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This week’s theme of right to marry and right to exist shed light on one of the many struggles the LGBTQIA+ community endures, specifically in the United States. For Native Americans/ Indigenous community, “being gay” is considered “Two-spirit” meaning that we are gifted with the male and female souls. However, the white heterosexual cis masculinity that has tainted the free-spirit of indigenous communities through the indoctrination of white-religion and white-made laws; the appreciation and value of being “two-spirit” has become a difficult pill to swallow in the indigenous communities. On the bright side, more movements and knowledge to decolonize from the white heterosexual cisgender power have emerged. The roots of Two-Spirit existence are reintroducing themselves into our culture through the form of dance: Two-Spirit powwow in San Francisco:  (Video link below). That being shared, I would like to conclude this by saying that being a two-spirit individual is a gift, not a topic for white old men in government to debate about.

Video: https://youtu.be/N4BQbRnKdIY

Source: The photo of John Sneezy, the Head Man Dancer, at the Two-Spirit Powpow in San Francisco 2017. The photographer is M. Wilbur

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Source: BBC News

Date: November 25, 2018

The continued topics of illegality and civil rights are perfectly depicted through the media’s coverage of the migrant caravan. The terms “illegal” and “alien” are utilized in order to dehumanize people of color and paint them as a foreign entities in order to install fear of the unknown. The United States lacks knowledge, compassion, and empathy when it comes to people of color because it is a nation that builds walls instead of building bridges; it is a nation that promotes Nazi terrorism and gases innocent families.  Even on the first day the white man stepped foot on Native America, he was and still is unwilling to accept that light skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes do not denote “humanity”. The migrants from Latin America are treated as animals, while the light-skin migrants from Europe are treated with respect. The video in the link and the image below demonstrates the United State’s acts against humanity.

Video: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-46339606/mexico-caravan-us-shuts-crossing-after-migrants-rush-tijuana-border

Image: Photographer- Will Grant; Nov 2018

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This week we covered the concepts of illegality, more specifically the political terminology of “illegal alien” and “undocumented immigrant.” The United States maintains a white-traditional irony of calling immigrants fleeing their countries “illegal aliens.” Growing up, my father would discourage my siblings and I from following the media due to its untruthful and oppressive rhetoric against immigrants/indigenous Mexicans. The term “illegal aliens” parallels with white people. It is a truth that the white man, ‘the alien’, committed/s crimes against humanity:  killed, raped, pillaged, enslaved, and dehumanization of Native Americans in Native America.  It is conveyed that we, immigrants, are not in our “country”. It is true, we are not in our country but we are in our land. We are told to leave because we are not “invited” but it is an odd thing to have to wait to be invited into your own home. As the author of The Devil’s Highway remarks, “If I am a wetback because I crossed a river to get here, what are you who crossed an entire ocean?” The video below demonstrates a Native American shutting down anti-immigrant protesters and telling them they are not native, they are illegal aliens from Europe. The meme below is a portrayal of Little Hawk Brulé of the Sioux Tribe. The meme pin points white America’s hypocritical stance on immigration.

 

Video: https://youtu.be/WEiCbalBy2w

Photo: Little Hawk Brulé Sioux (Native American/Meme of ‘Illegality’)

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This week’s theme of legalized islamophobia and the War on terror brought to mind the invasive and discriminatory TSA searches that happen in airports all across the United States. In a recent case, Zainab Merchant, a Harvard University graduate and founder of Zainab Rights, faced a gradually intrusive and traumatizing encounter in the airport when a TSA Agent forced her to show her bloodied pad during a screening. Merchant since 2016 has undergone an exaggerating amount of airport screenings. Over 700,000 Americans were place in a governmental watchlist for Terrorist Screening. Those on the watchlist were targeted to be Muslims, people of Middle Eastern or Southeast Asia. It is completely appalling the amount of discrimination people of color encounter in every site in this country. The fact that victims of this legalized discrimination are afraid to stand up to the government because they fear of being stigmatized against for unjustifiably being placed in this “terrorist”  watchlist is heart-wrenching. It is always people of color that are criminalized, while white people are pardoned and treated with leniency .

 

Source: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tsa-muslim-woman-bloodied-pad-airport-screening_us_5b7da406e4b07295150f45e5

 

Photo: September 2016, Provided by Zainab Merchant

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The immorality of the United States seeps through the soles of its foundations. It is a nation of immigrants, yet it forces immigrants children to become even more foreign to life by stripping them of the only home they have ever known- their parents. Although in the World War 2 internment camps, family separation was not part of the policy, it still occurred when adults would voice their indignant frustration about the camps. Ultimately, disrupting family life and the development of the children. As of today, we can all witness how the United States has maintained its role of being the leading bully of other nations: stripping Mexican immigrant children of their parents and holding them hostage in camps. The United States has also made it very clear that following the legal process of being a citizen does not guarantee people of color the same protections as their white/ white-passing citizenry. We are all citizens until the United States makes an enemy out of your non-eurocentric appearance.

In my opinion, the picture below of the Japanese children holding an American flag sends a strong message to the government: People of color may never receive recognition as genuine U.S. citizens, but we will always be citizens of humanity.

Source of Photograph: Dorothea Lange, taken in San Francisco in 1942.

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In this week’s topics of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, the concepts of unity and moral duty were emphasized immensely in respects to the civil rights movement. In King’s “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence,” he advocates for the end of the war in Vietnam. King indignantly ignites, “We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy, for no document from human hands can make these humans any less our brothers” (Beyond 3). King radiates universal brotherhood and pokes through the blinding patriotism of the United States and it’s hatred of foreigners. Advocating on behalf of all the innocent lives that have fallen victims to the corruptive hands of the American government empowers King’s statement, “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.” Our moral duties are to speak up for one another and have a strong sense of unity. The image below is a perfect depiction of King’s message. Two individuals hold a Mexican flag and a Black Nationalist flag tied together in order to portray unity. Tucker notes that an innumerable amount of cases concerning police brutality and killings target black and brown individuals at an alarming rate. Many of these cases end up with no justice for the abused minority victims. Tucker is an example of future generations being inspired and continuing the momentum of past advocates and movements. If we don’t stand up with others, who will stand up with us?

 

Source: https://sdvoice.info/its-time-for-black-and-brown-to-unite/

The image is illustrated in an article:It’s Time for Black and Brown to Unite by ChaKiara Tucker. The photographer of the image is unknown.

Date posted: May 25, 2017

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The image below is of Lucy McBath, an African-American woman running for Georgia’s 6th Congressional District as a Democrat. Lucy McBath became an advocate against police brutality and gun violence after her son Jordan Davis was murdered in cold blood by a white male by the name of Michael Dunn. Dunn stated that he committed first-degree murder because Jordan Davis and his friends were “playing music too loudly in their car.” The topic of “Civil Rights Today” is a topic that is constantly ricocheting throughout the foundation of the United States. In the 1950’s Emmett Till was lynched after being falsely accused of whistling at a white woman. Forward to 2012, Jordan Davis was heinously killed for “playing music too loudly.” The excuses that have been conjured up in order to justify the insurmountable, inhumane, and undeserving persecution of people of color clearly demonstrate the little-to-no respect for the existence of human beings of color. Fredrick C. Harris, author of “The Next Civil Rights Movement?,” states that even in the 21st Century, the humanity of people of color is still not acknowledged by this nation. Personally speaking, I believe Lucy McBath is the epitome of a powerful woman of color. McBath stated, “I was afraid. I kept saying, I don’t know how to be a politician.” I believe the word “politician” is completely meaningless. McBath knows what it means to be a human being, and that surpasses one’s knowledge on how “to be a politician.” Being citizens of humanity and respecting the existence of all individuals are truths that must be instilled in the apathetic political structure of this country.

Source: Veracity Media, 2018  (https://lucyforcongress.com/about/)

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