have been crucial to Vic Mensa’s own activism.
I say that Vic Mensa is a rather contradictory figure in rap because of his own history. While he has always been vocal about social issues, he also caught a lot of heat in the past for domestic violence issues and rapping about violence against women. While rap is lauded for being a great critique on social and political issues, many have also seen its shortcomings in terms of its misogynistic tropes. With Vic Mensa it was no different. But Vic Mensa presents a very optimistic view of what rap could be if it transformed radically in terms of its views on women, specifically because Vic Mensa took the time to transform and evolve himself. Rather than ignore his critics or act defensively against his domestic violence accusations, Vic Mensa began self-examining and asking himself why he took the violence that he felt he was a victim of in his environment and enacted it upon women in both his personal life and his artistry. He began reading black feminists’ works and has cited bell hooks for radically transforming his views on masculinity and gendered violence, and he was one of the first among very few rappers who called for greater accountability for XXXTentacion (another rapper who was guilty of being extremely violent towards women, most notably his girlfriend who he beat and threatened to kill while she was pregnant). He also has been involved in a lot of campaigns and projects to end domestic violence. In that sense, I believe that Vic Mensa was not only transformed by hip hop/rap and the activism that it inherently offers, but that he in turn is transforming it as well to be more informed of the ways that gender and gendered violence have tended to be seen in the genres.
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January 27, 2019 at 4:51 pm #3527ANGELA DANGParticipant
This week, we focused on segregation and the construction of the word “ghetto” with all its problematic connotations. Segregation is not only limited to housing; it affects schools, property value, community services, healthcare, and other necessary resources. Those living in more affluent, predominantly white areas are lucky enough to benefit from better funding, more resources, and greater access to better funded schools, higher-paying jobs, and more. For those unable to live in these areas, the story is an entirely different one.
Such is the case with the district of Los Angeles. Recently, teachers in LA striked for more librarians and nurses, smaller class sizes, and updated campuses. Underlying all of these demands made by the teachers was a single statement: that these schools, institutions of learning for many black students and non-black students of color, deserve just as much funding from the district as predominantly white institutions. It’s no secret that public schools that are predominantly attended by non-white students are severely underfunded in comparison to white schools for which segregation, among other causes, is responsible. Schools are funded by property taxes. The higher the property tax, the more the school is paid. The higher the property value, the higher the property taxes. And it’s no secret which areas have higher property values. Who said Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation?
Photographer: Scott Heins
Date: January 22, 2019
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January 27, 2019 at 4:30 pm #3517ANGELA DANGParticipant
This week we focused on grassroots movements, particularly on how a person’s inherently politicized identity necessitates some kind of mobilization or activism against oppression. I wanted to share a photo of Nina Simone because I believe she fits this image perfectly. Nina Simone is primarily known as a soul/blues musician who rooted her activism in her music. It is hard to imagine Simone as anyone other than a legendary activist who mobilized through her music, specifically through genre of the blues. It might be surprising then, to learn that Simone originally aimed to be a classical pianist. Simone was trained in classical music and had every intention of being the first black classical pianist. What accounts for the difference between this vision that Simone had for herself, and the Simone that we all know now and love?
I’ve heard different accounts of why Simone became a well known blues musician we know as opposed to the classical artist she wanted to be. Some say that it was because of discriminatory policies within the music industry that steered her away from genres less affiliated with the black community and black culture. Others say that she made the decision to go into blues of her own volition, that she fell in love with it. Whatever the reason, Simone found a way to mobilize her community through her music, through the blues. It became a platform upon which Simone could push back against the marginalization that she experienced every day as black woman, and in turn it inspired many others. Whatever the reason for her switch from classical music to blues, Simone understood that her very existence as a black woman made it impossible for her to turn a blind eye to issues concerning racism.
Source: https://www.wfmt.com/2015/06/09/what-if-nina-simone-had-been-a-classical-pianist/
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January 18, 2019 at 10:31 pm #3118ANGELA DANGParticipant
This week we focused on leader’s of activist movements. Rather than focus on solitary figures, I wanted to reconsider how we think of activists. I think we tend to forget the necessity of an organized, unified community and place more emphasis and importance on one or two notable figures (not that they’re any less important). Without movements that start with the concerted efforts of an entire community, activism and grassroots organizing would not have a name. I wanted to place this in a more contemporary light, specifically with the organizers and unions that have fought tirelessly for a more livable wage (Fight for 15). These folks put a tremendous amount of effort into fighting for working class members at the expense of losing their jobs, being vilified, and much more. They deserve just as much recognition as high-profile spokespersons of these movements.
Source: https: Fightfor15.org
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January 18, 2019 at 10:18 pm #3116ANGELA DANGParticipant
This week we focused on western interpretations of space as opportunities to establish “morally pure” and empty lands, which naturally designates inhabitants of that space as being “immoral” or somehow undeserving of that space. Europeans and western powers were presumed to be more knowledgeable and therefore deserving of “empty” spaces such as the “New World”/”New Frontier” than folks already inhabiting that space, which would not only create problems for those forcibly displaced communities within that particular moment, but would create a trend that would last for centuries in which white folks forcibly settled on spaces with more ecological promise and economic value than black folks, indigenous folks, and other communities of color.
For this week’s photo share, I wanted to share a photo of the Vieques island, which is an island off of the coast of Puerto Rico that the U.S. laid claim to. In this particular photo, the island is being bombed. When the U.S. initially claimed this island, they thought it would be great testing grounds for military technology (specifically bombs). Never mind the fact that this island was already populated. The potential of this land to test out military technology was to great to pass, whether or not there were already folks living there. Implicitly, this meant that the U.S. viewed the inhabitants of this island as not deserving of the land that they lived on, and the resources that were tied to it. Folks living on a greater portion of the island were displaced in order to make room for testing sites, and the land that was bombed was depleted of its resources.
Source: https://worldoftravelphotography.com/1189-2/
Photographer: (I believe it’s Niels Chaneliere, but I’m not sure)
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December 2, 2018 at 3:30 pm #2866ANGELA DANGParticipant
This week I wanted to share a photo of an artistic interpretation of the very violent ramifications of identifying as queer, nonbinary, or trans. Beyond the slurs and the refusal to marry or cater for same-sex marriages, beyond the harassment and name-calling, beyond the legal nightmares of changing gender on a driver’s license, queer, non-binary, and trans folks face unimaginable traumas and violence, whether physical, mental, and emotional, that are unspoken of or forgotten in an age when we like to think we are progressive. We only need to look at the statistics of black trans folks that have gone missing or have been murdered, or the number of states in which gay conversion camps are still legal, to know that members that identify with the LGTBQIA+ community are subjected to horrifying, violent experiences. I believe this painting depicts the very violent natures and processes that queer, nonbinary, and trans folks undergo simply by living. Whether that violence is inflicted by regular folks or the state is arbitrary.
source: https://gendercreativelife.com/2018/03/17/changing-our-social-landscape-the-new-faces-of-trans-genderqueer-people/
artist: Libby O’Daniel
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