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March 8, 2019 at 9:18 pm #4686JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
When we first started discussing Standing Rock, I began to reflect on what I had already learned regarding the subject. I recalled that the first time I had heard about #NODAPL was when actress Shailene Woodley live-streamed her arrest while she was in North Dakota protesting the pipeline alongside the indigenous people. This reminded me about our discussion of ally -ship and what it means to be an ally. Shailene’s statement regarding her arrest is what I think exemplifies a good ally. She did not make it about her, she made sure to shift the focus from her, to the actual issue at hand: indigenous people’s right to their own water being threatened because of capitalistic greed. She addressed how oftentimes, Native Americans are left out of mainstream discussions of issues such as sex trafficking, governmental integrity, and land ownership. She criticizes the U.S. and our ignorance to issues that affect Native American. In her official statement, she points out the irony of her arrest. While she was trying to raise awareness for #NODAPL, people focused on her arrest more than what she was arrested for. She states:
“And what could it look like if we learned from this instance, where it took myself getting detained to raise awareness about Native Americans? What if we used it as a catalyst for a full societal shift in the way we start thinking and treating and learning from indigenous peoples? So that in the future, it doesn’t require a non-native celebrity to bring attention to the cause.”
I think her statement is a good example of what it means to be an ally, recognizing one’s privilege, showing one’s support, and addressing systems of oppression and seeking to dismantle them through activism.
A link to her statement: http://time.com/4538557/shailene-woodley-arrest-pipeline/
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by JULIANNA COVARRUBIAS.
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by JULIANNA COVARRUBIAS.
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March 3, 2019 at 3:24 pm #4600JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
For this week’s photo share, I wanted to reflect on how the #MeToo movement is not only specific to those in Hollywood, but it also applies to everyday people, especially college students. Sexual assault and harassment have become normalized on college campuses. A google document called “Sexual Harassment in the Academy” was created by Karen Kelsky, providing an opportunity for people to anonymously report harassment they faced in academia. Two entries included experiences graduate students had at UCSD, one of them stating that they had reached out to OPHD (Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination) to which OPHD and the University responded by not looking into the matter. The victim was later pushed out of the PhD program by the professor who had harassed them. This entry challenges the integrity of the resources on campus, including SARC (Sexual Assault Resource Center) and OPHD, showing that despite the resources, sexual assault still occurs and is sometimes ignored at the expense of the survivor in order to maintain the schools image. This example shows how the issue of sexual assault can be institutional. Sexual assault is a very personal and sensitive issue further complicated when intersections of race, gender identity and class are introduced. Women of color, especially trans woman of color are often discredited and demonized, which is why sexual assault is something that should be addressed through an intersectional lens in order to address the multiple systems of oppression affect survivors of assault.
Image source : “Sexual Harassment In the Academy: A Crowdsource Survey. By Dr. Karen Kelsky, of The Professor Is In (Www.theprofessorisin.com)
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March 3, 2019 at 3:20 pm #4591JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
For this week’s photo share, I began to reflect on how the #MeToo movement is not only specific to those in Hollywood, but it also applies to everyday people, especially college students. Sexual assault and harassment have become normalized on college campuses. A google document called “Sexual Harassment in the Academy” was created by Karen Kelsky, providing an opportunity for people to anonymously report harassment they faced in academia. Two entries included experiences graduate students had at UCSD, one of them stating that they had reached out to OPHD (Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination) to which OPHD and the University responded by not looking into the matter. The victim was later pushed out of the PhD program by the professor who had harassed them. This entry challenges the integrity of the resources on campus, including SARC (Sexual Assault Resource Center) and OPHD, showing that despite the resources, sexual assault still occurs and is sometimes ignored at the expense of the survivor in order to maintain the schools image. This example shows how the issue of sexual assault can be institutional. Sexual assault is a very personal and sensitive issue further complicated when intersections of race, gender identity and class are introduced. Women of color, especially trans woman of color are often discredited and demonized, which is why sexual assault is something that should be addressed through an intersectional lens in order to address the multiple systems of oppression affect survivors of assault.
Image source : “Sexual Harassment In the Academy: A Crowdsource Survey. By Dr. Karen Kelsky, of The Professor Is In (Www.theprofessorisin.com)
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by JULIANNA COVARRUBIAS.
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March 1, 2019 at 9:43 pm #4461JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
For this week’s photo share, I decided to discuss the relevance of sexual assault as a normalized or common experience for people in college. Last year in my DOC class, our professor talked about a crowdsourced survey that exposes sexual assault in academia. It’s a google doc where people can disclose their experiences with sexual harassment or assault in academia. Two of the entries on the spreadsheet are from people at UCSD. This spreadsheet shows how sexual assault is normalized within institutions such as universities, including UCSD. It also shows how sexual assault can be the result of the exploitation of power dynamics. The issue of sexual assault on college campuses is further complicated when discussing race. I did a research project on sexual assault on college campuses and one of the articles I used called “Sexual assault and academic achievement” by Kelly Pinter, the author surveyed people of color and recorded how their race influenced their experience with sexual assault. The experience of an African American woman provides insight on how convoluted the issue of sexual assault is, claiming that “When a black woman on a predominantly white campus is victimized, she is not only an outsider in the larger predominantly white campus community, but she may also become an outsider in the supportive, cohesive black student community if the alleged attacker is a popular black man in that clique. Ultimately, being a rape survivor could mean the end to that survivor’s social life and support system on campus,” a scenario that is applicable to the marginalized communities at UCSD.
Image source: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S9KShDLvU7C-KkgEevYTHXr3F6InTenrBsS9yk-8C5M/edit#gid=1530077352
- This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by JULIANNA COVARRUBIAS.
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February 24, 2019 at 2:11 pm #4332JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
This week’s discussion on Black Lives Matter got me thinking of other movements that have sought to tackle issues of gun violence such as the “March For Our Lives Movement” following the Parkland shooting. It is important to recognize that grassroots movements such as BLM have shifted conversations of race and the role of protesting when it comes to discussing politics and oppressive institutions. It is also important to critically analyze why and how quickly MFOL gained traction, media coverage, and support. The MFOL is characteristically white, with the exception of Emma Gonzalez. It is important to critically analyze why BLM, a movement started by Black women for Black people, has received so much backlash and criticism despite how crucial this movement is in addressing institutional racism and police brutality. Their work has not only inspired other movements, but it has started an important conversation about the blatant racism that still exists within the U.S. I chose a picture of Naomi Wadler who spoke at the March For Our Lives rally in DC because she directly addresses the fact that Black girls are not usually given the platform she had been given to speak about their experience with gun violence. “For far too long, these names, these black girls and women, have been just numbers,” Wadler later said. “I’m here to say ‘Never again’ for those girls, too,” (Washington Post, 3/25/18).
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February 17, 2019 at 9:47 pm #4200JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
For this week’s photo share, I decided to discuss The Che Cafe located on campus. This has been a highly contested space on campus. Administration has threatened to close it down but was met with student protests. The reason it is a “controversial” space on campus is because it acknowledges systems of oppression and seeks to challenge them by honoring figures who have fought for the rights of marginalized groups such as Che Guevara, Cesar Chavez, and Angela Davis. It is a space where students can come together to learn about counter-hegemonic movements, create art, and just enjoy live music and vegan food. Spaces like these on any college campus are always under attack- they are important for students because it allows them to come together and participate in important dialogues surrounding their lived experiences and the political and social climates on campus. They are also often the result of grassroots organizing and student-led movements.
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February 9, 2019 at 8:51 pm #3822JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
For this week, I decided to focus on self proclaimed boy band Brockhampton. Although their music isn’t strictly one genre, a lot of their music is hip-hop. Rather than identifying as a rap collective, despite their discography being comprised of rap/ hip hop, they identify as a boyband as a way to challenge the idea of what it is that boybands look like or typically sound like. The “frontman” Ian Simpson or “Kevin Abstract” raps about his identity as a black gay man. He often criticizes the ostracism he deals with from the music industry and fans because they are uncomfortable with the fact that he raps about being gay. Him and others in the band touch on many different social issues, such as police brutality, toxic masculinity, racism, and classism. They use hip hop as a way to talk about important issues and even critique homophobia in hip hop culture. Just as hip hop has historically been used as a means of criticizing hegemonic institutions of racism, Brockhampton uses their platform to do the same. The picture I chose is from reddit and is from one of their merch campaigns (not all members are pictured).
- This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by JULIANNA COVARRUBIAS.
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February 1, 2019 at 7:32 pm #3588JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
For this week’s photo share, I decided to focus on our discussion in class Friday when the question was posed – “What does it mean to be a good ally?” I think being a good ally consists of not trying to participate in a movement with the goal of being the “savior” or the leader of it when that person is not part of that community. Rather, one should provide support and not take up space that does not belong to them. It is important to show up for marginalized voices and stand in solidarity with them and provide support where it is needed, not assuming that you may know more about their own needs than they do. When I think of good ally-ship, I also think of ally-ships that exist within movements. For example, the Women’s March in 2017 was a demonstration of people coming together in order to protest injustice. But within this march that was meant to be about solidarity and women’s rights, there was a lot a lot of the language and posters used were exclusionary of the experiences of trans women. This shows how that even within movements, there are inconsistent and exclusionary ideologies that seek to divide people that identify with the cause, whether intentionally or not. The picture I attached show how the feminism that was being practiced catered to white cis women. That is why I believe it is important to reflect on the question of what it means to be a good ally to those outside of your community and to those in it as well. It is important that one’s activism is intersectional and inclusive of people of all race, class, gender, and sexuality.
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January 27, 2019 at 3:26 pm #3494JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
This week, I chose this photo off of ebony.com’s article titled”Black Panthers 50 Years Later: What They Wanted Is What We (Still) Need” of a Black Panther Party member interacting with the police because I thought it related directly to Malcolm X’s advocacy for self defense. The Black Panther Party (BPP), whose original name was Black Panther Party for Self Defense, was formed in Oakland in 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale as a way to protect African American communities. They believed in self defense and were armed as a way to protect themselves from violence inflicted on their communities by white people and police officers. The BPP sought to improve their community, providing health care resources, food, and other basic necessities to their community. Just as Malcolm X was portrayed as violent, the BPP was also also discredited due to their stance on self-determination and self -defense, despite their many important contributions to their community.
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January 20, 2019 at 3:41 pm #3247JULIANNA COVARRUBIASParticipant
<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>This image is a still from Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” music video. I chose this image of children dancing on top of a cop car somewhere in Oakland because it speaks to the demonization of black children and how they are very susceptible to police violence. In the lyrics of this song and the visuals from this video, Lamar touches on many issues that we discussed in class in regards to the Civil Rights movement and the issues that MLK and Malcolm X sought to tackle. Lamar mentions how resilient black people are, even after so many years fighting for basic human rights, they still come out stronger. He talks about police brutality, white people capitalizing off of black art, and the ways in which the development of black pride is a step towards revolution. These themes are as prevalent now as they were during the Civil Rights movement which shows that even though many strides were made by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Junior, the fight for equity and justice is a continuing struggle and artists such as Lamar seek to bring light to these issues through music. </span>
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