[ASMA ABDI]

Hope everyone had a restful break. I found this weeks’ image in an article titled, “How Native Americans spend Thanksgiving: ‘This is a time that is a funeral for a lot of us.'” It’s an image taken 2016 of people protesting Standing Rock on a day we all have known as Thanksgiving. This image makes me sad because these people have been fighting and it reminded me of the victory when Obama halted it, a little too late in my opinion, but Trump later overturned that and had it completed. Not only that but I’m reminded of the historic genocide of indigenous people as well as how we have become so accustomed to and disassociated from their suffering throughout time despite the fact that we stand on their land. Adding salt to the wound I heard Thanksgiving wasn’t even made into a holiday until 200 years after the pilgrims came through and pillaged them. In the article they refer to this holiday as “Unthanksgiving” or “National Day of Mourning” but I see it as Takesgiving, since almost everything they’ve known and own has been taken from them. It’s heartbreaking to see them attempting to hold onto the little bit they have to this day. This goes back to what we learned in Dhilon’s article and discussed in class about the colonial, capitalist, political powers that play the largest role in this ongoing struggle.

Pacific Press/Getty Images. November 24, 2016

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[ASMA ABDI]

So this week I chose to share an image of real life superheroes and soldiers, inmates leaving prison to go fight wildfires. I found this in an article titled, “California Wildfires Have Been Fought By Prisoners Since World War II.” This illustrates inmates going out of bounds to work in which they are no longer treated as inmates but firefighters. But the harsh ironic reality is (as someone mentioned in class) they don’t have the opportunity to become firefighters once they are out because of things like felony status, despite the fact that they are all non-violent offenders.  We can see through this image and article, which you all should check out, the militarization of prisoners and how that connects to environmental racism. It relates to Flint because we can see how it is guised as good and these twisted ideas of aid during disasters like here rehabilitation and promises of freedom are used at the expense of disposing people as well as racial capitalism– which we learned in Pulido’s article and discussed in class.

David McNew/AFP/Getty Images, September 28, 2017

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[ASMA ABDI]

<span style=”font-weight: 400;”>The photo I chose for this week’s topic “segregation and its hazards” is one of a school bus driving through Barrio Logan in Southeast San Diego taken by Sam Hodgson. I found this image on </span><i><span style=”font-weight: 400;”>Voice of San Diego, </span></i><span style=”font-weight: 400;”>their article titled “Environment Report: Report Throws Shade on Climate Plan’s Impact in Low-Income Communities.” The Barrio Logan community in SD is a predominantly Mexican community, and like many low-income communities they have been damaged by environmental hazards (more so amongst Latinos as we’ve read). This image illustrates how people in poor communities who are trying to get to school are inhibited from receiving a proper education with their health at risk. These city officials invest more in what’s toxic to our communities but less in caring for these children who constantly face these catastrophes that impact their livelihood. </span>

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[ASMA ABDI]

The image I chose is of a house in Loma Atravesada, Dominica damaged by Hurricane Maria. I found this in an article, The Hidden Costs of Disaster: Displacement and it’s Crippling Effect that informed me about the economic loss which also is a social loss with “death. disease, and disrupted education.” This directly connects to what we learned about the spatial history of communities of color in George Lipsitz’s article, the impacts of settler colonialism in Patrick Wolfe’s article, and the methods of elimination we continue to see with underrepresented communities today. Yesterday was International Day for Disaster Reduction but we’re still dealing with many of the environmental issues we discussed in class, such as natural disasters illustrated here. Y’all should check out the article it informed me about this and talks about what we should do to avoid disasters in the future.

Photo: IFRC/Catalina Martin-Chico, November 2017

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