[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

Having studied the #NoDAPL movement in class this week, the part which stuck out to me the most was the concept of #NoDAPL as a feminist struggle.  For many Native American and First Nations women, the personal cost of settler colonialism and capitalist accumulation has been disproportionately high in comparison to others from their nations. Indigenous women suffer the highest rate of sexual violence and, according to Amnesty International USA, in 86% of reported cases the perpetrators are non-Native men. The number of Missing and Murdered indigenous women and girls is also unprecedented in comparison to the rest of the U.S. population. It is because of this that I have chose to use this AJ+ video as my photo share for the week:

Source: https://twitter.com/ajplus/status/1103831449231413249

This clearly demonstrates that the threat of a pipeline routed through the land of Standing Rock Sioux Nation is not just a threat about the environment, or about the protection of water as an entity with full personhood: it is also about the protection of indigenous women from those who will face very few consequences for their crimes.

[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

For the theme of Black Lives Matter I have chosen to use a poster from Manual Cinema’s No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks. The multi-media cinematic performance was on at Mandeville Auditorium last Friday (22nd) and whilst I was watching I was struck by some of the lines in her poetry which spoke to the idea of equality and how when African Americans are asking for change, it is not because white lives or lifestyles do not matter, but because they do not face the sames issues – just like the #BlackLivesMatter movement. As I was working I couldn’t write down the lines but if I find them I’ll add them here.

Not only was Brooks an important literary figure, but Manual Cinema also highlighted her role as an educator and inspiration for many young people, especially young girls and women of colour who could strongly relate to the discussions of both race and gender in her poems. I also thought it was interesting that despite her being a Pulitzer Prize winning poet she is rarely featured in anthologies or literature classes (at least the ones I have taken), leading me to consider our discussion on the erasure of Black Women’s activism and its various forms.

Source: http://manualcinema.com/no-blue-memories/

Artist: Drew Dire, 10/2/17

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

For this week’s photo share I decided to highlight my friend and mentor Isaiah Wellington-Lynn. Given that this week was on the importance of ethnic studies departments, increasing diversity and equality within education, and how student activism can result in genuine change, I felt it was relevant to highlight Isaiah’s work.

Whilst on his year abroad from UCL at Harvard – an impressive story by itself given that this isn’t technically an exchange option – Isaiah was one of three students who set up the “Redefining Boundaries” fellowship. This fellowship is promoting “black excellence in technology for generations to come” in an attempt to tackle the inequality in tech hubs such as Silicon Valley and has managed to get the support of companies including Google and Facebook. Isaiah is also a student mentor for UCL anthropology, was voted as one of the Top Ten Future Leaders by Powerful Media and during his time at Harvard was a very active fellow in the Politics of Race and Ethnicity Program.

Source: https://www.redefiningboundaries.org/, June 2018.

 

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

For Week 5 I have chosen to submit an image of UK Grime artist Stormzy. From south London, Stormzy is one of the most prominent grime artists in the UK, but in addition to his genius lyrics he is also well known for his political activism and work to support black youth, especially in terms of achieving in Higher Education. He notably used his performance at the BRIT Awards to call out Theresa May’s government’s response to the Grenfell Tower fire in which 72 people died. This called into question how much the government cared about the housing of low income and working-class families, and many of those who died were people of colour, whereas the surrounding borough of Kensington and Chelsea is highly affluent and majority white. Stormzy has also created a publishing award for young writers called #Merky Books, in association with Penguin Random House, and he has also created a scholarship at the University of Cambridge which covers tuition and provides a maintenance grant.

Photographer: Gareth Cattermole, 21/2/18

Source: https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/awards/8215169/stormzy-grime-brits-uk-win-grammys

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

The image I have chosen for this week is a photograph of “An Interview with James Baldwin” published in The Village Voice in 1988. I found this image interesting for two reasons. Firstly, Quincy Troupe’s interview at James Baldwin’s home in the south of France was the last extensive interview Baldwin gave before his death, so was the last insight he gave into his political opinions and activism. Although it is only excerpts of the interview due to space restrictions on print, the image mainly includes discussions of Baldwin’s friends who were key in shaping his work, therefore reflecting his wider views at the time of his death. Secondly, I enjoyed the fact that it was printed in The Voice given that it was known for being an alternative platform to discuss politics and the arts, which also by the 1980s was a strong supporter of gay rights. It seems fitting in many ways that this is where his last interview was published.

Date: January 12, 1988

Source: https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/02/24/james-baldwin-the-last-interviews/

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

I have chosen an image from the 201 7 Women’s March in Washington. I believe that, although the march is a nonviolent act of protest which aims to create a feminist backlash against the increased acceptance of misogyny, it actually is highly relevant to Martin Luther King’s “Beyond Vietnam” and “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.

In the sense that “the white moderate who is more devoted to order than justice” damages the possibility of true change, so does the lack of intersectionality at the Women’s March. Whilst white women are happy to march for this cause, the same people will often not turn up to BLM protests or Pride etc. This proves the point that being able to speak out when it is convenient for you is a form of privilege, and one which must be acknowledged. In “Beyond Vietnam” there is the line “True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” (p.7). It is the same logic that must ensure privileged women do more than attending marches to further their own cause, they must also be allies to those who do not have the same privileges that they do and take an active role in acknowledging and working to deconstruct the institutions which create these divides.

Photographer: Ruth Fremson

Date: 21 January 2017

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/21/us/womens-march.html

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

For Week 9 I was initially planning to use the image of Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid kneeling during the national anthem at an NFL football game as I believe this image strongly relates to this week’s discussion of white fragility and the idea of white space as Kaepernick’s peaceful protest was met with public outcry and backlash so intense it has led to him not playing professionally since 2016. However I then chose to use a graph depicting the NFL’s racial breakdown.

African-American athletes often see their bodies objectified, and only receive support for their on-field successes. Although almost 70% of NFL players are African-American, this diversity is not reflected at coaching, office or owner levels, perhaps providing insight into why these protests against racism were so widely criticised. Although the NFL is not always viewed as a white space (sports as a place for African-American youth to excel etc), I think that its underlying power structures prove that it is, and in times like this when that power is ‘threatened’ white fragility is highlighted, with players being accused of disrespecting America, its military etc., when they are simply exercising their right to peacefully protest racial injustice against American citizens. Kaepernick himself stated that when he feels the flag is representative of all American citizens he would gladly stand for the anthem again.

Sources:

Data: TIDES 2017 NFL Report, https://www.tidesport.org/copy-of-nba (Richard Lapchick, 17th October 2017)

Graph: https://qz.com/1287915/the-nfls-racial-makeup-explains-much-of-it (Nikhil Sonnad, 24th May 2018)

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

The image I have chosen for this week was taken by indigenous photographer Josue Rivas*, and is titled “Resist”. It depicts two water protectors, one making peace signs with their hands, silhouetted against bright lights and in harsh conditions. Water protectors at the Oceti Sakowin Camp faced police brutality, including the use of rubber bullets and water cannons in freezing temperatures. Although under American law citizens are well within their rights to protest, the Sioux Standing Rock Tribe (and other Indigenous Nations and allies who gathered) faced extreme violence in response to their peaceful actions.

I find this image extremely powerful as it emphasises the conditions that water protectors faced and were still able to remain defiant and determined through. Our in-class discussion of the connotations of “defiant” surprised me, with so many people believing it was a negative attribute – I personally see defiance as people standing up for something they believe to be important, no matter what obstacles they face, and acting in a manner which has a positive outcome for many people, not just a selfish act. I think that this is why the title “Resist” is so apt: it is more than just resisting the implementation of a single pipeline, but of the ongoing disregard for Indigenous rights, land and bodies in America.

Source: https://www.josuerivasfoto.com/prints/resist (North Dakota, 2016)

*Rivas also gives a really good TED Talk, “Standing Rock: The Power of Telling Our Own Story”, in which he discusses ideas very similar to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichi’s “The danger of a single story” regarding the ability of Indigenous communities to control the narrative surrounding them in the mainstream media and news. (https://www.josuerivasfoto.com/tedx/)

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

The image I have chosen for Week 7 is of two white women protesting water quality in Flint. The woman at the front carries a bottle of drinking water (brown in colour). I selected this photograph for two main reasons. Firstly, it is successful in demonstrating the poor quality of the water that is supposedly safe for consumption. Second of all, the fact that the headline image on a major news publication does not depict any people of colour when addressing an issue in which they are disproportionately effected essentially summaries everything we have discussed about marginalisation and controlling narratives so far in this class. The narrative surrounding the Flint crisis fails to highlight the racial dimensions of the issue, as discussed by Pulido, both in terms of “everyday racism and racial capitalism” and I believe that this picture summarizes this sentiment and proves Pulido’s point.

Photographer: Sam Owens

Date: 25th April 2015

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/04/flint-michigan-lead-water-children-health

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

My photo for this week’s share relates to air pollution and the impact it has on schools. After the comment on Sadiq Khan visiting primary schools I was reminded of the fact that London breached its annual legal air pollution limit before the end of January in 2018 (and this was an improvement on previous years due to the Mayor’s policies). The photo depicts a group of young children protesting at their school in Enfield. Although the school itself is rated ‘Outstanding’, its location is anything but: built on North Circular Road (an extremely busy and congested ring road which surrounds inner London), the students here breathe in illegal levels of PM10 and Nitrogen Dioxide on a near daily basis.

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/jan/30/london-schools-to-be-alerted-on-high-air-pollution-days

Photographer: Chris Radburn

Date: January 2018

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

I have chosen this photograph as it shows a cordoned off area of Horton Plaza Park in downtown San Diego. After a petition started by a local man, a plaque in honour of Jefferson Davis was removed by Councillor Christopher Ward. Davis was the only Confederate President and when Ward removed the plaque he stated “Monuments honoring bigotry have no place in San Diego – or anywhere!” This ties to this week’s discussion of how reparations are not just a financial matter, but one of accepting “our collective biography and its consequences” (Coates 2014) and understanding that this includes rewriting the narrative to highlight racism as key to the ideology of the Confederate States and understanding that the continuing use of their symbols is to allow the perpetuation of blatant racism without consequences for those supporting it.

Date: 16th August 2017

Photographer: Cllr Christopher Ward

Source: https://twitter.com/ChrisWardD3/status/897853289374425088/photo/1

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

The image I have chosen for this week is by Angel Franco (June 2013), depicting a man mowing the lawn near to the intersection of Charlotte and 170th in the Bronx. The photograph stuck with me whilst I was reading around Majora Carter’s ‘Greening the Ghetto’ as it shows how much difference green space makes to a previously bleak and heavily urbanised environment. Within the article (see below) there is a comparative image of this intersection from the winter of 1979, demonstrating the extent of the changes. The statistics included by Carter demonstrate the need for green spaces (i.e. 1 in 4 children in South Bronx have asthma, and the hospitalization rate for asthma is 7 times the national average). This is also reminded me of our class discussion about how green spaces are important not only in terms of decreasing air pollution, but in offering a free and safe space for exercise and social/community gatherings.

 

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/03/nyregion/the-bronx-struggles-to-shed-burning-borough-image.html

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[NAOMI CUNNINGHAM]

The attached photo, by Reuters photographer Darren Staples, features a group of people sat after a protest in Brixton, London. Recent treatment of Windrush immigrants in UK policy has been controversial and demonstrations in areas where many immigrants settled were prevalent during April/May 2018. Brixton in particular is an area undergoing gentrification at an alarming rate, with Windrush immigrants who had previously used spaces communally being forced out as private businesses and young professionals move in. This ties to the Lipsitz article in which Allison Montana describes the unfair treatment of Mardi Gras Indian tribes by New Orleans police officers, in comparison to the treatment of football fans. The same ideas of who the space belongs to and who has the right to gather is witnessed in both 2005 New Orleans and 2018 Brixton, demonstrating how the racialisation of space is an ongoing issue in countries of white/Eurocentric power strucures.

 

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-windrush/britains-interior-minister-faces-fresh-calls-to-resign-over-deportation-targets-idUSKBN1I0073?il=0

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