[BIANCA PEREZ]

For this week’s photo share, I wanted to spotlight the issue of violence against indigenous women that we discussed briefly in class. It is true that indigenous women face increased rates of sexual violence, and that the specificities of criminal jurisdictions make it so that the perpetrators of these violences are not held accountable for their crimes. Of course, this compounds the fact that crimes like rape and sexual assault are already wildly under-prosecuted. So, I thought that our discussion about the violences produced by projects like the Dakota Access Pipeline was really important. I feel that this is a component of environmental racism that can be made invisible because of its less “obvious” connection to environmental injustice. Accordingly, I decided to attach this photo of the documentary Finding Dawn, a 2006 film made by Metis filmmaker Christine Welsh. I watched this film in an ethnic studies course a few years ago. It highlights the Canadian state’s failure to seek justice for murdered Aboriginal woman Dawn Crey, as well as dozens of other Aboriginal woman who were disappeared in Vancouver. The apathy and neglect with which these tragedies were met is indicative of how colonial structures continue to devalue indigeneity–whether it be people, ways of living, or epistemologies.

Finding Dawn, 2006. Documentary by Christine Welsh.

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

This photo is from an interview that Terry Crews gave on Andy Cohen’s talk show. Crews was sexually assaulted by Adam Venit, a “Hollywood executive” while at a Hollywood function in 2016. Here, Crews speaks about both the support and criticism that he faced after he shared his story with the public. He speaks to the ways in which, following his making his experiences known, Black women in specific were the ones listening and uplifting him. Crews explains that, while Black women showed support and stood in solidarity with him, men, generally, “did not want any part in it. ” Men criticized Crews as weak, and found it hard to empathize with him, because they believed that Crews should have knocked Venit out or something to that effect, instead of handling it the way he did. Here, we see how conventional notions of masculinity work to injure men–even when an issue is substantively hurting men, it is not addressed properly because it is clouded by harmful mechanisms of the patriarchy. I have seen many responses to the #MeToo Movement that invoke the, “Hey men suffer from this too” argument–which is entirely true. But, until we are able to have the difficult conversations surrounding masculinity, misogyny, and  the hetero-patriarchal structures through which this world is legible to us, we are going to continue to see the failed, inadequate responses that we saw in the context of Crews’ situation.

Article: “Terry Crews on lack of support after sexual assault” reveal by Derrick Bryson Taylor Jan 14 2019; https://pagesix.com/2019/01/14/terry-crews-on-lack-of-support-after-sexual-assault-reveal/

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

This entire week, I have been reminded of a 2015 Democratic presidential primary debate wherein the candidates were asked “Do Black lives matter or do all lives matter?” I remember being so frustrated when watching this for the first time. To start, the entire foundation of “all lives matter”, engrained in its inception, is one centered on whiteness and on the denial of black realities; even when considering only the sentiments of these two “sides”, all lives matter is fundamentally racist. But further, I am really frustrated by the air time/platform that the media gives to “all lives matter” (e.g. in a presidential primary debate??) because it produces this false equivocation between Black Lives Matter and all lives matter. All lives matter is a phrase that was created to antagonize and silence the Black folx that are addressing the multiple avenues of violence they experience at the hands of the state. Black Lives Matter is an actual movement, working transnationally, with an enumerated platform, that is organizing, mobilizing, producing literature, etcetera, around dismantling anti-Blackness. Media outlets’ presentation of BLM and all lives matter as if they were on equal footing works to legitimize all lives matter and minimize the amazing work that BLM has done.

 

Video posted on Youtube by AJ+ October 13, 2o15

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by BIANCA PEREZ.

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

For this week’s assignment, I wanted to share something specific to UCSD. I’ve attached a photo from our library archives of a 1965 protest in Revelle plaza (unfortunately not much context is given). Given our discussions this week, I thought it pertinent to post something that speaks to UCSD’s involvement in activism. I think that many of us have an image of UCSD as a depoliticized, apathetic space that does not have the “radical” spirit that we associate with college campuses. I was definitely guilty of this, especially considering UCSD’s STEM heavy character. But, looking back to UCSD’s anti-war and anti-apartheid activisms, for example, reminds us that UCSD students have always been vocal and mobile. It is only our misremembering–our purposeful forgetting–that leads us to believe that UCSD is devoid of political discourse. Today, students continue to organize and mobilize for the things that matter (e.g. we heard our classmates speak about the organizing being done pertaining to the Zion Market ICE raids!!).

https://library.ucsd.edu/dc/object/bb43356790; September 1965; photographer unknown

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

For this week’s photo share, I decided to center my discussion around Digable Planets, a 90s hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York. Digable Planets’ music is, overarchingly, infused with a leftist and radical spirit. They have rapped about Marxism, reproductive rights, war, and the AIDS epidemic, among other things. The photo attached is the cover of their ’93 album “Reachin'”; I chose this album specifically because it includes the song “La Femme Fetal”. La Femme Fetal speaks to the necessity of abortion rights and bodily autonomy. I appreciated their criticisms of pro-life stances, because, as far as I am aware of, this specific issue is not exactly a popular one in the hip hop world. I was both surprised and happy to hear Digable Planets advocating for pro-choice abortion rights, especially because this message is coming from a group composed of two men and one woman. This is one specific example that refutes the myth that rap and hip hop are fundamentally sexist and misogynistic– characterizing these genres in that way works to erase the activist qualities of music such as Digable Planets’.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reachin%27_(A_New_Refutation_of_Time_and_Space)

Digable Planets’ album “Reachin'” published: February 9, 1993 by Pendulum/Elektra Records

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

Because it is particularly topical, I chose this image of a tweet composed by Ava DuVernay. DuVernay tweeted a video about her boycotting the Super Bowl, specifically because of the NFL’s treatment of Colin Kaepernick (and, more generally, the way that the League works to exploit black bodies at large). We already discussed Kaepernick’s activism in class, and the unwarranted criticism he receives that is largely ignorant in substance (“Why don’t you protest like MLK?”). I really appreciated DuVernay’s poetic analysis of the relationship between the NFL and black men, and I support her in boycotting the Super Bowl. I first was introduced to DuVernay when I watched her documentary “13th” about the prison system in the U.S., which is another great instance of her activism aimed towards uplifting black communities. People like DuVernay and Kaepernick do amazing work to garner awareness about these and other structures that work to subjugate black folk here in the U.S., and are an integral part in affecting the change we want to see.

@ava Ava DuVernay on Twitter 2/3/19

I will not be a spectator, viewer or supporter of the #SuperBowl today in protest of the @NFL’s racist treatment of @Kaepernick7 and its ongoing disregard for the health + well-being of all its players. To watch the game is to compromise my beliefs. It’s not worth it. #ImWithKap pic.twitter.com/fNEeke0crs

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) February 3, 2019

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

For this week’s photo share, I decided to choose an image that would allow me to continue our conversation about James Baldwin and his leaving the U.S. Here, Baldwin is pictured standing on a banister at Kilyos Beach in Istanbul. The caption provided describes Baldwin as “clowning on a banister”; I like this photo so much because there is something so devastatingly human about it. At large, people like Baldwin, Malcolm X, and MLK Jr., are considered only in the abstract–rendered both immortal and intangible by iconography. Photos that picture these folx laughing, crying, interacting with friends and family, etcetera serve as reminders that they interacted with the civil rights movement not only in the context of their activism, but also as black individuals who had to endure the pain and trauma of segregationist America, firsthand. To this point, I appreciated our conversation about Baldwin’s move overseas (and his incident in the diner), and the credit/legitimacy that it lends to prioritizing your personal well-being and own survival. Discussing Baldwin’s life helped me to both humanize these civil rights figures and find the merit in what some would characterize as ‘escapism’.

Source: Sedat Pakay, 1965

https://www.yesmagazine.org/multimedia/yes-photo-essays/james-baldwin-in-turkey Posted 2/12/13

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

I’ve attached a photo of the 2018 San Diego Women’s March. The Women’s March is obviously very topical, being that the 2019 march took place so recently (this Saturday), and that this is in our community. I chose to speak on the Women’s March because I think that it is important to see these struggles as connected to other struggles; the activism taken up by women participating in the march should be in conversation with activisms focused on other issues (e.g. the civil rights era activism we learned about this week). Approaching the Women’s March with an intersectional focus means that, like the sign in the photo says, women’s rights are humans rights; understanding women’s rights in their most comprehensive form means that women’s rights are trans rights, Black rights, gay rights, migrant rights, disabled rights, and so forth. The understanding of the interconnectedness of these struggles, I think, should be central to any and all forms of resistance.

Source: Hayne Palm IV for the San Diego Union Tribune 2018

Article: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/opinion/commentary/sd-utbg-pod-womens-march-carillo-0118-htmlstory.html

Why the San Diego Women’s March Remains Strong in 2019 by FRANCES CARRILLO, MONICA BOYLE & JOANN FIELDS; January 17, 2019

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

I’ve decided to attach a photo of Pedro Pastor and Erick Alexander Duran at their symbolic wedding in Tijuana, Mexico. Pedro and Erick are one of seven LGBTQ+ refugee couples from Central America that decided to have one of these celebrations in Baja, California. Pedro and Erick, like their fellow queer refugees, are fleeing violence that has targeted them because of their queer identity. According to a group called Transgender Europe, Latin America has the highest rate of anti-LGBTQ+ violence among all global regions. In fact, about 80 LGBTQ+ asylum seekers were the first to arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border after breaking off from the larger caravan because of harassment from fellow travelers and local residents. Pedro and Erick would have never been able to celebrate their relationship in this manner in their countries of origin (whereas Baja, California, recognizes same-sex marriages). For couples such as  Pedro and Erick, recognition of their partnership by the state through the institution of marriage is meaningful and makes them happy, so this rocks!

Source: Photo by Rodrigo Abd for Associated Press

Article: “‘Dream come true’: Migrant caravan LGBTQ couples celebrate mass wedding” by Nicole Acevedo for NBC Latino, Nov 19, 2018

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/dream-come-true-lgbtq-couples-migrant-caravan-marry-seeking-asylum-n938051

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

This week’s photo I have chosen is in conversation with DiAngelo’s piece on white fragility. It is a screencap from a video by AJ+ called “White Fragility in the Workplace”. The video is satirical and pretty comical, poking fun at the way that people of color have to deal with white nonsense in their work environments. In this particular scenario, the man on the left expresses his disbelief that Trump wants to build ‘the wall’ and says that it must really upset his co-worker, the man on the right, being that he is Mexican. When the man on the right corrects him, informing him that he is actually Bolivian, the white man erupts, asking how dare his co-worker correct him, and citing that he went to Berkeley (Berkeley!!!!!). DiAngelo addresses exactly this when she notes that, when feeling attacked, “many white liberals use the speech of self-defense.” By responding by citing the “liberal” university they attended, white folks who feel attacked are “focusing on restoring their moral standing” while “deflecting any recognition of culpability or need for accountability” (DiAngelo). The entire video does a pretty good job of getting at the microagressions and constant ‘racial discomfort’ (to use DiAngelo’s vocabulary) that people of color must endure, and the very low threshold of ‘racial discomfort’ that their white counterparts can endure.

Source:  “White Fragility in the Workplace/ Newsbroke (AJ+)” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPDpcYEdiOg

Posted by account “Newsbroke” on Youtube Aug 29, 2016

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

WARNING: SENSITIVE CONTENT

I’ve attached a photo of asylum seekers from Central America fleeing the tear gas that U.S. Border Patrol Agents launched across the border fence. While obviously egregious to us, actions such as these are normalized and justified by the rhetoric espoused by people such as Trump. The notions of criminality that Trump intentionally invokes work to paint these events as a “reasonable response” to the asylum seekers’ pleas. By tying migrants (and brown people) to crime, violence, and immorality, tear gas attacks are somehow made palatable to much of the American public. These heinous reactions are made to be acceptable through the concerted efforts (both past and present) to vilify and demonize “others”–non WASPs.

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/migrant-caravan-tear-gas_us_5bfb11ace4b0771fb6ba24a5

“US Border Patrol Launches Tear Gas At Migrants Over Attempt to Breach Fence” by Christopher Sherman for Huffington Post 11/25/18

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

This image is from a protest of the Dakota Access Pipeline which occurred in St. Paul, Minnesota. In the photo, a young child holds up the sign “People Over Pipelines”. I chose this image for this week’s photo share because I thought it highlighted the neoliberal context in which this is all taking place. Corporations are increasingly valued over human lives. The rights of individuals are threatened by the intense protections given to private companies. Here and elsewhere, we have prioritized capital over individual freedoms. Of course, this is more relevant to certain communities. For communities like the white neighborhood that initially was meant to house the pipeline, there are ways to circumvent these tragedies (that also usually involve capital).

Source: Credit given to Fibonoacci Blue

Article: #NoDapl: Stopping Dakota Access & Enbridge https://powershift.org/nodapl-dakota-access-student-toolkit

 

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

The picture I’ve attached is a screen cap of a ramble given by Trump on November 1st pertaining to the group of Central American migrants moving through Mexico. In the speech he asserts that the migrants are “tough people” and that “women don’t want them in our country” (I must have missed that opinion poll). Right out of the gate, Trump invokes images of violence and criminality, because that is what he wants the public to associate with these asylum seekers. In another context, Trump said that “a fairly big percentage of those people are criminals”. Of course, no one is surprised that he is making absolutely baseless, unsubstantiated claims in order to further his agenda. The criminalization of immigrants is not a new phenomenon. Neither is the hyper-sexualization of black and brown men (and women), a malicious fallacy that Trump draws on here. For centuries, white folks have painted black and brown men as overly sexual and violent–a duo that threatens the safety of (specifically white) women. Trump relies on this gross characterization of brown men/immigrants to assume position as the spokesperson for women’s safety in order to justify his anti-immigrant stance. (We do not even have to talk about how Trump parroting his concern for women’s security is laughably ironic being that he places women in the most vulnerable of places in both his personal and political lives).

Source: Washington Post on Youtube, November 1st 2018

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

For our discussion about Flint, I decided to post a photo of Mari Copeny, also known as “Little Miss Flint”. This young girl, a Flint resident, wrote a letter to President Obama when she was only eight years old, asking him to meet with her and other Flint activists when they were in D.C. Mari has been outspoken about the crisis in Flint since then, and has become, to an extent, the “face” of the Flint water crisis. Obviously, Mari is an amazing and inspiring little girl, and the efforts that she has undertaken are commendable and should be acknowledged and praised–but she should not have to be fighting for access to potable water in the richest nation in the world. The fact that the onus is put on individuals to convince the state that their lives matter–that their lives are not “disposable”–is a depressing reality. I feel that most recognize the courage and virtue in figures such as Mari Copeny, but less make a point to acknowledge that these are things that should NOT be necessary–that no little girl should have the responsibility of ensuring that her nation cares about her and her community’s well being, and that it is awful that these figures are needed in the first place.

Source: Eric Jankstrom/ Kings County Production at Mashable’s 2018 Social Good Summit

Article by Nicole Gallucci posted September 22, 2018 for Mashable

https://mashable.com/article/little-miss-flint-mari-copeny-how-to-be-a-young-activist/#UQ.vwaEwAgqt

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by BIANCA PEREZ.

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[BIANCA PEREZ]

For this week’s photo share, I chose this still of Bill O’Reilly on Fox News during a “monologue” about Islam. As can be seen in the photo, he is being deeply islamophobic, questioning the validity of an entire religion, about which I am certain he knows absolutely nothing. It is the state sanctioned efforts to vilify and demonize Islam, Muslims, and Arab folk (which we studied this week) that embolden us non-Muslim Americans to speak so violently and arrogantly about a faith that we are probably ignorant to. The hostility that characterizes the American public’s attitude towards Islam is bolstered by racist and islamophobic policy rubber stamped by our federal government.

I’ve also attached a photo of a Muslim Ban protestor at LAX as a bonus because it is my favorite thing ever.

Source: Fox News October 6 2014

From Vox article “It’s Not Just Fox News: Islamophobia on cable news is out of control”

Last Updated January 13, 2015

https://www.vox.com/2014/10/8/6918485/the-overt-islamophobia-on-american-tv-news-is-out-of-control

Extra Photo: @DeborahNetburn on Twitter 2/4/17

On assignment at LAX today's. pic.twitter.com/iaeG5W82Ru

— Deborah Netburn (@DeborahNetburn) February 4, 2017

• This reply was modified 6 years ago by BIANCA PEREZ.

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