The image I chose for week 9’s topic for Standing Rock and #NoDAPL describes how the different interpretation of the meaning “water is life”. Before discussing this topic in class, the meaning of water to me is an essential necessity for life (without it we die and everything around us needs water in order to survive). But after the discussion in…[Read more]

The following image was taken by Richard Bluecloud Castaneda, where he watched “unarmed, peaceful Water Protectors at Standing Rock were forcibly repelled with tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets” (Leonard 2018). This image has burned in my brain for any instance in which we attempt to analyze and discuss the protests against the Dakota…[Read more]

For this weeks focus on lyrical representation of segregation I decided to focus on Beyonce’s 2015 grammy performance. Here she performs Take My Hand, Precious Lord; a gospel song dating back to the 1800s, which was also during the the civil rights movement. In her performance, Beyonce stands at the center of all black male choir positioned in an…[Read more]

The lyrics I am choosing are from J. Cole’s “1985 (Intro to “The Fall Off”)”. This song in general is both a response to younger rappers and a commentary on hip-hop and what it is like to be a black man in the music industry. A few lines really stand out to me that I would like to unpack.

“They wanna see you dab, they wanna see you pop a…[Read more]

Sharice Davis is a House of Rep. from Kansas, known for being the first openly queer Native American women in Congress. I included her in this photo segment because protests and activism does generate change, but in our current society, what will truly move mountains is policy. For Sharice to grapple with her positionally and put herself in a…[Read more]

For this week’s image, I chose the lyrics from “Oh Freedom”.  I chose this song because it truly expresses the post desegregation attitude against jim crow era segregation.  The lyrics displays that no matter the outcome of fighting segregation, freedom will eventually be brought.

Source:  Golden Gospel Singers

Date:  1997

This image is of #NoDAPL water protectors with an illuminated sign that reads “PROTECTORS” with each person in the photo raising their fists in solidarity. The sign makes explicitly clear that these people are water protectors, not protesters. Protesting is a form of protecting the community, but it’s not seen that way by the mainstream media. “…[Read more]

This song is titled “Casket Pretty” by Noname. Noname addresses police brutality and how it has affected her daily life and that of so many others in the black community. The lyrics “Don’t hold me, don’t hold me when n***** is dying and dying / And I’m afraid of the dark, blue and the white / Badges and pistols rejoice in the night” point to the…[Read more]

For this week’s photo share, I wanted to share a picture about #NODAPL based on our week’s discussion in class, found here: https://mashable.com/2016/12/07/standing-rock-nodapl-youth/#WkGvKvDrDqqJ.

What I found most intriguing is the belief of mni wiconi, the belief that water is life and should therefore be granted similar rights as to not…[Read more]

This week I would like to share a video I found named Stand Up/ Stand N Rock  #NoDAPL by Taboo. I feel the song fits perfectly with this week’s theme since it talks about how water is life and the injustices that were done to Native Americans and their lands. One has to keep in mind how over the course of time lands have been taken from their rig…[Read more]

For this weeks theme I chose a excerpt of lyrics from the song Chains by Usher. I first heard this song when watching the documentary 13th, and I felt like it really showed how people have been experiencing and fighting against these forms of segregation before larger society was seriously talking about it. The movie 13th is all about segregation…[Read more]

This weeks conversations on Water being life and indigenous activism reminded me of Berta Cáceres, and Honduran activist. This ties into the conversation because her struggle was with the construction of a dam in Honduras that displaces indigenous folk via the construction of this megaproject. Berta was of indigenous background and of Lenca…[Read more]

This week I wanted to share the lyrics from the song titled Changes by Tupack, who is a famous rapper. The song expresses the injustices that African American people would have to live on a daily and how some issues are related to one another. In the song he mentions the issue on how based on the color of your skin you can tell if you are poor and…[Read more]

For this week’s theme, I choose to use the song “Freedom” by Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar. I also chose to include pictures of her performing this song at the 2016 BET Awards. Beyonce and Kendrick Lamar illustrate the black community’s everlasting cry to complete freedom within the lyrics. “Freedom, Freedom where are you? Cause I need freedom too. I…[Read more]

Hip hop grew from America’s war on drugs in the 20th century. Many artists used this genre to speak out against the oppression held again the black community, and often incorporated their feelings into their music. One well known artist who did this was KRS one and his song “sound of the police.” He used this song to speak out against the growi…[Read more]

For this final photoshare, I decided to share a part of Sam Cooke’s song, “A Change is Gonna Come”. This is already a personal favorite but after reflecting upon it, I realized that it is a song that goes with this week’s theme perfectly. It was released in 1964 on one of Sam Cooke’s albums. Looking further into the history behind this song, it is…[Read more]

Having studied the #NoDAPL movement in class this week, the part which stuck out to me the most was the concept of #NoDAPL as a feminist struggle.  For many Native American and First Nations women, the personal cost of settler colonialism and capitalist accumulation has been disproportionately high in comparison to others from their nations.…[Read more]

I chose this image and this meme for several reasons as my last photo share. First, it really speaks to the undereducation and the arrogance that society faces. We are drowning in economic, social, and environmental problems and they are simply being ignored. We talked about the fear of the apocalypse and the end of times but in reality, we are…[Read more]

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…[Read more]