[ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS]

In reflection of this week’s theme, NDAPL, I sought to find a similar topic. What I found was a tribe in New Zealand who fought (and won) for the first river to be granted the same legal rights as a human. The Māori people have been working for the protection of the Whanganui River since 1873 because they see the river as “an indivisible and living whole.” When asked why they should give a natural resource legal personality, Chris Finlayson, New Zealand Minister for Treaty, responded by saying, “it’s no stranger than family trusts, or companies or incorporated societies.” Through this, the Māori people have been given money, representation, and control over the river they share a deep spiritual connection with.

I think to it is important to see a success story of the same idea NDAPL was striving for. The Māori people’s story is one that should be shared exponentially to keep others fighting for the same idea hopeful that change is possible. The image I have included is of the The Māori people. I have also included a link to the article and video of the tribe singing a waiata, or a traditional Māori folk song, in the legislative chamber after winning its legal rights.

source:https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/16/520414763/a-new-zealand-river-now-has-the-legal-rights-of-a-human

[ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS]

In reflection of this week’s theme, NDAPL, I sought to find a similar topic. What I found was a tribe in New Zealand who fought (and won) for the first river to be granted the same legal rights as a human. The Māori people have been working for the protection of the Whanganui River since 1873 because they see the river as “an indivisible and living whole.” When asked why they should give a natural resource legal personality, Chris Finlayson, New Zealand Minister for Treaty, responded by saying, “it’s no stranger than family trusts, or companies or incorporated societies.” Through this, the Māori people have been given money, representation, and control over the river they share a deep spiritual connection with.

I think to it is important to see a success story of the same idea NDAPL was striving for. The Māori people’s story is one that should be shared exponentially to keep others fighting for the same idea hopeful that change is possible. The image I have included is of the The Māori people. I have also included a link to the article and video of the tribe singing a waiata, or a traditional Māori folk song, in the legislative chamber after winning its legal rights.

source: https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/03/16/520414763/a-new-zealand-river-now-has-the-legal-rights-of-a-human

[ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS]

This week, I decided to include a photo and story that exemplified the intersectionality of women’s rights. An 11-year-old girl was raped by her grandmother’s boyfriend in Argentina, making her pregnant. However, she wasn’t able to get an abortion until the 23rd week of her pregnancy. Argentina’s law states that an abortion is legal only in the case of rape or the mother’s life. Nonetheless many anti-abortion attitudes exist in the country from its deep religious values and as a result, many doctors refused her. A hospital even allowed anti-abortionist spokespeople into her room to try to convince the girl to have the baby. This girl’s experience was defined by the multiple forms of oppression at play. Not only is she female, but she also is affected by the low income and education of her family, the law in Argentina, and the anti-abortion sentiment. The photo I have included is of pro-choice protesters demanding that the court allow the girl an abortion. The story created a wave of social media support under #NinasNoMadres (Girls, not mothers), showing how intersectionality can rally feminist outcry.

photo from Aitor Pereira, EPA

sources: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/03/01/argentina-rape-victim-forced-give-birth-after-wanting-abortion/3018459002/ ; https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/world/americas/11-year-old-argentina-rape-abortion.html

[ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS]

After this week, I wanted to reflect on the Black Lives Matter movement by talking about the powerful music video “a lot” by 21 Savage, featuring J. Cole. The director of the video, Aisultan Seitovl, chose to show a big reunion of a family of color where happiness and laughter is present. However, the video also cuts to scenes in each of the family member’s lives that show their struggle, whether it’s abuse, sickness, violence, etc. Throughout the video, Seitovl continues the trend of paralleling the joy in the family reunion to each individual’s hardships. I feel as if this is a reflection of how the harship found in the black community has been normalized.

There is a powerful moment where the scene is of a father gazing at his child in a casket, then it shows a wider view of the same scene. This picture I am describing is the one I have attached below. I found this image to be very moving because in the whole, empty room, there is only a father mourning his child. I think it’s a reflection of how killing innocent children based on their color is so common that there is no one there to mourn but the father. That the child’s life is insignificant and has little meaning. Obviously, that is not the case, however the scene makes you question why the child’s life is seemingly insignificant? This child’s life matter and it shouldn’t depend on the color of their skin. It symbolizes how people of color have always been seen as less than, and I think the Black Lives Matter movement is trying to show and change that.

Link to analysis article: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/21-savage-j-cole-a-lot-music-video-788215/

Link to music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmWWqogr_r8&list=RDDmWWqogr_r8&start_radio=1

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[ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS]

As we reviewed the importance of Ethnic Studies programs this week, I chose to talk about a group of students who are working to bring Ethnic Studies to their high school. Students in the Irvine School District are pushing to get courses in Asian American Studies due to the fact that more than 40% of Irvine’s population is Asian American. Students are calling out the limitations of normal history classes because they want to learn how a diverse group of people and backgrounds contributed to shaping America. I think it’s important to see how students are demanding that they have rights, not only at the college level but the high school level as well.

Source: https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/entertainment/tn-wknd-et-asian-american-20190201-story.html

[ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS]

Rather that attaching an image, these week I have attached a link to a video of Cardi B talking about the government shutdown. In case you are unaware, she is a rapper who has been in the limelight for a couple years now. Lately, she has been using her platform and social media to talk about politics. A lot of people have a problem with her giving her opinion because they think that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. They think that because she’s a rapper, she can’t be political. To me, this stems from people’s disbelief in the layers of hip-hop and how black culture can have many layers. It also reminds me and is similar to the way people reacted when Martin Luther Jr. spoke out against the Vietnam War. A lot of people criticized him because they thought the Vietnam War didn’t afffect him and therefore he didn’t need to speak out about it. The same can be said in the situation with Cardi B.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/17/our-country-is-hellhole-right-now-cardi-b-blasts-trump-over-government-shutdown/?utm_term=.fa828c0ccd7b

[ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS]

I have enclosed a picture of Fred Hampton, leader of the Illinois Black Panther Party. He was killed on December 4, 1969 by the police in a raid on his home in Chicago. Evidence now points to the FBI’s involvement in his death and the police’s covering up of the incident. The police had received information from an FBI informant close to Fred prior to the raid, and proceeded to plant false evidence that made it look like there was a firefight with Panthers in the apartment. It was later discovered the Panthers had only fired one bullet. Despite the falsified report made by the police, the charges were dropped and the police officers involved walked away free. Fred Hampton’s murder points to the irrational fear and threat that the government and other organizations of authority felt by the presence of the Black Panther Party.

I pulled the photo from here: https://www.theroot.com/fred-hampton-is-just-one-example-of-the-states-history-1830865895

My sources on the event: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/police-kill-two-members-of-the-black-panther-party ; https://www.pbs.org/video/did-fbi-murder-fred-hampton-fitidv/

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS.

[ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS]

This is a photo of a survivor, 12-year-old Sarah Jean Collins, of the 16th Street Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963. Her sister, along with 3 other girls perished in the bombing. To me this photo and this event were significant in readjusting the lenses of the Civil Rights Movement. This senseless terrorist attack on a church full of innocent men, women, and children opened my eyes to the fact that the movement was beyond civil rights. This was a human rights movement, a call to treat one another in a more humane way. It was more than legislation, it was changing the minds of others to thinking that all children were their children. Therefore, you would never put them in harm’s way.

This photo was taken by Frank Dandridge, Getty Images.

[ISABELLA COBARRUVIAS]

Time magazine describes this photo from the Vietnam War as, “Wounded Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jeremiah Purdie (center, with bandaged head) reaches towards stricken comrade after a fierce firefight.” This photo resonated with me because of how it describes an argument in Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “Beyond Vietnam.” He believes it doesn’t make sense to send young African Americans to a war that is supposedly liberating people, if they do not yet have their own liberation at home. The photo opened my eyes to the injustness of fighting alongside and risking your life for someone on the war front who won’t do the same for you on the home front. To be able to call someone comrade, or brother-in-arms, only in the condition of dying for your country.

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