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I would like place the “To Pimp A Butterfly” cover art in the conversation of trespassing. The album was released in March 15, 2015, which touched upon themes of racial inequity, depression, African-American culture, and more. In the art cover, a group of primarily black males pose in front of the White House. In our current time, with the election of Barack Obama in 2008 the white house may represent a more liberal view of inclusion. However, I argue that the white house still represents an exclusive white male bourgeois space. Therefore, the album cover suggest a form of trespassing and reclamation. The construction of the white house has a direct connection to slavery. It can be read that this group of people are trespassing a certain white space, but I read it as a form of reclamation. The U.S was built upon the genocide and conquest of Indigenous and African life. Therefore, their presence serves as a signifier of genocide and conquest.
Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/mar/11/kendrick-lamar-to-pimp-a-butterfly-album-cover
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Pimp_a_Butterfly
Art Cover:
Kendrick Lamar: To Pimp a Butterfly Photograph: Universal, 2015
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In our class we have discussed the colonial logics that operate and support the North Dakota Access Pipeline. This pipeline is projected to carry oil from North Dakota to Illinois. As mentioned in class by Professor Kharputly, the pipeline had spilled before it is scheduled to be operational. The colonial project is one that is full of greed that completely erases the humanity out of Indigenous and people of color in the United States. While land is important for the colonial project, it has depended on genocide on Black and Indigenous people.
Sources: https://www.theroot.com/nodapl-dakota-access-pipeline-has-already-had-a-leak-1795151334
Artist/Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“Activists participate in a protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline on March 10, 2017, in Washington, D.C. ”
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Los Angeles, California is one of the busiest cities around the world, which attracts financial and commercial capital. The immensity of this city has a historical genealogy that traces back to colonial periods. However, these ways of organizing under colonial logics and projects still continue to heavily impact policy, structures and people. In this picture, we can appreciate the shadow of an airplane that is about to land and the 405 Freeway. Also in the picture we can see a small, which is part of the Felton Elementary School in the Lennox District. News articles have shown that around the Lennox Community the heavy presence of ultrafine particles near LAX is of high public health concern. Since Los Angeles is a segregated community, these airplane pollution affects communities of color the most. Research continues to solidify the concerns many community members have known for many years.
Source & Author:
https://www.scpr.org/news/2017/07/25/74064/remnants-of-lax-neighborhood-eminent-domain/ Josie Huang; July 25, 2017
Picture Author: Daniel Slim/ AFP/ Getty Images
” An airplane heads for LAX. Expansion plans at the airport are helping drive eminent domain plans for the Manchester Square neighborhood next door” – Daniel Slim
Other Relevant Sites
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-airplane-noise-20171022-story.html
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The topic that I would like to write about this week is the contradiction and the flawed system of health in the US. I connect this to the idea of reparations because our health should be a core of when we theorize and make steps towards reparations. In the south part of Los Angeles, I have witnessed the construction of DaVita Dialysis Centers, which are health centers for individuals with kidney issues. Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD) are set of issues that affect an individuals kidney function, with the ultimate stage of End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD). Therefore, this lead to people with ESRD to have a kidney transplant or dialysis because their kidney can no longer function properly. This is important because the two DaVita Dialysis Centers that I have seen are in working class communities of color. They are built around food swamps, places with a heavy concentration of fast-food restaurants. Health must be at the core of reparations. Our health is critical for a meaningful life. In the picture there is a McDonalds franchise in the city of Hawthorne in South West Los Angeles. This store is part of a larger food swamp. There is a DaVita Dialysis next to the McDonalds in the picture.
Picture & Source: From Google, by Denise Acosta. August 2017
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In this image, there are young children and adolescents playing football in the Lennox neighborhood, which is next to the Los Angeles International Airport ( LAX). As we have discussed in our class, land is inextricably connected to race, class, gender, health, hxstory, and life. Our environment is deeply imbedded in the process of racialization, which is supported through the elimination of the indigenous. The LA times article recounted the findings of a research journal that documents the effect of air quality in nearby communities. However, we can suggest that community members are against the racialization of their communities as “unhealthy”, dirty, poor or more through activities such as playing football. Racialized communities exert their agency through various methods.
Name of Photographer: Francine Orr
Source: Los Angeles Time
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-0529-lax-pollution-20140529-story.html
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