tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10216438736306673972024-03-05T07:18:58.732-08:00blackfemlensSikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comBlogger317125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-63037543788426574792023-12-30T10:36:00.000-08:002023-12-30T10:36:34.071-08:00Holding Space for Niani: Killer Cops, Domestic Violence and the War on Black Women<p> </p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="bf4e"> </h3><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="1364"><img class="graf-image" data-height="565" data-image-id="1*LIJ6bCnN8qIbiACufewmPQ.png" data-width="829" height="436" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*LIJ6bCnN8qIbiACufewmPQ.png" width="640" /><figcaption class="imageCaption">Niani Finlayson</figcaption></figure><p class="graf graf--p" name="8920">By Sikivu Hutchinson</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="8920">On December 4th, twenty seven year-old Niani Finlayson, a mother of two young daughters, <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/los-angeles-domestic-violence-victim-fatally-shot-police" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/los-angeles-domestic-violence-victim-fatally-shot-police" rel="noopener" target="_blank">was shot and killed</a> by L.A. County Sheriff’s (LASD) deputy Ty Shelton in Lancaster, California. Finlayson had called 911 after she was injured by her boyfriend during a domestic violence dispute. It is also <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/niani-finlayson" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/niani-finlayson" rel="noopener" target="_blank">alleged</a> that Finlayson was trying to defend one of her daughters against abuse by this individual. The LASD <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/los-angeles-domestic-violence-victim-fatally-shot-police" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/21/los-angeles-domestic-violence-victim-fatally-shot-police" rel="noopener" target="_blank">claims</a> that Finlayson was wielding a knife and threatening to stab her boyfriend when police arrived at the scene. Commenting in a multimillion dollar lawsuit filed against L.A. County, Finlayson’s lawyer stated that, she “was not threatening anyone when deputies shot her in the back from behind a glass door”. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/29/la-police-fatally-shot-niani-finlayson-body-camera?fbclid=IwAR3Ikgk9niDlBTVeeZ42Pq4bIZ_pzEZbphJjTyvoIj6I_gqhfq3vNPRb7Qs" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/dec/29/la-police-fatally-shot-niani-finlayson-body-camera?fbclid=IwAR3Ikgk9niDlBTVeeZ42Pq4bIZ_pzEZbphJjTyvoIj6I_gqhfq3vNPRb7Qs" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Body camera footage </a>released this week shows that Shelton shot Finlayson only three seconds after he arrived. Finlayson’s 9 year-old witnessed her mother’s murder.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="3b2e">As Black women domestic and intimate partner violence survivors, we know all too well that this unspeakable tragedy could have happened to any one of us. Nationwide, Black women have <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://sikivuhutchinson.medium.com/over-our-dead-bodies-ending-misogynoir-and-domestic-violence-3f3ab313c136" href="https://sikivuhutchinson.medium.com/over-our-dead-bodies-ending-misogynoir-and-domestic-violence-3f3ab313c136" rel="noopener" target="_blank">disproportionately high</a> rates of domestic violence victimization and are more likely to be killed by a partner, relative or friend than are non-Black women. In the U.S., Black women are also 2.5 times <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/homicide-violence-against-black-women-us" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/homicide-violence-against-black-women-us" rel="noopener" target="_blank">more likely</a> to be killed by a partner, ex-partner, relative or friend than are non-Black women. In the City of Los Angeles, Black women <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://civilandhumanrights.lacity.gov/get-involved/highlights/la-civil-rights-releases-new-report-violence-against-black-latina-women" href="https://civilandhumanrights.lacity.gov/get-involved/highlights/la-civil-rights-releases-new-report-violence-against-black-latina-women" rel="noopener" target="_blank">comprise</a> 25%-33% of all domestic and sexual violence victims, though we are only 4% of the population. These experiences make Black women and girls more vulnerable not only to assault and community violence, but also to victim-blaming, criminalization, abuse, and murder by police <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://aequitasresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Confronting-Racial-Bias-Against-Black-and-African-American-Victims.pdf" href="https://aequitasresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Confronting-Racial-Bias-Against-Black-and-African-American-Victims.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">when they seek assistance</a> from law enforcement. Black women are <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9173663/" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9173663/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">1.4 times more likely</a> to be killed by police than are white women. Black women domestic violence victims are more likely to be arrested when they contact law enforcement for help in a domestic violence dispute. Known as <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://aequitasresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Confronting-Racial-Bias-Against-Black-and-African-American-Victims.pdf" href="https://aequitasresource.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Confronting-Racial-Bias-Against-Black-and-African-American-Victims.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">“dual arrests”</a>, this travesty involves the concurrent arrest of the assailant <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">and </em>the victim in a domestic violence dispute. Racist/sexist stereotypes that criminalize Black women and girls as violent, out of control, and culpable for their own victimization, drive this disparity.</p><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="af5e"><img class="graf-image" data-height="2268" data-image-id="1*cP4WbaOhwwgP5yGaGDkYIA.jpeg" data-width="4032" height="360" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1200/1*cP4WbaOhwwgP5yGaGDkYIA.jpeg" width="640" /><figcaption class="imageCaption">#Standing4BlackGirls Women’s Leadership Project Black women’s survivors’ speak out for Niani Finlayson @ L.A. County Sheriff’s Dept. on December 27th</figcaption></figure><p class="graf graf--p" name="2f53">Finlayson’s senseless killing underscores why deploying violence disruptors and mental health intervention specialists who are not law enforcement is critical. In 2020, Shelton shot <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://thegrio.com/2023/12/28/los-angeles-sheriff-deputy-ty-shelton-shooting-niani-finlayson/" href="https://thegrio.com/2023/12/28/los-angeles-sheriff-deputy-ty-shelton-shooting-niani-finlayson/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">and killed sixty one year-old Michael Thomas</a> in another domestic violence dispute. Shelton was not prosecuted for the killing and the officers involved in the call had not been assigned body cameras. Shelton’s continued presence on the force belies recently elected Sheriff Robert Luna’s claim that he is committed to purging “bad apples” in a department rife with killer cops and serial abusers.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="388b">In condemning this unconscionable atrocity, and expressing our condolences to Niani Finlayson’s family, we are calling on Sheriff Luna to fire Ty Shelton and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.calhealthreport.org/2021/12/21/domestic-violence-survivors-often-dont-want-to-call-the-police-california-tries-a-new-approach/" href="https://www.calhealthreport.org/2021/12/21/domestic-violence-survivors-often-dont-want-to-call-the-police-california-tries-a-new-approach/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">deploy</a> trained first responder violence disruptors and crisis intervention specialists during domestic violence calls, rather than armed deputies. We are also calling for the immediate prosecution of Shelton by District Attorney George Gascon. </p><p class="graf graf--p" name="fd38">Finlayson’s experiences, like those of other Black women domestic violence victims, also underscore the urgent need for prevention education and resources in L.A. County and city schools for all genders. Domestic and intimate partner violence prevention is only superficially discussed in middle school and high school health curricula. When domestic violence is discussed, the coverage is piecemeal and not culturally responsive to the lived experiences of Black women and girls. When the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Women’s Leadership Project</a> conducts Black feminist violence prevention education outreach in high schools, we constantly hear from Black girls who have been groomed, abused, and victimized on social media and in real time. Nationwide, Black girls across sexuality have few safe spaces to seek refuge in when they are at risk of abuse or have experienced abuse. For many Black women and women of color, early experiences with abuse are a leading predictor of later in life abuse.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="1e6f">L.A. County spends billions on police and prisons, yet continues to underfund restorative justice and healing justice alternatives. The County’s pledge to a <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-21/editorial-l-a-s-bungling-of-care-first-model-is-a-cautionary-tale-for-gov-newsom" href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-03-21/editorial-l-a-s-bungling-of-care-first-model-is-a-cautionary-tale-for-gov-newsom" rel="noopener" target="_blank">“Care First”</a> budget has yet to reap structural gains or benefits for Black L.A. youth. And the underfunding of community youth spaces only compounds the record levels of depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide that Black girls, queer and gender expansive youth are experiencing.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="45df">Niani Finlayson’s murder tragically exposes the way the intersection of police state terrorism and gaps in social welfare protections imperil Black women, Black families, and communities. Finlayson’s mom Tracie Harris stated that she was pursuing her dreams to become a nurse and create a children’s app.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="8e6e">You can support her family and young daughters by contributing to their <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/niani-finlayson" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/niani-finlayson" rel="noopener" target="_blank">GoFundMe</a>. You can also demand the firing and prosecution of Ty Shelton by <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://lasd.org/public-complaint/" href="https://lasd.org/public-complaint/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">contacting</a> <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://lasd.org/contact-us/" href="https://lasd.org/contact-us/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Sheriff Robert Luna</a> and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://da.lacounty.gov/contact/email" href="https://da.lacounty.gov/contact/email" rel="noopener" target="_blank">District Attorney George Gascon</a>.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="d0be"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">The </em><a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">#Standing4BlackGirls coalition and Women’s Leadership Project</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em"> provide mental health resources, youth leadership development, and advocacy for Black girls and BIPOC queer youth in Los Angeles.</em></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-55168245455915167702023-12-18T08:38:00.000-08:002023-12-18T08:38:35.820-08:00Black Voters' Dangerous Dance with Trump 2.0<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJDeQOWl_jmm-q1tH3nzpyHc18T3S4521BKtYkho0RMhYdbTGkCqLcWqBKUWi07KyVe_COg3t0aag8qQigUPo2TyTmUsbsRbnhL5XVlAdZcX8K53qxUB4Gf8sofP5dPzr7j-Lt9xp6HIuaFw-2smBz63g-N3vVTNecMo8yya-17lvwkp2XA2uCQEuH_m1l" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="220" data-original-width="392" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjJDeQOWl_jmm-q1tH3nzpyHc18T3S4521BKtYkho0RMhYdbTGkCqLcWqBKUWi07KyVe_COg3t0aag8qQigUPo2TyTmUsbsRbnhL5XVlAdZcX8K53qxUB4Gf8sofP5dPzr7j-Lt9xp6HIuaFw-2smBz63g-N3vVTNecMo8yya-17lvwkp2XA2uCQEuH_m1l" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>By Sikivu Hutchinson</p><p>Word to Black voters seduced by Trump — he thinks you come from <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/12/577599691/racist-and-shameful-how-other-countries-are-responding-to-trumps-slur" href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/12/577599691/racist-and-shameful-how-other-countries-are-responding-to-trumps-slur" rel="noopener" target="_blank">sh — thole nations</a>, is itching to deport you, and believes Black men are <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://time.com/5609622/trump-central-park-five-apology/" href="https://time.com/5609622/trump-central-park-five-apology/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">wild criminals who deserve the death penalty</a>. This past weekend during a campaign appearance, Trump proclaimed that immigrants, specifically from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, are “poisoning the blood of our country”. Unfortunately, these tip of the iceberg atrocities might not sway some gullible Negroes. If early swing state polls are to be believed, the nation is hurtling full speed ahead toward a second Trump administration and Black voters are playing a key role. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/us/politics/biden-trump-black-voters-poll-democrats.html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/06/us/politics/biden-trump-black-voters-poll-democrats.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">According to</a> the <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">New York Times</em>, after surveying 2500 voters, “A Democratic advisory group…found that voters in the Democratic base of ‘Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, LGBTQ+ community, Gen Z, millennials, unmarried and college women give Trump higher approval ratings than Biden.’” Further, “Black voters are more disconnected from the Democratic Party than they have been in decades, frustrated with what many see as inaction on their political priorities and unhappy with President Biden, a candidate they helped lift to the White House just three years ago.” Most alarmingly, “22 percent of Black voters in six of the most important battleground states said they would support former President Donald J. Trump in next year’s election…(while) 71 percent would back Mr. Biden.”</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="5233">Even taking into consideration the notorious unreliability of early polls, these numbers are jaw dropping, terrifying, and enraging. Trump’s swaggering anti-Blackness, white supremacist outbursts, and fascist policies on everything from racial justice, policing, abortion rights, climate change, job creation, public education, student loan forgiveness, and anti-poverty programs would obliterate any modicum of socioeconomic gains that African Americans and people of color have achieved. Case in point, Black poverty rates are at approximately 22% in the U.S. The 2021 Child Tax Credit, which was implemented under the Biden administration’s American Rescue Plan, <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/publication/2023/children-left-behind-by-the-child-tax-credit-in-2022#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20child%20poverty,income%20families%20formerly%20left%20behind." href="https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/publication/2023/children-left-behind-by-the-child-tax-credit-in-2022#:~:text=In%202021%2C%20the%20child%20poverty,income%20families%20formerly%20left%20behind." rel="noopener" target="_blank">cut poverty</a> to 5.2%. Nonetheless, the GOP and right wing Democrat Joe Manchin voted against renewing it, and the poverty rate <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/record-rise-in-poverty-highlights-importance-of-child-tax-credit-health-coverage" href="https://www.cbpp.org/press/statements/record-rise-in-poverty-highlights-importance-of-child-tax-credit-health-coverage" rel="noopener" target="_blank">shot up again</a> in 2022. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “The poverty rate for children more than doubled from a historic low of 5.2 percent in 2021 to 12.4 percent in 2022, erasing all of the record gains made against child poverty over the previous two years. Progress made in 2021 in narrowing the glaring differences between the poverty rates of Black and Latino children compared to white children was largely reversed.” Earlier this year, unemployment rates among Black workers <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/inside-us-jobs-report-record-low-black-unemployment-2023-04-07/" href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/inside-us-jobs-report-record-low-black-unemployment-2023-04-07/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">fell to historic lows</a>, narrowing the racial gap between white and Black workers to 1.8% (Black unemployment rates have since risen again).</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="ab4f">This is not to cosign Biden, nor to excuse the rank imperialism, militarism, and neoliberalism of his administration. The Biden administration’s bankrolling of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza and the Palestinians is an odious human rights violation which has further eroded progressive Democratic support. On the domestic front, faced with rising consumer prices, mounting debt, erosion of Black generational wealth, and skyrocketing rates of Black homelessness, many African American voters are disgruntled with the administration’s piecemeal efforts to reddress these disparities. But Biden has shown no willingness to step down to make way for a younger successor. And the likelihood that a viable one could be drafted at this stage in the game is slim to none.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="7b81">The reality is, a second Trump administration would be apocalyptic for Black folks and people of color. Trump has already promised to reinstate his <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://immigrationhistory.org/item/muslim-travel-ban/" href="https://immigrationhistory.org/item/muslim-travel-ban/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">2017 Muslim ban executive order</a>, institute mandatory deportations, repeal the 14th amendment guaranteeing birthright citizenship (which was instituted to confer citizenship on enslaved African Americans), and permanently hijack the Supreme Court and lower federal courts by packing them with Christian fascist Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett clones who will torch the last remnants of constitutional protections for vulnerable communities.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="4d91">In addition, last week, one of Trump’s lackeys <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/us/politics/trump-kash-patel-journalists.html?searchResultPosition=1" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/05/us/politics/trump-kash-patel-journalists.html?searchResultPosition=1" rel="noopener" target="_blank">announced</a> that Trump 2.0 would launch a no holds barred Justice Department assault on members of the press who “helped Biden rig the election”. Trump’s threats underscore how Tea Party era anti-immigrant fear-mongering and white nationalism have come full circle in a nation where his supporters gleefully lap up his lies, villainy, and corruption and beg for more. In this please-pee-on-us-and-call-it-rain scenario, Trump, as he predicted years ago, has become impervious to legal challenges, impeachments, indictments or public shaming. At this historical juncture, the sad, insane but naked truth is that (barring a viable alternative) Biden’s reelection is the only thing that stands between democratic civil liberties and civil rights and a complete descent into fascist rule.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="af43">Yet, the seeds of Biden’s slide with African Americans are also exemplified by the moral conservatism of some Black voters. Black viewpoints on LGBTQ+ rights are one bellwether. A Black woman voter who was polled in the Times survey stated that, “Biden has not followed through on his campaign promises on immigration (and she) worries that Democrats have gone too far in their embrace of L.G.B.T.Q. issues (while) faulting them for books used in public education that she believes are too sexually explicit.” Similarly, in a recent <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">L.A. Times</em> <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-03/joe-biden-latino-vote-donald-trump-2024-election-univision" href="https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-12-03/joe-biden-latino-vote-donald-trump-2024-election-univision" rel="noopener" target="_blank">article</a>, columnist Mike Madrid frames the erosion of Democratic support among Latino voters along demographic and ideological lines. As immigration from Spanish-speaking countries declines, native born Latino constituents are less likely to identify with the liberal-centrist issues that define the Democratic Party’s base. According to Madrid, this demographic has moved “away from the aggrieved immigrant narrative favored by Democrats and toward an assimilating, working-class identity that mirrors its non-Latino counterparts.” Madrid’s supposition that Latinos are rejecting the Democrats’ “grievance-based” politics downplays the continued relevance of social and economic justice in a nation in which <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D" href="https://www.kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D" rel="noopener" target="_blank">approximately 17%</a> of Latinos are at the poverty line and face significant institutional racism and discrimination in every sector. And, while Latinos are more likely to share the religious conservatism of white evangelicals, they are also able to claim white identity on legal forms — a privilege that Black folks don’t have.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="57f8">Indeed, Black folks’ drift to Trump is downright suicidal, given the high stakes. What, exactly, do Black Trumpites see him delivering to Black communities, other than trickle down Reaganomics on steroids, the complete destruction of anything resembling equity in the public sphere, and the gutting of social welfare, health care, infrastructure, and educational policies that have historically provided redress to communities of color? An old <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Twilight Zone</em> episode chillingly illustrates Black fascination with Trump. In the episode, the devil, disguised as an innocuous looking everyman, is locked up in a monastery. Despite the warnings of the monks, a visiting traveler releases him after he sweet talks the man into believing he’s been unjustly imprisoned. Mayhem ensues, and the visitor, mired in regret, spends his entire life trying to hunt down and trap Satan for good. This is a piker’s analogy for what the potential “resurrection” and liberation of Trump, on the watch of a disaffected and amnesiac electorate, would do for the nation and the globe.</p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-13747252610192238562023-08-14T09:50:00.004-07:002023-08-14T09:50:40.113-07:00Books that Save Lives: The Oasis of Black Queer Young Adult Literature<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiato2o5Eb5_r9EE6EkElCry2OoQ4Te1_2AWGdmrdzXCU9sbzgxK0wWpNLTLjdy-5SFvLnLRatHvPflRXCV4275Z3hDg7UNWxJP5-foKzWJcRpLJMg__Ai-hX9CF-0LUOVT9swRCFXuHSkuuK2lZWdsM1q-Lm-USqPCDjEiW_wxDop3nPoJ6TabQf5ogcLb/s2196/screenshot%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1574" data-original-width="2196" height="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiato2o5Eb5_r9EE6EkElCry2OoQ4Te1_2AWGdmrdzXCU9sbzgxK0wWpNLTLjdy-5SFvLnLRatHvPflRXCV4275Z3hDg7UNWxJP5-foKzWJcRpLJMg__Ai-hX9CF-0LUOVT9swRCFXuHSkuuK2lZWdsM1q-Lm-USqPCDjEiW_wxDop3nPoJ6TabQf5ogcLb/w400-h286/screenshot%202.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">By Sikivu Hutchinson</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white;">W</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">hen I was in elementary and middle school during the seventies and eighties, there was virtually no literature that captured the lived experiences and identities of Black queer children and teens. I was a serious reader, a nonconformist daydreamer, and a fixture at neighborhood libraries where I could load up on everyone from Virginia Hamilton to PT. Travers to Richard Steptoe to Sharon Bell Mathis and Judy Blume. The imagined and imaginary worlds that children’s authors conjured — and the libraries that offered space to read, reflect, and explore these worlds — could be a source of refuge from bullies, violence, and society’s intolerance of “weird” Black girls who defied soul killing gender norms.</span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="ab0e" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">In the midst of white supremacist book bans, community and school libraries have become battlegrounds and oases. As backlash against African American studies and LGBTQ+ affirming curricula intensifies, the works of Black queer Young Adult literature authors <a class="af nw" href="https://www.kacencallender.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Kacen Callender</a>, <a class="af nw" href="https://jacquelinewoodson.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Jacqueline Woodson</a>, and <a class="af nw" href="https://iamgmjohnson.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">George M. Johnson</a> are lifesaving revelations. Over the past year, LGBTQ+ communities have been bombarded with toxic legislation that prohibits gender affirming care for trans youth, bathroom access for trans students, and acknowledgments of queer families (buttressed by the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that allows businesses to <a class="af nw" href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/30/politics/supreme-court-303-creative-lgbtq-rights-colorado/index.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">discriminate against</a> LGBTQ+ customers). In the midst of this firestorm, Black queer literary world-building illustrates the transformative power of literature, providing access to imagined spaces which affirm marginalized communities and experiences. Johnson’s 2020 “memoir-manifesto” <a class="af nw" href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374312718/allboysarentblue" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"><em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">All Boys Aren’t Blue</em></a> has been slammed by the Religious Right and placed on <a class="af nw" href="https://www.npr.org/2022/10/25/1130433140/banned-books-all-boys-arent-blue-george-johnson-lgbtq-ya" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">numerous banned books lists</a>. Woodson’s 1995 novel <a class="af nw" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/286832/the-house-you-pass-on-the-way-by-jacqueline-woodson/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"><em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">The House You Pass on the Way</em></a><em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </em>is one of the first to sensitively portray the inner life, family, and friend relationships of a Black lesbian girl. Callender’s trailblazing novels <a class="af nw" href="https://shop.scholastic.com/teachers-ecommerce/teacher/books/king-and-the-dragonflies-9781338129335.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"><em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">King and the Dragonflies (2020)</em></a> and <a class="af nw" href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/felix-ever-after-kacen-callender?variant=32280909578274" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"><em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Felix Ever After (2021)</em></a> provide moving portraits of Black queer and Black trans teens and tweens navigating love, grief, heartbreak, identity, and creativity in school communities that range from hostile to supportive.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="0e1d" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The twelve year-old protagonist of <em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">King and the Dragonflies</em> is confronted with multiple sources of trauma. Throughout the novel, he mourns the death of his older brother with whom he had a deep bond. To cope with his grief, he imagines that his brother is one of the many dragonflies that he sees in the bayous near his home in New Orleans. His grief and uncertainty are compounded by his parents’ inability to deal with their own sense of loss. When a gay acquaintance at his school runs away from home to escape abuse at home, he becomes a secret ally to the young man, gradually realizing that he is queer as well. Callender, who identifies as non-binary, is adept at inhabiting the inner life and mindset of middle school youth questioning their identities amidst the upheaval of puberty. Their characters are achingly realistic, introspective, flawed, and vibrant. In <em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Felix Ever After</em>, Felix is an aspiring teen artist who has recently transitioned. His support system includes several “ride or die” friends who surround him with love. In Callender’s worlds, chosen family take precedence over blood relatives. Relatives are secondary characters who provide a snapshot of the complex spectrum of family acceptance and safe space. Felix and his father navigate a fragile relationship that is exacerbated by his mother’s desertion. Throughout much of the book, Felix’s dad refuses to use his chosen name and pronouns, even though he pays for Felix’s surgeries and tries to make time to check in with his son. Similarly, in a gut-wrenching scene between King and his father, in <em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Dragonflies, </em>King notes: “I’m glad that he loves me no matter what but it still hurts that he has to think about the fact I’m gay — (and) that he can’t accept me for who I am.” For Black queer youth, parental ambivalence can be devastating. It is for this reason that safe spaces at school are paramount. Callender’s portrayals powerfully illustrate the insidious impact anti-blackness, homophobia, transphobia, and gaslighting have on Black queer and gender expansive youth who have few safe spaces. A <a class="af nw" href="https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/Erasure-and-Resilience-Black-2020.pdf" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">2019 survey</a> conducted by the National Black Justice coalition and <a class="af nw" href="https://www.glsen.org/research/school-climate-survey" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">GLSEN</a> (Gay Lesbian Student Education Network) indicated that Black students who are involved with campus affinity groups (such as BSUs and <a class="af nw" href="https://gsanetwork.org/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">GSAs</a>) are more likely to stay in school. This is especially critical given the national push in conservative school districts to “out” LGBTQ+ and gender expansive youth to their parents and undermine their relationships with trusted adults on campus.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d087" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">In his autobiography <em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">All Boys Aren’t Blue</em>, George M. Johnson highlights how seeing examples of Black queer life and experience were lifesavers for him. Unlike the protagonists in Callender’s novels, Johnson’s immediate and extended family was unequivocally supportive of his identity and journey. He is especially indebted to his grandmother, who affirmed his right to be different despite the big generation gap that separated them:</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5f55" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><mark class="ade add ao" style="background-color: #ffd5ff; box-sizing: inherit; cursor: pointer;">“My grandmother had always seen the damage that happens when children who are ‘different’ aren’t nurtured and loved the same way other kids are…I often think about what it would be like if the world existed with a ‘Nanny’ in each family.</mark> Why was my Black queer experience one of unconditional love when others have become the standard of hate and familial violence? Family dynamics is a topic that comes up often in LGBTQIAP+ culture. ‘Created family’ is a system in which friends from many walks of life create extremely tight friendship circles in an effort to ensure a familial type of environment for the many who are not accepted at home.”</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="88e4" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Johnson’s bookish, introspective “coming of age” self is nurtured by Nanny’s encouragement of his creativity and stylistic nonconformity. In an early scene in which he expresses interest in cowboy boots (much to the bewilderment of some family members), Nanny cosigns his “quirky” choice by buying him a pair. Throughout the book, he credits Nanny with providing him with the social-emotional foundation he needed to withstand and resist homophobia in the Black community and anti-Blackness in white America. In his introduction he notes that, <em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“This book is an exploration of two of my identities — Black and queer — and how I became aware of their intersections within myself and in society. How I’ve learned that neither of those identities can be contained within a simple box…In the white community, I am seen as a Black man first — but that doesn’t negate the queer identity that will still face discrimination. In the Black community…it is the intersection with queerness that is used to reduce my Blackness and the overall image of Black men.”</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="857d" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">By the same token, Callender’s <em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Felix Ever After </em>hones in on how these intersectional struggles impact Black trans youth who are often rendered invisible in school curricula and community support systems. As a Black trans boy dealing with his mother’s abandonment and his father’s ambivalence, Felix seeks refuge in close relationships with school peers who also encourage his artistic vision. Callender offers a rare portrait of a trans teen who is on the brink of graduating, going to college, and pursuing his calling as a visual artist. At the beginning of the novel, Felix is victimized by a transphobic troll whose identity is shrouded in mystery until the end of the novel. Felix fights back against the troll’s cyberbullying on Instagram. When the troll asks him why he’s “pretending” to be a boy, he counters, “I’m not pretending to be a boy. Just because you haven’t evolved to realize gender doesn’t equal biology, doesn’t mean you get to say who I am and who I’m not. You don’t have that power. Only I have the power to say who I am.” (125) The deadnaming and misgendering Felix experiences are common forms of trans-antagonistic abuse that silence and victim shame trans and gender expansive youth in schools and on social media. Even though Felix has a loving, devoted best friend named Ezra, he is wracked with doubt about his lovability. In a moving scene with Declan, a school nemesis who he has developed an Instagram crush on, Felix comments that:</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c951" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">It’s like every identity I have…the more different I am from everyone else…the less interested people are. The less lovable I feel, I guess. The love interests in books, or in movies or TV shows, are always white, cis, straight, blond hair, blue eyes. Chris Evans. Jennifer Lawrence. It becomes a little hard to convince myself I deserve the kind of love you see on movie screens. (219)</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="32f5" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The isolation that Felix experiences is underscored by escalating attacks on the very existence of trans youth. As with Johnson’s memoir, Callender’s books are lightening rods for fascist backlash. Living in the more “liberal” context of New York, Felix believes that he has been largely insulated from the brunt of national vitriol faced by youth in the Midwest and the South. His acknowledgment of privilege is cautionary for LGBTQ+ communities outside of the Bible Belt. Over the past year, conservative school boards in California (which has some of the strongest pro-LGBTQ+ policies in the nation) have jumped on the homophobic bandwagon, spearheading bans on LGBT affirming curricular materials, sponsoring <a class="af nw" href="https://www.foxla.com/news/chino-valley-unified-school-board-votes-to-support-controversial-ab-1314" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">outing</a> policies, and cosigning the <a class="af nw" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/06/07/california-glendale-school-board-brawl-lgbtq-pride/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">anti-queer propaganda and violence</a> of right wing parent groups.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d924" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Johnson was partly inspired to write his memoir by Toni Morrison’s <a class="af nw" href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2019/08/07/toni-morrison-nobel-prize-winning-writer-most-notable-quotes/1941628001/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">saying</a> that if “there is a book that you want to read and it hasn’t been written yet, you must write it.” Reflecting on being ostracized in elementary school, he writes, <em class="nx" style="box-sizing: inherit;">“And then there was me. A little queer Black boy still very unsure of who he was. I buried myself in schoolwork and hid behind my books. What I didn’t have in friendships, I could always find in stories.” (132)</em></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph na nb fo nc b gm nd ne nf gp ng nh ni nj nk nl nm nn no np nq nr ns nt nu nv fh bj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c44c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #242424; font-family: source-serif-pro, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Ultimately, the spaces of radical reimagining that YA queer fiction and “memoir manifestoes” open up can be a lifeline and an inspiration for Black queer kids and families. As fascist movements continue to surge, literature is still a powerful antidote, allowing us to “define ourselves for ourselves” (to paraphrase Audre Lorde) in rebuke to the terrorism of an Orwellian age.</p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-2981535459556666142023-03-06T11:13:00.000-08:002023-03-06T11:13:16.701-08:00Shelter from the Storm: On Epidemic Sadness and Trauma Among Girls and Queer Youth<p> <img alt="" class="bf in io c" height="549" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:467/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg" width="700" /> #Standing4BlackGirls rally in South L.A. 2022, Photo by Isaac Barrera</p><figure class="ie if ig ih fs ii fg fh paragraph-image"><div class="ij ik di il bf im" role="button" tabindex="0"><div class="fg fh id"><p><picture><source sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/format:webp/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/format:webp/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/format:webp/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/format:webp/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/format:webp/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/format:webp/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/format:webp/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 1400w" type="image/webp"></source><source data-testid="og" sizes="(min-resolution: 4dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 4) and (max-width: 700px) 50vw, (min-resolution: 3dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 67vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 3) and (max-width: 700px) 65vw, (min-resolution: 2.5dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2.5) and (max-width: 700px) 80vw, (min-resolution: 2dppx) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, (-webkit-min-device-pixel-ratio: 2) and (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:640/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:720/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 720w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:750/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 750w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:786/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 786w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:828/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 828w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1100/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 1100w, https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*I2c0s6PjYmoVpCcyhHBDyQ.jpeg 1400w"></source></picture></p></div></div><figcaption class="ip dm fi fg fh iq ir bd b be z dk" data-selectable-paragraph=""></figcaption></figure><p data-selectable-paragraph="">By Sikivu Hutchinson</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph he hf hg hh b hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic gz bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="0992">In her book, <a class="ae is" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incidents_in_the_Life_of_a_Slave_Girl" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><em class="it">Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl</em></a><em class="it">,</em> published in 1861, the 19th century abolitionist and author Harriet Jacobs entitles one chapter, “The Trials of Girlhood”. In it, she describes the ritualized sexual violence that enslaved Black girls were subjected to during the antebellum period. Upon turning 15, Jacobs noted that, “No matter whether the slave girl be as black as ebony or as fair as her mistress — in either case, there is no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from violence, or even from death; all these are inflicted by fiends who bear the shape of men.” For Jacobs, the fact that these atrocities were committed against Black girls under the guise of Christian morality was another brutal contradiction.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph he hf hg hh b hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic gz bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="297c">Flash forward to the twenty first century, and Jacobs’ experiences with rape culture’s trauma continue to reverberate for Black girls and femmes. According to a <a class="ae is" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/13/health/teen-girls-sadness-suicide-violence.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">new CDC report</a>, “57 percent of girls and 69 percent of gay, lesbian or bisexual teenagers reported feeling sadness every day for at least two weeks during the previous year. And 14 percent of girls, up from 12 percent in 2011, said they had been forced to have sex at some point in their lives, as did 20 percent of gay, lesbian or bisexual adolescents.” Nationwide, Black girls have some of the <a class="ae is" href="https://www.rainn.org/news/many-black-survivors-reporting-raises-complicated-issues" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">highest rates of domestic and sexual violence</a> victimization, with nearly 60% experiencing sexual abuse by the time they turn 18.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph he hf hg hh b hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic gz bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="dbb4">When I was growing up in the eighties, there was virtually no language to support Black girl survivors like me, much less a national platform or movement. It was “understood” that sexual harassment, sexual violence, and teen dating violence were just part of the “trials” of being young, Black, and female. It was understood that the “trials” of being a Black boy superseded and took precedence over Black girls’ trauma. Black folks did not take to the streets en masse to demand an end to sexual and domestic violence. And, beyond slavery, and misogynist, victim-blaming rap and rock lyrics, there were largely no mainstream portrayals of Black girls’ experiences with sexual violence. Influential texts such as Maya Angelou’s <em class="it">I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</em> or Ntozake Shange’s <em class="it">For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide when the rainbow was enuf</em> were rarely taught in middle school or high school settings. This erasure was compounded by the fact that white women sexual violence victims were almost always the lead protagonists in soap opera dramas and infamous “after school specials” that once dominated network TV.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph he hf hg hh b hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic gz bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5835">In the 8th grade, I read Alice Walker’s <em class="it">The Color Purple</em> and was riveted by the narrator Celie’s voice. Her poignant questioning and unapologetic affirmation of her own truth amidst the pain of rape, abuse, and abandonment powerfully illustrated how writing could provide healing space. Decades later, I was well into my thirties when I read Toni Morrison’s <a class="ae is" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11337.The_Bluest_Eye" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"><em class="it">The Bluest Eye</em></a>. Morrison’s searing indictment of sexual violence, colorism, internalized racism, and segregation is as potent today as it was during the seventies when it was published. As seen through the eyes of middle school Black girls, the story of <em class="it">The Bluest Eye</em> is at once tragic and triumphant. Triumphant because it hints at the complexities of Black female agency in the midst of generational trauma. The only difference between the girlhood trials of Morrison’s protagonist Pecola Breedlove and those of contemporary Black girls is the Internet. If Pecola “existed” today, she’d be cyberbullied into silence, gaslighted about her trauma, branded as a race traitor, and told to pray it away.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph he hf hg hh b hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic gz bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="9c9e"><a class="ae is" href="https://www.npr.org/2023/02/13/1156610138/the-mental-health-of-teen-girls-and-lgbtq-teens-has-worsened-since-2011" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">According to</a> the CDC’s Kathleen Ethier, “Of every 10 teen girls that you know, at least one of them — possibly more — have been raped…And so, not surprisingly, we’re also seeing that almost 60% of teen girls had depressive symptoms in the past year.” The report confirms that these levels are the highest reported in a decade. Moreover, “1 in 3 girls had seriously considered attempting suicide, which is up by 60% over the last decade. (And among) teens who identify as LGBTQ+ more than half reported experiencing poor mental health…(while) 1 in 5 had actually attempted suicide in the past year.” From 2003–2019, suicide among Black girls <a class="ae is" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/well/mind/suicide-black-kids.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">increased</a> by 59%. The biggest increase <a class="ae is" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/well/mind/suicide-rates-black-girls.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">occurred among</a> 12–14-year-old girls.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph he hf hg hh b hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic gz bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="901c">The report was based on the <a class="ae is" href="https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/index.htm" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Youth Risk Behavior Survey</a> , which was given to 17,000 teens in the fall of 2021. Nationwide, girls across ethnicity are experiencing record levels of violence, much of which is normalized as a kind of rite of passage and exceeds what males are experiencing. This casual, routinized violence silences scores of Black girls, young women, and queer folks. As one of my 10th grade students put it, the violence that girls experience is so normalized that many don’t even know how to classify it. Being called out of one’s name or being slapped on the butt can easily progress to being pushed, grabbed and pressured to have sex. Victims struggle to be heard and validated, often going against the grain of school cultures where violence against girls and female-identified youth is not taken seriously. Because sexism and sexual violence are not deemed to be a public health crisis, Black and BIPOC girls face rampant denial that it is important. This lack of priority is reflected in the language used to describe, demean, sexualize, and police Black girls’ behavior.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph he hf hg hh b hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic gz bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="9789">In many schools, sexual and reproductive health are taught once in health classes, typically during 9th grade. Mandatory prevention education all four years of high school would have a critical impact on curbing high rates of domestic and sexual violence among teens and young adults. For example, a <a class="ae is" href="https://injepijournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40621-021-00330-0" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">2021 study</a> showed a significant link between mass shootings and domestic violence. From 2014–2019, 59.1% of mass shootings were DV-related. In over 68% of mass shootings, “the perpetrator either killed at least one partner or family member or had a history of DV”. Granted, mass shootings only account for 1% of gun homicides in the U.S., yet their public and psychological impact is immense. At the same time, the everyday gun homicide that occurs in communities of color rarely receives the same media attention, and Black women and girls pay the steepest price.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph he hf hg hh b hi hj hk hl hm hn ho hp hq hr hs ht hu hv hw hx hy hz ia ib ic gz bi" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3f56">How many Black girls have to die or psychologically languish before our communities mobilize to end the epidemic levels of gender-based violence and homicide they are experiencing? Free accessible therapy, arts-based healing, youth leadership support, and community-building opportunities and literature circles featuring Black feminist, BIPOC and queer books can provide coping resources for and safe havens from the unrelenting violence Black girls, femmes of color and queer youth experience in their everyday lives. Regular check-ins from engaged adult mentors on the hopes, aspirations, fears, and dreams of youth with anxiety can also be healing. Depression and sadness shouldn’t be normalized as the “constant companions” girls and queer youth carry with them. Black feminist, womanist and anti-racist humanistic interventions can and should be the prescription for long term mental health restoration for our youth.</p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-62673450299551179602023-01-30T13:12:00.000-08:002023-01-30T13:12:10.481-08:00Medical Apartheid in Inglewood: Justice for April Valentine<p> </p><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="55d0"><img class="graf-image" data-height="531" data-image-id="1*gUW3V1c2FIV5p45uH8p22g.jpeg" data-is-featured="true" data-width="400" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/533/1*gUW3V1c2FIV5p45uH8p22g.jpeg" /><figcaption class="imageCaption">Justice4AprilValentine rally, photo by Sikivu Hutchinson</figcaption></figure><p class="graf graf--p" name="d32e">By Sikivu Hutchinson</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="d32e">Reverence for white pregnant women, white motherhood, and the maintenance of white families are an integral part of American national identity. Built on a white supremacist standard of care that favors, privileges, and uplifts white bodies as the “invisible” norm and standard of humanity, Black folks are automatically dehumanized in these systems.</p><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="43d6"><img class="graf-image" data-height="365" data-image-id="1*ZZee83sR_Vilq62tIdB5ng.jpeg" data-width="309" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/533/1*ZZee83sR_Vilq62tIdB5ng.jpeg" /><figcaption class="imageCaption">April Valentine, photo by Valentine family</figcaption></figure><p class="graf graf--p" name="6352">On January 10th, <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://wavepublication.com/family-has-questions-after-woman-dies-following-childbirth/" href="https://wavepublication.com/family-has-questions-after-woman-dies-following-childbirth/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">April Valentine</a>, a 31 year-old African American young woman who was pregnant with her first child, died at <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://centinelamed.com/" href="https://centinelamed.com/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Centinela Hospital</a> in Inglewood after complaining to nurses for hours about numbness in her legs. Over the past two weeks, her family and hundreds of supporters from the community have <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://2urbangirls.com/2023/01/family-friends-seek-justice-after-woman-dies-giving-birth-at-inglewood-hospital/" href="https://2urbangirls.com/2023/01/family-friends-seek-justice-after-woman-dies-giving-birth-at-inglewood-hospital/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">gathered at the hospital to protest</a> her death and call for justice. Valentine gave birth to a baby daughter named Aniya before she passed away.</p><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="3060"><img class="graf-image" data-height="531" data-image-id="1*Ilk43afMYC2nv5SOCL2SYA.jpeg" data-width="400" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/533/1*Ilk43afMYC2nv5SOCL2SYA.jpeg" /><figcaption class="imageCaption">Justice4AprilValentine rally, photo by Sikivu Hutchinson</figcaption></figure><p class="graf graf--p" name="8c9a">Valentine’s cousin, Mykesha Mack, has been leading the protests at Centinela. She described her cousin as a warm, loving person who had a special passion for helping children. At this Saturday’s demonstration, she lamented that Valentine, “Couldn’t wait to be a mother, and she was robbed of that. She could be your sister, your daughter or your cousin. This is a human rights issue.”</p><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="9415"><img class="graf-image" data-height="531" data-image-id="1*VYcCN2RIY2-WDn_Aof0p_g.jpeg" data-width="400" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/533/1*VYcCN2RIY2-WDn_Aof0p_g.jpeg" /><figcaption class="imageCaption">Justice4AprilValentine rally, photo by Sikivu Hutchinson</figcaption></figure><p class="graf graf--p" name="6b5b">The family maintains that Valentine’s regular doctor was not present when she started to experience distress and didn’t come for hours later. They also criticized the facility’s old equipment and expressed dismay that Centinela is one of the only hospitals in the Inglewood area, serving a predominantly Black and Latinx working class community. This week, they will meet with Second District Supervisor Holly Mitchell and District 35 <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://sd35.senate.ca.gov/contact" href="https://sd35.senate.ca.gov/contact" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Senator Steven Bradford</a>. They are also requesting that California Attorney General Rob Bonta<a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://abc7.com/april-valentine-childbirth-death-inglewood-california-mom-dies-during-labor/12748738/" href="https://abc7.com/april-valentine-childbirth-death-inglewood-california-mom-dies-during-labor/12748738/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"> launch a state investigation</a> into Valentine’s death. Mack has also recommend that supporters show up to <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.cityofinglewood.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01312023-3814?html=true" href="https://www.cityofinglewood.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01312023-3814?html=true" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Inglewood City Council meetings</a> to provide public comment and press for accountability.</p><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="38ec"><img class="graf-image" data-height="528" data-image-id="1*oR-O0tS42eG5H4RhE8Giwg.jpeg" data-width="331" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/533/1*oR-O0tS42eG5H4RhE8Giwg.jpeg" /><figcaption class="imageCaption">Mykesha Mack, Justice4AprilValentine rally, photo by Sikivu Hutchinson</figcaption></figure><p class="graf graf--p" name="a177">According to <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tLP1TcwSTfOtjA2YLRSNaiwMEg2SjJLszBONDNPS0lOsTKoSDUxtEg2sEyySDM2SUsztfBSSiwoysxRKEvMSc0rycxLVUiG0DmJChn5xQWZJYk5AFDKG8I&q=april+valentine+centinela+hospital&oq=April+Valentine&aqs=chrome.2.0i131i433i512l2j46i131i175i199i433i512j0i512l3j0i131i433i512.8730j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8" href="https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tLP1TcwSTfOtjA2YLRSNaiwMEg2SjJLszBONDNPS0lOsTKoSDUxtEg2sEyySDM2SUsztfBSSiwoysxRKEvMSc0rycxLVUiG0DmJChn5xQWZJYk5AFDKG8I&q=april+valentine+centinela+hospital&oq=April+Valentine&aqs=chrome.2.0i131i433i512l2j46i131i175i199i433i512j0i512l3j0i131i433i512.8730j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Google reviews</a> from former pregnant and parenting patients who were treated at Centinela Hospital, Valentine’s experiences were not unique. As one former patient wrote, “This is the worst hospital to have a baby. I got the worst care from an admitting nurse…She was very rude to me. She kept putting me down about my health issues and weight. When it was time to transfer to another room, she kept telling me to hurry up so my baby won’t be born on the floor. She also told me not to scream because I will scare other women. She treated my husband horribly like he was a stranger. Even told him to go outside to ask if I was being abused. I think she did that because my husband is black.”</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="3c42">Another patient who was 36 weeks pregnant related that she encountered rude and unprofessional behavior which made her feel unsafe. The staff member she dealt with “made comments on my personal life. Instead of helping me she was more judgmental. I wasn’t even seen by a doctor and was not provided a wheelchair.”</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="dcf8">The anti-Blackness that these women experienced appeared to be normalized within the culture of this facility (another Black male patient also complained about racist behavior from staff and numerous posters expressed outrage about delays in treatment). Mistreatment of and disdain for Black patients is baked into the American medical establishment. High rates of maternal morbidity among Black women attest to systemic failures not only at the level of inpatient care but also at the prenatal level.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="c500">According to the CDC, Black women are three times more likely to die from a pregnancy-related cause than White women. In 2020, the maternal mortality <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/opinion/black-maternal-mortality.html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/22/opinion/black-maternal-mortality.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">rate</a> for Black women was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births. The 2020 rate for white women was 19.1 deaths per 100,000 live births. Lack of access to overall quality healthcare due to the intersections of poverty, racism, and anti-Black misogyny, as well as underlying chronic conditions (such as diabetes, hypertension, and obesity), and the “implicit bias” of health practitioners are leading factors in these disparities.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="07e2">One solution that has been implemented with success is providing Black women with <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/18/us/doula-black-women.html" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/18/us/doula-black-women.html" rel="noopener" target="_blank">doula support</a>. “Doulas offer <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3647727/" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3647727/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">guidance on pain or complications</a> ahead of delivery and help clients navigate hospitals and doctors. Continuous guidance from a doula has been cited as one of the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://healthlaw.org/doula-care-improves-health-outcomes-reduces-racial-disparities-and-cuts-cost/" href="https://healthlaw.org/doula-care-improves-health-outcomes-reduces-racial-disparities-and-cuts-cost/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">most effective interventions</a> in easing pregnancy. Doulas offer <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3647727/" href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3647727/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">guidance on pain or complications</a> ahead of delivery and help clients navigate hospitals and doctors”.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="4241">Doulas are an important intervention, but preventive education that challenges racist/sexist perceptions about Black women is also critical. Centuries of anti-Black misogyny have constructed Black women as subhuman breeder/Jezebels who are immune to pain, less “feminine” than white women, and thus not worthy of care or protection. As Hannah Nikole Jones notes in the <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">1619 Project</em> documentary, “All these centuries later, false beliefs about Black women’s pain and their humanity still impact the reproductive health care they receive and the consequences for black women and their children.”</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="3cd5">As of this date, Valentine’s family has not received any information or correspondence from the hospital about the circumstances leading up to her death. Valentine’s horrific and unconscionable experience underscores why the U.S.’ medical apartheid regime continues to pose a clear and present danger to Black women, communities, and families.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="2328">Action Steps:</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="83d3">· Supporters who would like to donate a virtual gift card to April’s baby can contact <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="mailto:aprillovesaniya@gmail.com" href="mailto:aprillovesaniya@gmail.com" target="_blank">aprillovesaniya@gmail.com</a> or donate to the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/trust-fund-for-baby-aniya-justice-4-april" href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/trust-fund-for-baby-aniya-justice-4-april" rel="noopener" target="_blank">GoFundMe</a> for Aniya.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="96d4">· Community members can also contact the following elected officials who represent Inglewood residents directly:</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="fc2d">o Representative Maxine Waters <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.instagram.com/repmaxinewaters/" href="https://www.instagram.com/repmaxinewaters/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">@repmaxinewaters</a> or <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://waters.house.gov/contact" href="https://waters.house.gov/contact" rel="noopener" target="_blank">https://waters.house.gov/contact</a><br /> Senator Alex Padilla <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.instagram.com/senalexpadilla/" href="https://www.instagram.com/senalexpadilla/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">@senalexpadilla</a> or 310–231–4494</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="130b">Supervisor Holly Mitchell <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.instagram.com/hollyjmitchell/" href="https://www.instagram.com/hollyjmitchell/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">@hollyjmitchell</a> or hollyjmitchell@bos.lacounty.gov<br /> Inglewood Mayor James Butts <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.instagram.com/mayorjamesbutts/" href="https://www.instagram.com/mayorjamesbutts/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">@mayorjamesbutts</a> or 310–412–5111</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="8d45">· Community members can also call Prime Healthcare, the owner of Centinela Hospital, and demand that Dr. Prem Reddy step down at 909–235–4366.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="3ca3">· Inglewood City Council meetings are held on Tuesdays at 2pm. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.cityofinglewood.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01312023-3814?html=true" href="https://www.cityofinglewood.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_01312023-3814?html=true" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Info on how to provide public comment</a></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-15331056343407119542022-11-08T09:53:00.000-08:002022-11-08T09:53:08.500-08:00Abortion is Economic Justice: Reproductive Freedom and the Midterms<p> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfXRsjALjNYz8fImOpLGgRAtCIrbwxGxloherMHUTpeltLpXCfX4OzM1xmMY1rVxQSBbL4UVxYYP2bjwVZSypiJgy_lt_IXdtz42A-WFKc3JqTl4pNQGz4JLqu9q7OlZYfez5h3G9elAjhiMlmxdfMmWEBqv2deaGmVd06e7D5ipUCuWCrg6bLC5w-uQ/s5760/abortion%20S4BG.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="5760" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfXRsjALjNYz8fImOpLGgRAtCIrbwxGxloherMHUTpeltLpXCfX4OzM1xmMY1rVxQSBbL4UVxYYP2bjwVZSypiJgy_lt_IXdtz42A-WFKc3JqTl4pNQGz4JLqu9q7OlZYfez5h3G9elAjhiMlmxdfMmWEBqv2deaGmVd06e7D5ipUCuWCrg6bLC5w-uQ/w400-h266/abortion%20S4BG.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">#Standing4BlackGirls 2021 rally: Photo by Isaac Barrera</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> By Sikivu Hutchinson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This morning, I listened to an abortion procedure on
NPR and it was a powerful thing. A patient at a Michigan clinic had consented
to having her procedure recorded. She wanted to underscore its life or death
importance in a climate where Michigan citizens will vote next week for an </span><a href="https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/09/10/reproductive-freedom-for-all-michigan-text/68111011007/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">amendment</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
that would enshrine abortion rights into the state’s Constitution in rebuke of
a </span><a href="https://fivethirtyeight.com/videos/voters-will-decide-the-future-of-abortion-rights-in-michigan/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">1931
law</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
whose enforcement would impose a total ban. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The recording was also a beautiful f-you to
the white Christian nationalist fascists who want to destroy pregnant peoples’
right to bodily autonomy and economic self-determination. It was a bird flip to
ignorant commentary from a male voter on MSNBC who recently dismissed abortion as
a “luxury” that was far less important than inflation as a midterm election
priority. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">To this individual and others like him; repeat after
us—abortion access is not a luxury or a vanity item for suburban white women.
It is lifesaving, it is health care, and, safe, unrestricted access is critical
to the wellbeing and economic justice of Black, Brown and Indigenous
communities. Abortion was ranked as the number two concern among Latinx voters
in a National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) </span><a href="https://naleo.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/10_5_22_-_NEF_Release_-_Tracking_Poll_-_Week_4_-_Final.pdf"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">poll</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
and is a leading issue among Black voters. Approximately 8 in 10 Black voters </span><a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/11/02/black-voters-midterm-elections-inflation-abortion-voting/10618506002/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">disapprove</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">
of the overturning of Roe v. Wade in June. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since then, women and pregnant folks across the nation
have had to travel from Midwestern and Southern states for abortion care, often
risking their health, jobs, financial status, and sanity. The extreme personal
risk required to travel to sanctuary states for abortion care should be placed
within the context of a nation that has no universal child care provisions, disgraceful
Black maternal mortality rates, skyrocketing child poverty rates (which had
temporarily fallen due to the Child Tax Credit, waylaid by Senator Joe Manchin),
and a massive wealth gap between white, Black, and Latinx families. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A GOP takeover of the House and Senate after the
midterms would deal a devastating blow to human rights in the U.S. Over the
past year, SCOTUS’ singular mission to decimate church/state separation,
abortion rights and worker protections has been one of the most virulent
examples of Trump’s lasting legacy. The GOP threat of a national abortion ban
makes passage of amendments like Michigan’s and </span><a href="https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/1/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">California’s
Proposition 1</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> essential. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Proposition 1 would enshrine the “fundamental right”
to abortion and contraception into the state’s constitution, preventing future
administrations from restricting access to folks seeking reproductive care. It
would further cement California’s status as an abortion and reproductive health
care sanctuary state. Over the past few months, the state has proactively moved
to shield pregnant folks traveling to the state for abortion care from
surveillance and prosecution. It has encumbered funding for more clinics and
services, as well as expanded protections for trans youth. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">California Republicans have vilified Proposition 1’s
vagueness about “viability”; claiming that the law would permit late term
abortions well beyond the 24-week viability line delineated by the Supreme
Court under Roe. Doctors have pushed back on these characterizations, arguing
that “viability” is a loaded and essentially meaningless term when considering
the diverse circumstances of an individual pregnancy. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In May, <span style="background: white; color: #333333;">the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists removed the term
viability from </span></span><a href="https://www.acog.org/news/news-articles/2022/05/understanding-acog-policy-on-abortion"><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: #5076b8; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; padding: 0in;">its guidance on abortion</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">. As NPR notes, “The group explained that the
term has become so politicized that it barely has any medical meaning anymore,
and deciding whether and when to have an abortion should be left to the patient
and doctor.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">That said, opponents of
Proposition 1 have invoked the same dangerous anti-abortion propaganda that help
enshrine theocratic power, policing, and control over women, queer folks, their
families, and communities. Fortunately, 71% of California voters support Prop 1
but knowledge about its existence and implications remain limited among the
very Gen Z youth it would provide the most protection for now and in the future.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Indeed, political
education about the importance of unrestricted abortion and reproductive care is
especially critical in a state where the “fundamental right” to abortion may be
solidly protected but access is still inequitable across race and sexuality. For
example, although Black women are </span><a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/30/texas-abortion-black-women/"><span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">more likely to</span></a><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> utilize abortion care than non-Black women, Black girls across
sexuality are more likely to experience victim shaming, blaming, intimate
partner violence, gun violence, homelessness, low wage employment, and other physical,
economic, and social pressures when they become pregnant. They are less likely
to have access to a culturally competent medical provider while also
shouldering the burden of being caregivers and breadwinners at an early age.
The high rates of sexual and domestic violence victimization among Black girls make
them especially vulnerable to disparities in access to and information about
birth control, STI and STD prevention resources. Moreover, the prevalence of
domestic and intimate partner violence among Black women overall puts them at
greater risk of maternal and child homicide in situations with abusive partners.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The battle over
reproductive rights and reproductive justice is a clear and present danger to
BIPOC socioeconomic mobility. For far too long, full bodily autonomy has been
the province of an elite few. Elite control of bodily autonomy is the
foundation of white wealth in a capitalist, white supremacist, patriarchal, colonialist,
heterosexist, and ableist society. Gen Z BIPOC futures depend on dismantling these
regimes of power, authority, and control. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In a post-Roe society, state
constitutional amendments for reproductive freedom are a key step towards
reparations.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-19578608365706948842022-07-17T11:46:00.000-07:002022-07-17T11:46:23.381-07:00The Rainbow on the Highway and Preventing Suicide Among Black Girls<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: .1in; mso-outline-level: 1;"><b><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.2pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Helvetica; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNCCq-NdfV2c-ujP42NGnveDM7UuzN88fFMp2iCOqdOmF9pYPoMPBKe3N6bkh6yo7gBdO8rqhgcB0vg_13QudmjMrJij1yhqHv7fK2ktLO5T4_IVvqDrZ08CpB2WxAngQPNkQqnIibBkYfYrHmPVA9XY9iK9ntIAZtfQSyRaSc5smjGw01NdjPDC5f0Q/s5760/8O5A2069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: transparent; font-family: Georgia, serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3840" data-original-width="5760" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNCCq-NdfV2c-ujP42NGnveDM7UuzN88fFMp2iCOqdOmF9pYPoMPBKe3N6bkh6yo7gBdO8rqhgcB0vg_13QudmjMrJij1yhqHv7fK2ktLO5T4_IVvqDrZ08CpB2WxAngQPNkQqnIibBkYfYrHmPVA9XY9iK9ntIAZtfQSyRaSc5smjGw01NdjPDC5f0Q/w640-h426/8O5A2069.jpg" width="640" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: small;"><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>#Standing4BlackGirls 2021 Rally,
Leimert Park, L.A., Photo by BlueGreen</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By Sikivu Hutchinson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;">“I was
driving the №1 Highway in northern California and I was overcome by the
appearance of two parallel rainbows. I had a feeling of near-death or near
catastrophe. Then I drove through the rainbow and I went away…I put that
together to form the title.” </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ntozake_Shange" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Ntozake Shange</span></a>.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Poet, playwright, and activist Ntozake Shange’s 1975
“choreopoem” play <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Colored_Girls_Who_Have_Considered_Suicide_/_When_the_Rainbow_Is_Enuf#:~:text=Edit-,for%20colored%20girls%20who%20have%20considered%20suicide%20%2F%20when%20the%20rainbow,Shange%20coined%20as%20the%20choreopoem." target="_blank"><i><span style="color: blue;">for colored girls who have
considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf</span></i></a><i> </i>was a
landmark artistic acknowledgment of the mental health toll racism, sexism, and
domestic violence take on the lives of Black women. Shange reportedly considered
suicide four times before writing her seminal work. Her play was only the
second Black woman’s production to be featured on Broadway (after Lorraine
Hansberry’s 1959 smash <i>A</i> <i>Raisin in the Sun</i>). Decades
later, Black female suicide is still a third rail taboo in Black communities.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It is not difficult to see why. How many times have
Black folks heard that <a href="https://www.pbs.org/video/black-folk-dont-commit-suicide/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">“Black people don’t”</span></a> do certain things
because <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maiahoskin/2022/05/27/why-are-more-black-americans-committing-suicide/?sh=732388031224" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">only</span></a> crazy,
pathological white folks do these things? How many times have Black women, in
particular, <a href="https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/attach/journals/dec17socuisfeature.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">heard that</span></a> running to
the church, god, Jesus or faith are the most acceptable antidotes to
depression, self-doubt, and suicidal ideation because “god won’t give you more
than you can handle”? How many times have Black girls been gaslit into
believing that staying “prayed up” will make the pain and trauma of abuse
magically go away?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As an atheist and abuse survivor who has struggled with
depression and suicidal ideation, hearing the litany of things “Black people
don’t” do sends my bullshit detector into overdrive. The truth is, moralizing
about Black conformity hinders direct engagement with the mental health risks
and challenges we face — especially when it comes to addressing the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/well/mind/suicide-rates-black-girls.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">dramatic increase</span></a> in
suicide among Black girls. Aspiring psychologist and 19-year-old college
student Ashantee Polk notes that, “Suicide is simply not talked about in our
communities. So many Black women and girls of all ages are dealing with mental
health issues. They’re overlooked because we are supposed to be ‘strong’ and
we’re supposed to be able to endure what we go through.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The prevailing stereotype is that Black girls are
superwomen in training; strong, ultra-resilient, 24/7 <a href="https://www.asanet.org/sites/default/files/attach/journals/dec17socuisfeature.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">caregivers to everyone</span></a>, and
responsible for lifting up others at all costs. Fist-pumping memes and
affirmations that extol “Black Girl Magic” and “Black Women Saving the World”
may actually obscure the gravity of Black female depression. And, despite
increasing attention to Black women’s victimization, Black men and boys are
frequently prioritized in national discourse around violence and self-harm.
Picking up on these cues, Black girls often see that creative Black women, or
Black women who don’t conform to gender norms and expectations, are
marginalized, demonized, and ridiculed. The prevalence of these messages is
precisely the reason why rising rates of Black female suicide remain under the
radar.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://time.com/6144974/cheslie-kryst-black-american-suicide-misconceptions/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">According to</span></a> <i>Time</i> magazine,
“Suicide rates among white people in the U.S. declined from 2019 to 2020,
contributing to a 3% overall drop in suicide deaths in that time period. But
there were no statistically significant declines in suicide rates for Black
Americans or other Americans of color; in fact, for some racial or ethnic
groups, rates increased from 2019 to 2020. Among Black youth and young adults,
in particular, suicide rates have climbed steadily over the past two decades.”
From 2003–2019, suicide among Black girls <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/well/mind/suicide-black-kids.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">increased</span></a> by 59%. The
biggest increase <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/10/well/mind/suicide-rates-black-girls.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">occurred among</span></a> 12–14-year-old
girls.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What is
happening in this age group? Normalized sexual violence and sexual harassment
play a big role. Racist/sexist social media targeting, as well as an overall
lack of protection for Black girls experiencing gender violence in elementary
and middle school, are also factors. From a very early age, Black girls are
subjected to a steady drumbeat of anti-Black misogyny in mainstream media and
music. Glued to phones and tablets, Black girls are oversaturated with toxic
imagery that brands them as bitches, hos, and thots, along with a constantly
evolving array of sexists, colorist, body shaming, and victim-blaming epithets.
According to the Black Futures Lab 2019 census, African Americans overall are
also </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://blackcensus.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/When-The-Rainbow-Is-Not-Enough.pdf" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">more likely to identify</span></a><span style="color: black;"> as LGBTQ+ than non-Black folks (with a significant
portion represented by Gen Z and Millennials), thus, constant exposure to
homophobic and transphobic imagery and language are major stressors for Black
youth.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In addition, the pandemic has been especially traumatic
for Black girls who must shoulder the burdens of caregiving, schoolwork, jobs,
and surviving <a href="https://www.blackburncenter.org/post/2020/02/26/black-women-domestic-violence" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">rampant sexual and domestic abuse</span></a>. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/homicide-violence-against-black-women-us?CMP=share_btn_tw" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Rising rates</span></a> of gun
homicide among Black girls and women attest to this toll. Although homicide
rates <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/homicide-violence-against-black-women-us?CMP=share_btn_tw" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">rose by 30%</span></a> nationwide,
rates for Black women and girls increased by 33%. Writing on this issue in
the <i>Guardian, </i>Lois Beckett and Abene Clayton <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/25/homicide-violence-against-black-women-us?CMP=share_btn_tw" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">note</span></a> that these stats
represent “a sharper increase than for every demographic except Black men, and
more than double that of white women.” Living in communities where gun
homicide, domestic abuse, and police violence are pervasive, there are often
few outlets that provide safe spaces for Black girls.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">High rates of suicide and homicide are symptoms of the
same structural inequities and vulnerabilities. As <i>Essence </i>magazine
notes, “According to the American Psychological Association, African American
teenage girls surpass their White and Hispanic counterparts in suicide
attempts…” Yet, some of the subject experts cited in <i>Essence,
Time, </i>and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/well/mind/suicide-black-kids.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">other</span></a> publications do
not explicitly highlight how racialized <i>gender</i> disparities
inform increasing suicide rates among Black girls (a 2021 Therapy for Black
Girls <a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub21ueWNvbnRlbnQuY29tL2QvcGxheWxpc3QvZTczYzk5OGUtNmU2MC00MzJmLTg2MTAtYWUyMTAxNDBjNWIxLzJhMjJhYzA0LTBlYjQtNGFhZC04ZGMyLWFlMjcwMTc5ZWZiOS8yZDQyZDg5Yy00OTYyLTQ3NjAtYTYxNi1hZTI3MDE3OWVmZDUvcG9kY2FzdC5yc3M/episode/YjIyNGRkZjItZmE1Yy0xMWViLWFhYWMtOGY0NzQzY2FhNDdl?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjQh6PazfT4AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">podcast</span></a> featuring Drs.
Jeanette Wade and Michelle Vance is an important exception). Instead, they
consistently identify racial injustice, trauma, and poverty as the most salient
factors.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This is problematic. If evaluations of Black female
trauma are not intersectional then prevention, intervention, treatment, and
recovery become even more difficult. Culturally responsive resources and safe
spaces that are specifically (and unapologetically) tailored to meet the needs
of Black girls are critical. Queer safe spaces such as <a href="https://gsanetwork.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">GSA
clubs</span></a> have been <a href="https://www.glsen.org/research/black-lgbtq-students" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">proven to provide youth </span></a>with greater
motivation to stay in school, graduate, and go on to college and careers.
Similarly, gender and racial justice-oriented campus and community
organizations that promote civic engagement, activism, mentoring, wellbeing,
professional development, college readiness, and career paths can provide safe
spaces to combat depression and isolation among Black girls in particular and
Black youth in general.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In a statement decrying the rise in Black adolescent
suicide, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry <a href="https://www.aacap.org/AACAP/Policy_Statements/2022/AACAP_Policy_Statement_Increased_Suicide_Among_Black_Youth_US.aspx" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">recommends</span></a> “advocating
for increased investments in programs that build a more culturally competent
and minority-representative pediatric health care workforce”. Truth be told,
the majority of Black youth receive mental health care at school from social
workers and counselors when they receive it all. In many school districts,
access to a psychiatric social worker is a crapshoot due to high student-to-practitioner
ratios and policies that stigmatize Black youth as violent and criminal<b>.</b> This
is why wellness <a href="https://womensleadershipla.org/2021-1-4-standing4blackgirls-wellness-initiative-group-and-individual-therapy-for-black-girls-and-femmes/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">initiatives</span></a> that
provide Black girls and Black gender expansive youth with therapy from
culturally competent, BIPOC womanist, feminist, queer-affirming, and
trauma-informed practitioners are an essential element of suicide prevention
care. Informal friend, family, and mentor networks that “lead with love’,
compassion, and joy” can provide Black girls across sexuality with
opportunities to vent, reflect, and connect around shared life experiences are
critically important.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Suicide and suicidal ideation among Black girls should
be responded to holistically, utilizing a multi-pronged approach to wellness
that ensures elementary, middle, and high school-aged Black girls don’t bear
the brunt of normalized misogynoir and adultification. As 20-year-old <a href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Women’s Leadership Project</span></a> peer educator and
activist <a href="https://womensleadershipla.org/2021-6-7-where-is-the-outrage-for-femicide/">Jadyn
Taylor</a> argues, “We cannot handle everything the world throws at us,
including prejudice, gender inequality, and stereotypes, with a smile on our
faces and a pat on the back. We need mental health care and a system set in
place for young Black girls struggling with depression. If we cannot speak
about our mental health issues at home then where are we supposed to get help
for free ourselves? Start paying attention to Black girls and listen when we
speak because we may be begging for help without saying ‘Help’”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*<a href="https://988lifeline.org/" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: blue;">On Saturday, July 16th, the National Suicide Prevention
Lifeline will transition to 988</span></i></a>, offering 24/7 mental health
crisis support nationwide<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><b><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mental Health Resources for African American Girls and
Young Women</span></b><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://therapyforblackgirls.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Black Girls Smile</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://womensleadershipla.org/2021-1-4-standing4blackgirls-wellness-initiative-group-and-individual-therapy-for-black-girls-and-femmes/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">#Standing4BlackGirls Wellness
Initiative</span></a>, provides free individual therapy for Black girls and
gender expansive youth in L.A. County. The founding organization <a href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Women’s Leadership Project</span></a> is a Black
feminist mentoring and civic engagement program for BIPOC girls of color and
LGBTQ+ youth<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.wellnessactionrecovery.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Wellness Action Recovery</span></a> South
Carolina-based suicide prevention nonprofit fun by Black female suicide
survivor Fonda Bryant<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="http://www.sadienash.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Sadie Nash Leadership Project</span></a> provides
award-winning experiential social justice education to over 500 young women
and <a href="https://hrc-prod-requests.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/national-dinner/images/general/Gender-expansive-youth-report-final.pdf?focal=none&mtime=20200713125712" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">gender-expansive youth</span></a> in
New York City and Newark<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://therapyforblackgirls.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Therapy for Black Girls</span></a> provides
national resources for therapy, counseling, and outreach in addition to a
mental health blog and podcast<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub21ueWNvbnRlbnQuY29tL2QvcGxheWxpc3QvZTczYzk5OGUtNmU2MC00MzJmLTg2MTAtYWUyMTAxNDBjNWIxLzJhMjJhYzA0LTBlYjQtNGFhZC04ZGMyLWFlMjcwMTc5ZWZiOS8yZDQyZDg5Yy00OTYyLTQ3NjAtYTYxNi1hZTI3MDE3OWVmZDUvcG9kY2FzdC5yc3M/episode/YjIyNGRkZjItZmE1Yy0xMWViLWFhYWMtOGY0NzQzY2FhNDdl?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahcKEwjQh6PazfT4AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAQ" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">What’s Missing from the Conversation
about Black Women and Suicide</span></a> with Dr. Jeannette Wade and Dr.
Michelle Vance, whose work centers on suicide research & intervention among
Black women and girls.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/suandria-hall-englewood-co/293939" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Secular Therapy with Suandria Hall</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/06/28/well/mind/children-mental-health.html?shared=1" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">How to Talk to a Child Who is
Struggling</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 14.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-90602818521457597742022-06-17T07:28:00.000-07:002022-06-17T07:28:10.813-07:00Rock 'n' Roll Heretics on Stage: Black Women and Liberation<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoRYaTuOhDanWy6tKJjfsvHDGHitB5nMPrKUFrng6OXRDCDuZYI67Xj70xb9pds1E3Xc-IyZAcHPbLjpa89s1Lm5-t-mZar-10ks9gadgk5IHEX2EQnimXSHkGLoRa9_RiMRbp5acWQ1iZhXbw-dIRS2Ju0hBXFPp4IZPPL0eWue5GnBENX55TZ810mw/s1696/Dr.H%20Reheasrsal_-12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1333" data-original-width="1696" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoRYaTuOhDanWy6tKJjfsvHDGHitB5nMPrKUFrng6OXRDCDuZYI67Xj70xb9pds1E3Xc-IyZAcHPbLjpa89s1Lm5-t-mZar-10ks9gadgk5IHEX2EQnimXSHkGLoRa9_RiMRbp5acWQ1iZhXbw-dIRS2Ju0hBXFPp4IZPPL0eWue5GnBENX55TZ810mw/w400-h315/Dr.H%20Reheasrsal_-12.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Calibri",sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><b>The
cast of <i>Rock 'n Roll Heretic: A Black Women's Play and Demi-Musical</i>. Left to
right: Phillip McNair, JC Cadena, Phillip Sokoloff, Janine Lancaster, Patti
Henley, Brenda Lee Eager, Dina Catalid, Ashlee Olivia and Alma Schofield.<br />Photo by Zorrie Petrus</b></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>By Sikivu Hutchinson</p><p>It’s “Black Music Month”, and, in a parallel Juneteenth universe, Black folks would be given reparations for the looted labor of all the Black artists whose musical innovation powered the multi billion-dollar empires of white rock icons like Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones. From blues to rock, R&B and beyond, early twentieth century working class Southern Black musicians were the backbone of the modern American music industry, yet they did not reap anywhere near the same benefits as white appropriators.</p><!-- wp:paragraph -->
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>On June 24<sup>th</sup>, yet another <a href="https://elvis.warnerbros.com/">Elvis biopic </a>will drop in theaters, reminding Black folks of Presley’s <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-truth-about-elvis-and-the-history-of-racism-in-rock">role</a> in this insidious history of white minstrelsy and theft. Elvis was one of the many admirers and imitators of Black queer blues, rock, and gospel innovator <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/08/24/544226085/forebears-sister-rosetta-tharpe-the-godmother-of-rock-n-roll">Rosetta Tharpe</a>. Tharpe pioneered electric distortion (for further information, see Jimi Hendrix’s immortal perfection of this technique) back in the 1930s and was a major figure in gospel music before Black audiences rejected her for going “secular”. Her career and musical legacy are the inspiration for my play and “demi-musical” <em><a href="https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/7400">Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic</a></em>, which debuts at the <a href="https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/">Hollywood Fringe Festival</a> on June 24<sup>th</sup> (and is adapted from my 2021 <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rock-Roll-Heretic-Times-Tharpe/dp/0578852365/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1655222774&sr=1-1">novel</a> of the same name).</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:image {"id":391192,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"none"} -->
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img alt="" class="wp-image-391192" src="https://onlysky.media/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/rosetta-tharpe-london.jpg" /><figcaption>Rosetta Tharpe in Manchester, England, 1964</figcaption></figure>
<!-- /wp:image -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>The play tackles the issue of Black women’s creativity in the midst of rock music industry indifference, <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/music/black-female-guitarists-get-real-about-how-the-music-industry-views-them-7938899">racism, sexism</a>, ageism, and homophobia. It features original music by my band <a href="https://www.instagram.com/distantengines/">Distant Engines</a> and sung by R&B legends <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Lee_Eager">Brenda Lee Eager</a> (who has composed songs performed by Prince and a host of other music icons) and <a href="http://www.soulsistersofficial.com/">Patti Henley</a>. Actress-guitarist Alma Schofield leads as Rory Tharpe, who is loosely based on Rosetta. </p><p>Historically, Black women rockers were never allowed the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/how-racism-pushed-tina-turner-and-other-black-women-artists-out-of-america">freedom and latitude</a> white males were. Like most Black musicians during the 1960s British Invasion era, they were shoehorned into the less lucrative and “universal” category of R&B. They were often cheated out of their royalties, publishing rights, and master recordings, while seeing their work and stylings ripped off by lesser white artists.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>In the play, Rory Tharpe is pushing sixty, lives hand to mouth on the road, has her music and stylings widely appropriated by white culture vultures but has no recording contract and doesn't own her publishing rights. She battles alcohol addiction and the trauma of sexual violence in her past while trying to maintain a band. Within American literature, the “road”—as metaphor for self-exploration, abjection, and redemption—has frequently been the province of white men and white patriarchy. Jack Kerouac’s infamous road novel <em>On the Road</em> marked the genre as hyper-masculine. Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic seeks to disrupt these tropes by focusing squarely on a working Black female queer musician with no benefits, no job protection, and diminished expectations from a white-dominated industry that was built on the backs of Black early twentieth century Southern blues rock innovators such as Tharpe, Charley Patton, Son House, Mamie Smith, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, and Memphis Minnie. Raised in the Southern Black blues tradition of visionary guitar artistry, Rory is a survivor of sexual abuse in the Black church and an “infidel” who rejects the Pentecostal traditions she was raised in. </p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:image {"id":391191,"sizeSlug":"full","linkDestination":"none"} -->
<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img alt="" class="wp-image-391191" src="https://onlysky.media/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Cruz-and-Rory.jpg" /><figcaption>Rory (Alma Schofield, right) with her lover, Cruz (JC Cadena)</figcaption></figure>
<!-- /wp:image -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p><em>Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic</em> is one of the few Hollywood Fringe ensemble pieces to be written, produced, and directed by a Black woman with a predominantly Black female cast. In many regards, the production mirrors the issues Rory grapples with in the music industry. Black women producers, managers, and technicians are few and far between. And Black women musicians are often preyed on, exploited, and discriminated against by male corporate players. White gatekeeping in both the American theater and music industries prevent Black women and women of color creatives from attaining the same professional status, pay, and longevity as their male counterparts. Black women who defy artistic genres and musical conventions are at an even greater disadvantage. Commenting on this theme vis-à-vis Tina Turner’s career, playwright Katori Hall, author of the book for “Tina Turner: The Musical”, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/arts/how-racism-pushed-tina-turner-and-other-black-women-artists-out-of-america">noted</a> that both she and Turner found the greatest success and critical acclaim when they took their work overseas.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->
<!-- wp:paragraph -->
<p>Segregated marketing, promotion, and distribution played a big role in obscuring the black roots of rock music. White-dominated rock criticism also reinforced these disparities. Most rock criticism was and is <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-world-needs-female-rock-critics" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank"> dominated</a> by urban white males. The rock criticism “establishment” was also a key factor in the whitening of rock music and the marginalization of women musicians (one need look no further than Rolling Stones’ popular <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/100-greatest-guitarists-153675/">100 greatest guitarist</a> list, which has no women of color and only a few white women on it). White male rock critics subscribed to an <a href="https://blackagendareport.com/how_rock_became_white" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">evolutionary</a> notion of rock which venerated African American rock pioneers for their early “primitive” contributions to the genre while privileging white musicians’ “refinement” and “innovation” of the form during the 60s and 70s. In an interview with <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/author/sara-hailemariam" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Sarah Haile Mariam</a> of <em>She Shreds</em> magazine, 77 year-old blues guitarist Beverly Watkins alludes to the long history of black women <a href="http://sheshredsmag.com/beverly-watkins/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">playing</a> blues guitar in the Jim Crow South. Nonetheless, in commercial rock and R&B most black women were singers, pianists or tambourine players but <a href="http://www.laweekly.com/music/black-female-guitarists-get-real-about-how-the-music-industry-views-them-7938899">never guitarists</a>. Here, Black women were pigeonholed as either hypersexualized “soul singer” Jezebels while rock guitar virtuosity was the province of white males. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eYz1wZ8g5qI" width="320" youtube-src-id="eYz1wZ8g5qI"></iframe></div><br /><p>This form of erasure becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If Black girls <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYz1wZ8g5qI">don’t see</a> Black women playing rock guitar it reinforces their exclusion from the “rarefied” realm of traditionally “male” musical instruments and genres (Google “rock music” and it’s virtually wall-to-wall white males). The play comments on this by way of the character “Sid”, who portrays a young African American girl who carries a tape recorder with her at all times. The tape recorder is a means of witnessing every day history and memorializing her own existence. It provides her with a small form of agency in a world where Black girls voices are silenced and Black cultural production is often stolen and commodified for white commercial consumption.</p><p><i>Rock 'n' Roll Heretics: The Play and Demi-Musical runs at the Hollywood Fringe Festival on June 24th and 26th. <a href="https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/7400">Tickets and info</a></i></p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph -->Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-27221430559582724572022-06-02T08:12:00.001-07:002022-06-02T08:14:17.278-07:00The Future of Black Wealth and L.A.'s Mayor Race<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhozAoHKxGypXpAVT9P9BVuBO14UrSY6oKlzR_WUw_xNjnpVBBJwqBgwyJdGPntHOE33i-GKjlz7rtdvkAlQVIleugma0zjb50yF3GnC7JmTOKl625Hoc0gJv-UxXU1sUrjJIAqrcQa8m77WaGYjqkF7EpcDrUlVvyFeZaWpqoRX6XO2UMrPB4k9QO10Q/s1400/1_Vns-De7QPqCOdLMSMq0yew.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="933" data-original-width="1400" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhozAoHKxGypXpAVT9P9BVuBO14UrSY6oKlzR_WUw_xNjnpVBBJwqBgwyJdGPntHOE33i-GKjlz7rtdvkAlQVIleugma0zjb50yF3GnC7JmTOKl625Hoc0gJv-UxXU1sUrjJIAqrcQa8m77WaGYjqkF7EpcDrUlVvyFeZaWpqoRX6XO2UMrPB4k9QO10Q/s320/1_Vns-De7QPqCOdLMSMq0yew.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">By Sikivu Hutchinson</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">For the past few months, billionaire Rick Caruso has been hijacking L.A.’s mayoral race, ramping up his law and order fearmongering message with a mega boost from the Police Protective League. Through an Independent Expenditure designation, the League has raised millions for attack ads smearing Congresswoman Karen Bass as corrupt, while questioning her commitment to fighting crime. The divisive race has already been sullied by Caruso’s multi-million dollar investment in wall-to-wall Youtube, TV and social media ads that have now been seen by every person with a pulse in L.A. County. Caruso’s oligarchic wealth, white patriarch arrogance, and checkbook politics have already been blasted by many community and civic leaders of color. His power grab is not unprecedented. L.A. has suffered through one rich white entrepreneur with the election of Richard Riordan’s in the 90s and the legacy election of former City Attorney James Hahn (whose dead father’s name propelled him to victory) in the 2000s.</span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ig ih ii ij b ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je ib gj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="3b06" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The Police Protective League’s smear campaign is yet another assault in a race that has been tarnished by finger pointing and distraction from the bread and butter issues that directly impact L.A.’s predominantly BIPOC and impoverished communities. While folks commemorated the thirtieth anniversary of the 1992 L.A. Uprising (set off by the acquittal of the four white police officers accused of beating Rodney King) last month, the question of the continuing decline of Black wealth was barely broached. Nationwide, Black homeownership has fallen off a cliff. Black homeownership rates are now lower than during the Brown vs. Board era in the 1950s. According to a recent L.A. Times <a class="au jr" href="https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2022-04-29/south-la-economy-stagnates-30-years-after-riots" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">report</a>, Black employment and income rates have stagnated. Black folks in historically Black South L.A. (now a figment of the past due to the influx of Latinx, white, and Asian residents) are unable to buy even the most “modest” 1600 square feet single family homes (which have skyrocketed to one million plus) in neighborhoods they grew up in. There is a nearly $50,000 gap between Black and white incomes in South L.A. and an approximately $55,000 gap between Black South L.A. residents and white residents countywide. The unemployment rate for African Americans in South L.A. is 12%, while it is 9% for Blacks overall and 6% overall.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ig ih ii ij b ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je ib gj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="26e1" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">These bleak figures are buttressed by the continued exclusion of African American workers from higher paying professional and managerial jobs. While white and non-Black workers have experienced marked gains in private and public sector management, Black workers, and Black women especially, are grossly underrepresented. Indeed, a <a class="au jr" href="https://lacontroller.org/audits-and-reports/diversitywithequity" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">2020 report</a> by the L.A. City Controller identified an egregious pay gap between white male and Black female workers, one which only widened as Black women grew older. According to a 2017 L.A. Black Worker Center <a class="au jr" href="https://www.wiblacity.org/images/reports/UCLA-Labor-Center_BlackWorkersinLACounty_report_March2017.pdf" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">report</a>, Black workers with a high school diploma or less education experience unemployment at almost double the rate as white workers at the same educational level. As the report notes, “o<span class="ij js" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-weight: 700;">ver half of Black workers are employed in frontline, entry-level jobs such as floor positions and non-supervisory positions, and office work, administrative or clerical positions, which is a higher rate than white workers.” Black workers continue to experience a last hired first fired scenario, being “in senior positions at lower rates than white workers.”</span></p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ig ih ii ij b ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je ib gj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="682a" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">At the same time, one in ten Black workers with college degrees are unemployed, while Black youth continue to have the <a class="au jr" href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2021/08/09/julys-jobs-report-shows-black-teens-struggling-with-the-highest-unemployment-rate/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">highest rate</a> of youth unemployment, as well as <a class="au jr" href="https://www.bradyunited.org/issue/gun-violence-is-a-racial-justice-issue" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">gun homicides</a>. This perfect storm of Black wage stagnation and violence has gutted Black intergenerational wealth. As fewer Black folks can afford homes they are being pushed into homelessness, forced to double and triple up in rentals or move outside of L.A. County.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ig ih ii ij b ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je ib gj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="76e2" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">In order to confront these disparities, the next mayor will need to move beyond empty “we see you” platitudes and provide concrete remedies for redress. These remedies must include permanent supportive housing AND targeted mortgage assistance for Black homebuyers who have been priced out of traditionally Black neighborhoods, as well as investment in community land trusts, creation of youth centers for recreation, enrichment, professional development, mental health, and social-emotional learning are mandatory for Black neighborhood revitalization. For example, the Hyde Park neighborhood of South L.A. has no accessible youth centers near its feeder Horace Mann Middle School and embattled Crenshaw High School campus (Mann is adjacent to the blighted Florence Avenue corridor which has more cannabis dispensaries, storefront churches and boarded up buildings than recreational spaces for youth). Community frustration with the lack of development and accountability was reflected in a recent L.A. County town hall budget discussion meeting with Second District Supervisor Holly Mitchell’s office. Stakeholders pushed for dedicated community services facilities, reentry services, and mental health resources — all catch as catch can in some areas of vacant-lot-rich and park poor South L.A. where the Great Migration-era Black California dream has become a nightmare, aided and abetted by complicit politicians of all ethnicities.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ig ih ii ij b ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je ib gj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="b24e" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Congresswoman Bass has <a class="au jr" href="https://karenbass.com/policies/business-and-jobs/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">pledged</a> to expand opportunities for small and minority-owned businesses, create green jobs, and develop more robust job/professional partnerships between the LAUSD and community colleges and universities. Mayoral candidate and community organizer <a class="au jr" href="https://ginaforla.com/about-gina/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Gina Viola</a> has proposed defunding the LAPD and diverting more funding to health care, jobs, and housing, while pushing for a $39 minimum wage. Mayoral candidate and L.A. City Councilperson <a class="au jr" href="https://www.kevindeleon.com/issues/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Kevin de Leon</a> has proposed adding 25,000 housing units by the year 2025, expanding mental health services, and enlisting reserve officers.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ig ih ii ij b ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je ib gj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="9e44" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">None of the candidates cite policies that specifically deal with racialized gender inequities and gender violence experienced by Black women and other women of color (Bass does reference expanding access to child care). And it’s important to emphasize that the epidemic of gun violence is also an epidemic of toxic masculinity and patriarchy, which has insidious implications for racial, gender, and economic justice. Yet, these issues are not explicitly addressed in the candidates’ platforms. Nationwide, despite the rise of #MeToo and the heightened assault on reproductive rights, there is seemingly little political will to disrupt deeply entrenched regimes of sexist power, authority, and control.</p><p class="pw-post-body-paragraph ig ih ii ij b ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc jd je ib gj" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="1044" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 20px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The next mayor of L.A. must be prepared to step up, work with Black social justice <em class="jt" style="box-sizing: inherit;">and</em> gender justice coalitions, push L.A. County’s workforce and economic development behemoth (which is flush with <a class="au jr" href="https://ceo.lacounty.gov/recovery/arpa/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">American Rescue Plan dollars</a>), and provide concrete remedies to the continued economic disenfranchisement of Black folks. Congresswoman Bass' long track record with building social justice coalitions in South L.A, and fighting for civil rights and women's rights nationwide, makes her uniquely positioned to do this job.</p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-4705773159189536892022-05-19T15:28:00.000-07:002022-05-19T15:28:53.765-07:00Uplifting Black Community in Buffalo, Defeating White Terror in Amerikkka<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCL01d9tDUYqqVgntiRGDN9U3v_nvEw2q-AjopJdH6g3c-H2_CoiLTlbS2dxo871dKb1NmP9J3q7SjvFAcYpyvbfaIzjf-wCIm32ymQ8d6mlKu2DwDhDZLrbUIXBdIOm-TmZ2xZcTiyg5_XFy7VX0TCOuzXl-wn4Itilsd4zKIlE3h39nWrajudHbHIg/s780/220517110735-20220517-buffalo-shooting-victims-exlarge-169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="438" data-original-width="780" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCL01d9tDUYqqVgntiRGDN9U3v_nvEw2q-AjopJdH6g3c-H2_CoiLTlbS2dxo871dKb1NmP9J3q7SjvFAcYpyvbfaIzjf-wCIm32ymQ8d6mlKu2DwDhDZLrbUIXBdIOm-TmZ2xZcTiyg5_XFy7VX0TCOuzXl-wn4Itilsd4zKIlE3h39nWrajudHbHIg/s320/220517110735-20220517-buffalo-shooting-victims-exlarge-169.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By Sikivu Hutchinson<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">They came to the Tops grocery store in Buffalo to do the
everyday ordinary rituals that are the unseen backbone of Black families and
communities everywhere; Sunday food shopping across generations. Quick trips
for a certain dinner or dessert item. Showing care in an environment that is
often the preserve of women entrusted with cooking day in and day out. Giving shout
outs to familiar faces in an establishment that was <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/05/19/1099833194/buffalo-shooting-shuttered-tops-food-desert-locals-help">hard
fought and hard won</a> due to racial segregation and legacies of
anti-blackness. Moments later, this normalcy was shattered, their lives snuffed
out by a white predator terrorist who had methodically plotted to massacre
Black folks on social media for months. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/15/us/buffalo-shooting-victims-what-we-know/index.html">Roberta
A. Drury, 32, Margus D. Morrison, 52, Andre Mackniel, 53, Aaron Salter, 55, Geraldine
Talley, 62, Celestine Chaney, 65, Heyward Patterson, 67, Katherine Massey, 72, Pearl
Young, 77 and Ruth Whitfield, 86</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These beloved family and community members are
being grieved and celebrated by </span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">African
American communities across the nation, reeling from the unspeakable pain and trauma
of unrelenting anti-blackness. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Jillian
Hanesworth, Buffalo’s poet laureate, <a href="https://t.co/xOoan2c7hj">said
recently</a>, “</span><span style="color: #0f1419; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">So many people hate us just because we exist, and we experience
that at different levels on a daily basis. We can't let society gaslight us
into thinking that there's no racism</span>.”<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: 8.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The terrorist pulled the trigger, but the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/community-mourns-victims-buffalo-supermarket-shooting-rcna28935">ten
Black massacre victims</a> are also victims of the white supremacist nationalist
hate propaganda and NRA regime relentlessly promoted by the GOP. Their blood is
on its hands.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Pearl Young was a substitute teacher and ran a food
pantry. Celestine Chaney was a grandmother and a breast cancer survivor. Aaron
Salter was a security guard, a former Buffalo police officer and a hero who tried
to stop the murderer. Robert Drury was a caregiver to a brother who had
leukemia. Deacon Heyward Patterson provided transportation to folks who needed
to get to the store. Margus Morrison was a bus aid. Geraldine Talley was an
avid baker and mom. Andre Mackniel was a dad, brother, and uncle who was simply
there that afternoon to buy his three year-old son a birthday cake. Katherine “Kat”
Massey was a longtime <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/16/nyregion/katherine-massey-buffalo-victim.html">activist-journalist</a>
and<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"> member of the Black women’s
group, “We Are Women Warriors”. She was also a former block club president and
prolific letter writer</span>. Massey worked tirelessly to improve her Cherry
Street <span style="background: white; color: #2a2a2a;">neighborhood. As a result, the
community has a mural and tree plantings in its front yards. </span>Last year, she
<a href="https://buffalonews.com/opinion/letters/letter-federal-legislation-must-address-gun-issue/article_e54506ce-be3b-11eb-83f4-038613ca28dd.html">wrote
a letter</a> calling for more gun control in her community. She highlighted the
deadly role that ghost guns and illegally trafficked firearms played in the
uptick of neighborhood shootings. In the same letter, she ironically decried
the overemphasis on universal background checks and assault weapons bans, which
she viewed as a less effective remedy for urban gun violence. She also alluded
to the fact that fear and anxiety over the imminent threat of gun violence in Black
neighborhoods is a form of normalized trauma.<span style="background: white; color: #222222;"> <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">In this social media
warped culture of instant gratification, letter writing has become a lost art. Massey’s
letter writing ranged from spotlighting social justice issues to her favorite
television shows. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Her friend and fellow
community activist Betty Jean Grant noted that, </span><span style="background: white; color: #363636; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“She was in love with the community and she loved Black
people. She would fight for anybody, without a doubt.”</span> Massey was part
of a long tradition of Black women activist-journalists who built on Ida B.
Wells’ legacy of leadership and service. These elders from the “race women” generation
are more invested in giving back by mentoring younger writers than in seeing
their latest piece go viral on social media. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Indeed, as more local print papers die on the
vine, writing for regional publications like Massey did is also a figment of
the past. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #363636; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Since the massacre, there
have been renewed calls for tougher gun legislation, as well as crackdowns on and
surveillance of white supremacist groups. The terrorist murderer spewed his
racist “replacement theory” shit manifesto and shared his horrific plans with
others on Twitch, Discord, and 4chan. He is part of a long line of white supremacist
terrorists who have effectively been given carte blanche due to the passivity
of the federal government, the stranglehold the NRA has on gun control, the influence
of de facto terrorist cells like Fox and Newsmax, and the complicity of social
media corporations who aid and abet terrorist hate by looking the other way. Gun
legislation and penalties for terrorist hate groups are critical to redressing
this nightmare, but there must also be continued <a href="https://www.diverseeducation.com/home/article/15288854/scholars-assess-the-backlash-against-the-teaching-of-critical-race-theory">pushback
against</a> right wing efforts to dismantle anti-racist education. These racist,
sexist, homophobic and transphobic views on the Internet are emblematic of the
erasure of BIPOC, queer and women’s history that K-12 youth encounter every day.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #363636; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Citizen journalist Katherine
Massey and all of the other Black women and men who were ripped from us at Tops
last week were the oft unheralded movers and shakers who power our communities
through their kindness, compassion, empathy, and sense of “ubuntu” or shared
humanity and collectivity. A sick white terrorist lyncher will never be able to
negate that.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: #363636; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; color: #363636; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Verified
donor contributions to the families of the victims can be made <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/c/act/buffalo-mass-shooting-fundraisers?pc=CR_social&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=bcgfm_CR_buffalo-mass-shooting-fundraisers#section-2">here</a>.
Donations to the family of Andre Mackniel, who leaves behind a three year-old
son, can be made <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-for-tracey-and-aj">here</a>.</span></i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-59739127309378415402021-12-23T10:12:00.000-08:002021-12-23T10:12:22.257-08:00Sapphire Unbound: The Radical Imagination of bell hooks<p><span style="background-color: #ffe7fe; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;"><span style="font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, Times New Roman, Times, serif;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinD9k83uzqDlObyQti6gC5520RdazPIiz6HXcNWJGFCLW0NOhZfHNU6Klvt7ZAc-5KTzvjhf4hs9cGR-KZkDzWHNA46rOYA3vO4EPdfMEJmvZksZgGpIO9OvfeUAKTv4bgbkHMncISz6Epc98NFBd2jXRhpAXP0PAulsNpwLF9d_puFyG92te5CdWxCg=s1400" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="933" data-original-width="1400" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinD9k83uzqDlObyQti6gC5520RdazPIiz6HXcNWJGFCLW0NOhZfHNU6Klvt7ZAc-5KTzvjhf4hs9cGR-KZkDzWHNA46rOYA3vO4EPdfMEJmvZksZgGpIO9OvfeUAKTv4bgbkHMncISz6Epc98NFBd2jXRhpAXP0PAulsNpwLF9d_puFyG92te5CdWxCg=w640-h426" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">WLP alumni Imani Moses at #Standing4BlackGirls L.A. 2021 rally against rape culture and sexual violence (photo credit: BlueGreen)</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">By Sikivu Hutchinson</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Driving L.A.’s cesspit 405 freeway one afternoon in
the late eighties, a voice on the radio punched out at me like a bolt from the blue.
It was high-pitched and commanding, testifying to “dirty laundry” truths on
sexism, victim-shaming, and Black patriarchy that Black women weren’t “supposed”
to speak in public. It was a voice that calmly gave no quarter, straight up,
with the lilt of a schoolroom griot. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Discovering bell hooks’ work and voice in the twilight of the terrorist Reagan-Bush regime was a revelation. She trafficked in irreverent, daring, give no fucks language that was alternately tender and nurturing, swaggering and pugilistic. Her devotion to writing as radical resistance rocked my then twentysomething self, scribbling half-aborted stories in grubby journals; always insecure about their worth, always weathering rejection after rejection by white (and, sometimes, Black) gatekeepers, always pissing deep into the void of self-doubt and debt.</span></p><p class="ig ih do ij b en ik il im eq in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc dg el" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5ef3" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">hooks’ dogged championing of Black women’s writerly self-determination in the midst of caregiving and self-sacrifice was one of many unapologetically Black feminist middle fingers she gave to respectability politics. The first pages of her 1989 book <a class="bu jd" href="https://www.routledge.com/Talking-Back-Thinking-Feminist-Thinking-Black/hooks/p/book/9781138821736" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"><em class="ii" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black</em></a> explore her ambivalence about being raised in a working class Southern Black family where her voracious literary interests, skepticism, and poker in the eye questioning were a source of pride and tension. Coming to voice, she reflects on how young Black girls were not recognized as rightful heirs to Black charismatic oral traditions dominated by men. As a child growing up in rural Kentucky, she reveled in women’s talk, for, it was in “this world of loud talk, angry words, women with tongues quick and sharp…touching our world with their words, that I made speech my birthright — and the right to voice, to authorship, a privilege I would not be denied. It was in that world and because of it that I came to dream of writing.” In these highly gendered spaces of Black verbal performance, “punishments for (certain) acts of speech seemed endless. They were intended to silence me — the child — and more particularly, the girl child. Had I been a boy, they might have encouraged me to speak believing that I might be called to preach…Madness, not just physical abuse, was the punishment for too much talk if you were female.”</p><p class="ig ih do ij b en ik il im eq in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc dg el" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="2c3c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Blasting the charmed, privileged existences of white male canonical writers, she noted that their success was undoubtedly due to having unsung, unseen women partners cook, clean, and care for them and their children. By contrast, Black women writers could never be lone wolf artistic “geniuses” because of the constant demands made on their time by family, jobs, the church, and “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy”. <span style="background-color: transparent;">hooks’ coinage of this term laid bare the intersections of structural oppression, trauma, and disenfranchisement that Black women routinely experience in public and private spaces. Her fierce commitment to truth-telling, no matter how ugly, painful, or in-your-face subversive of sacred cows like Black patriarchy was a gold standard for Gen X Black feminist writers. Coming to voice as survivors in the post civil rights movement era, we were told that allegiance to Black men, Black patriarchy, and Christian religious mores were more important for furthering the race than our own self-determination. Hooks’ tireless critiques of the ways sexism, misogynoir, and Black folks’ investment in patriarchy undermined Black liberation were foundational for our understanding of how these disparities played out in real life. Throughout her vast body of work, she amplified the ways Black women’s bodies were commodified for capitalist consumption, power, and control. She spoke bravely of her own victimization in a violent relationship, and the silence and shame she endured disrupting the narrative of the strong, indomitable Black woman in the midst of her trauma. Long before language acknowledging victim-blaming and shaming entered mainstream discourse with the #MeToo movement, hooks broke down how toxic myths of Black Jezebel hypersexuality and Black Mammy asexuality enabled the erasure of Black women’s specific experiences with domestic violence.</span></p><p></p><p class="ig ih do ij b en ik il im eq in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc dg el" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="6f7c" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Hooks was part of a rich tradition of Black feminist and womanist writers who did this essential labor. She relished her mission as a prolific writer who insisted on Black women’s “birthright” of unfettered speech — big name publishers, ivy league universities, and celebrity influencers be damned. She championed liberating feminist education and praxis from the stranglehold of colleges and universities. Her call that <a class="bu jd" href="https://www.plutobooks.com/blog/feminism-is-for-everybody-bell-hooks/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">“feminism is for everybody”</a> was a powerful acknowledgment that K-12 youth of all genders needed feminist education to understand and combat the direct impact institutional racism, sexism, and heterosexism had on their lives.</p><figure class="hm hn ho hp hq hr cs ct paragraph-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px auto 0px;"><div class="cs ct je" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 400px;"><div class="jk s hu jl" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; box-sizing: inherit; margin: auto; position: relative;"><div class="jm jn s" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 0px; padding-bottom: 372px;"><div class="jf jg t u v jh aj at ji jj" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 372px; left: 0px; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 0px; transform: translateZ(0px); transition: opacity 100ms ease 400ms; width: 400px; will-change: transform;"><img alt="" class="t u v jh aj jo jp re vu" height="372" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/60/1*mrBUm9tN1gLjlCUdlzfYsA.jpeg?q=20" style="box-sizing: inherit; filter: blur(20px); height: 372px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transform: scale(1.1); transition: visibility 0ms ease 400ms; vertical-align: middle; visibility: hidden; width: 400px;" width="400" /></div><img alt="" class="mn ol t u v jh aj c" height="372" role="presentation" sizes="400px" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/400/1*mrBUm9tN1gLjlCUdlzfYsA.jpeg" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/max/276/1*mrBUm9tN1gLjlCUdlzfYsA.jpeg 276w, https://miro.medium.com/max/400/1*mrBUm9tN1gLjlCUdlzfYsA.jpeg 400w" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; height: 372px; left: 0px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle; width: 400px;" width="400" /></div></div></div><figcaption class="hz ia cu cs ct ib ic bo b fm bq br" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #757575; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 728px; text-align: center;">WLP students teaching at King-Drew Magnet in South L.A.</figcaption></figure><p class="ig ih do ij b en ik il im eq in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc dg el" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="74dc" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Weaving personal narrative with critical theory and pop culture references, hooks always had the courage and audacity to challenge orthodoxies from all sides. In her 1992 essay “Revolutionary Black Women”, (from the landmark book <a class="bu jd" href="https://www.routledge.com/Black-Looks-Race-and-Representation/hooks/p/book/9781138821552" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"><em class="ii" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Black Looks: Race and Representation</em></a>) she cautioned against cults of personality that prevent younger Black women from learning from the examples of Black women freedom fighters like Angela Davis and Shirley Chisholm. For hooks, it was important that “Coming to power, to selfhood (not) happen in isolation. Black women need to study the writings, both critical and autobiographical, of those women who have…chosen to be radical subjects.” Hooks dubbed this “critical pedagogy” an essential part of Black feminist education, of coming to critical consciousness in hostile spaces and institutions where we “are assaulted daily”.</p><p class="ig ih do ij b en ik il im eq in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc dg el" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="e20e" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Ultimately, “Most Black women are ‘punished’ and ‘suffer’ when they make choices that go against the prevailing societal sense of what a Black woman should say and do…whether she has called herself a feminist or not, there is no radical Black woman who has not been forced to confront and challenge sexism. If, however that individual struggle is not connected to a larger feminist movement, then every Black woman finds herself reinventing strategies to cope when we should be leaving a legacy of feminist resistance that nourishes, sustains, and guides other Black women and men.” She also recognized the value of constructive critical engagement and redress, candidly calling out the harm that Black women do to each other under the guise of “sisterhood”. When differences among Black women are demeaned and devalued, the rich complexity of Black subjectivity is suppressed. As a Black feminist atheist and humanist, hooks’ commitment to truth-telling about the dangers of Black orthodoxy has resonated with me personally. Oftentimes, some of the staunchest guardians of religious morality and respectability, as well as gender norms, are Black women who self-identify as faith-based. Having one’s Black card “revoked” for being inauthentic and traitorous is practically pro forma. Hooks’ work has always provided a framework for challenging this form of policing.</p><p class="ig ih do ij b en ik il im eq in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc dg el" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="90e9" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">By identifying how communities of color internalize white supremacy, misogynoir, and homophobia, her entire body of work is essential to restorative and transformative justice. I’ve used hooks’ work to teach high school students to interrogate the toxic role normalized sexism, sexual violence, and harassment play in their lives. The young Black and Latinx women in the <a class="bu jd" href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">Women’s Leadership Project</a> consistently express anger and anxiety about the devaluation of their experiences with sexism, rape culture, and victim-blaming, shaming and silencing. At the beginning of the year, most are only superficially aware of what distinguishes Black feminism from mainstream Eurocentric feminism. Fewer still are knowledgeable about the Black women pioneers who spearheaded Black liberation movements and how the issues that they fought for relate to their contemporary struggles. Yet, the seeds of anti-sexist resistance and critical consciousness are reflected in their inner voices — questioning male domination in their households, toxic masculinity in their everyday lives, and the double standards queer and straight girls experience when their sexuality is constantly policed at school, in the media, and in the community. As they move into Black feminist critical consciousness, they begin doing anti-racist peer education outreach and teaching in high school classrooms on reproductive justice, domestic and intimate partner violence, mental health, and LGBTQI+ youth empowerment. They also participate in the #Standing4BlackGirls rally and task force to develop mental health and educational resources for Black girl survivors.</p><figure class="hm hn ho hp hq hr cs ct paragraph-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px auto 0px;"><div class="hs ht hu hv aj hw" role="button" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: zoom-in; position: relative; transition: transform 300ms cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0.2, 1) 0s; width: 680px; z-index: auto;" tabindex="0"><div class="cs ct jr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 750px;"><div class="jk s hu jl" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; box-sizing: inherit; margin: auto; position: relative;"><div class="js jn s" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 0px; padding-bottom: 680px;"><div class="jf jg t u v jh aj at ji jj" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 680px; left: 0px; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 0px; transform: translateZ(0px); transition: opacity 100ms ease 400ms; width: 680px; will-change: transform;"><img alt="" class="t u v jh aj jo jp re vu" height="700" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/60/1*t_ojw58d-JQ27KFalVKIEQ.jpeg?q=20" style="box-sizing: inherit; filter: blur(20px); height: 680px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transform: scale(1.1); transition: visibility 0ms ease 400ms; vertical-align: middle; visibility: hidden; width: 680px;" width="700" /></div><img alt="" class="mn ol t u v jh aj c" height="700" role="presentation" sizes="700px" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/700/1*t_ojw58d-JQ27KFalVKIEQ.jpeg" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/max/276/1*t_ojw58d-JQ27KFalVKIEQ.jpeg 276w, https://miro.medium.com/max/552/1*t_ojw58d-JQ27KFalVKIEQ.jpeg 552w, https://miro.medium.com/max/640/1*t_ojw58d-JQ27KFalVKIEQ.jpeg 640w, https://miro.medium.com/max/700/1*t_ojw58d-JQ27KFalVKIEQ.jpeg 700w" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; height: 680px; left: 0px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle; width: 680px;" width="700" /></div></div></div></div><figcaption class="hz ia cu cs ct ib ic bo b fm bq br" data-selectable-paragraph="" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #757575; font-family: sohne, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 10px; max-width: 728px; text-align: center;">From source</figcaption></figure><p class="ig ih do ij b en ik il im eq in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja jb jc dg el" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="56d4" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">In her 1994 book <a class="bu jd" href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Teaching_To_Transgress/fhIiAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=teaching+to+transgress+education+as+the+practice+of+freedom&printsec=frontcover" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank"><em class="ii" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Teaching to Transgress</em></a>, hooks writes that the “classroom remains the most radical space of possibility in the academy.” Extending her global classroom to us through her radical imagination, hooks made this space possible for all the <a class="bu jd" href="https://bellhooksbooks.com/product/yearning/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;" target="_blank">“yearning”</a> Black girls who are reading, writing, speaking and blowing up the margins of silence, trauma, and invisibility.</p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-36864803050068700432021-07-28T12:57:00.001-07:002021-07-28T12:57:53.759-07:00No, ‘Jesus’ Won’t Save You: Black Communities and Deadly Vaccine Hesitancy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidR-kRaZRVKcFTpEp4pM4xisuhhsfliR6StXYrXkkEYkvUMkCJNlfYFKOr2vfoOlw2fx5OpuzXisLb-wmKl8F1OPGCFeJU1HUHT7SxGg5u7wUnDHZn8Hoy5KtZSs1pGHDNI1Xhyphenhyphen5nrQFnR/s475/Black+vaccination+photo.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="259" data-original-width="475" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidR-kRaZRVKcFTpEp4pM4xisuhhsfliR6StXYrXkkEYkvUMkCJNlfYFKOr2vfoOlw2fx5OpuzXisLb-wmKl8F1OPGCFeJU1HUHT7SxGg5u7wUnDHZn8Hoy5KtZSs1pGHDNI1Xhyphenhyphen5nrQFnR/s320/Black+vaccination+photo.PNG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> <span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">You got to be delusional to take this poison.”</span></p><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d424" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;"><br /></p><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d424" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">“Let the wyt (white) folk have that. </p><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d424" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">WE don’t want it.”</p><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="8238" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">“Only Jesus can save us [from Covid].”</p><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5f1a" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">These were three of the choice YouTube comments left in response to a BNC news <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFYDmXH3BVY&t=2s" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">video</a> of the recently relased pro-vaccination song “<a class="dt hq" href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/juvenile-back-that-thang-up-vax-that-thang-up-covid-19-vaccine-1193507/" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Vax That Thang Up</a>” by rapper Juvenile. The “controversial” song seeks to counter vaccine hesitancy among young African Americans.</p><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="fb86" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Entering the abyss of<span id="rmm" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </span>YouTube comments is always a time-sucking crapshoot. But as Covid and the new Delta variant ravage under-vaccinated Black communities, YouTube chatter is an important window onto unfiltered anti-vax perspectives. In <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid-19-vaccinations-race-ethnicity/" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">state after state</a>, the march of Black death from Covid outstrips the Black vaccination rate. In L.A. County, fewer than 30% of young African Americans under 29 are vaccinated, while Black Angelenos are three times as likely as whites to get Covid, require hospitalization, and die from the disease. In New York, only 33% of African Americans are vaccinated. In Washington DC, African Americans <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.kff.org/coronavirus-covid-19/issue-brief/latest-data-on-covid-19-vaccinations-race-ethnicity/" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">have received</a> 43% of vaccinations, while they make up 56% of Covid cases, 71% of Covid deaths, and 46% of the total population. Nationwide, many mass vaccination sites have <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/22/us/politics/mass-vaccination-sites-coronavirus.html" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">closed</a> due to low demand, despite the fact that the more deadly Delta variant’s viral load is 1000 times <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-delta-variant-is-more-contagious-heres-what-it-means-for-you-11627473901" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">higher</a> than the alpha version of Covid.</p><figure class="hd he hf hg hh hi ev ew paragraph-image" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8); font-family: medium-content-sans-serif-font, -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Open Sans", "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif; margin: 56px auto 0px;"><div class="hs ht ap hu w hv" role="button" style="box-sizing: inherit; cursor: zoom-in; position: relative; transition: transform 300ms cubic-bezier(0.2, 0, 0.2, 1) 0s; width: 680px; z-index: auto;" tabindex="0"><div class="ev ew hr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 1200px;"><div class="ib s ap ic" style="background-color: #f2f2f2; box-sizing: inherit; margin: auto; position: relative;"><div class="id ie s" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 0px; padding-bottom: 2434.38px;"><div class="ek hw fe en ej hx w hy hz ia" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 2434.38px; left: 0px; opacity: 0; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 0px; transform: translateZ(0px); transition: opacity 100ms ease 400ms; width: 680px; will-change: transform;"><img alt="" class="fe en ej hx w if ig af ra" height="2506" role="presentation" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/16/1*yd3EL40LX9yUxGAnvGhnpw.png?q=20" style="box-sizing: inherit; filter: blur(20px); height: 2434.38px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transform: scale(1.1); transition: visibility 0ms ease 400ms; vertical-align: middle; visibility: hidden; width: 680px;" width="700" /></div><img alt="" class="jy mj fe en ej hx w c" height="2506" role="presentation" sizes="700px" src="https://miro.medium.com/max/350/1*yd3EL40LX9yUxGAnvGhnpw.png" srcset="https://miro.medium.com/max/138/1*yd3EL40LX9yUxGAnvGhnpw.png 276w, https://miro.medium.com/max/276/1*yd3EL40LX9yUxGAnvGhnpw.png 552w, https://miro.medium.com/max/320/1*yd3EL40LX9yUxGAnvGhnpw.png 640w, https://miro.medium.com/max/350/1*yd3EL40LX9yUxGAnvGhnpw.png 700w" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; height: 2434.38px; left: 0px; opacity: 1; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: opacity 400ms ease 0ms; vertical-align: middle; width: 680px;" width="700" /></div></div></div></div></figure><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d3f3" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Prior to the emergence of the Delta variant, Covid rates had <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-05/cause-for-alarm-covid-19-hospitalizations-worsen-for-blacks-in-l-a-county" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">plunged</a> for every other group besides African Americans. Granted, low Black vaccination rates <a class="dt hq" href="https://researchblog.duke.edu/2021/04/08/black-americans-vaccine-hesitancy-is-grounded-by-more-than-mistrust/" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">continue to be driven</a> by deep <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/african-american-resistance-to-the-covid-19-vaccine-reflects-a-broader-problem" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">skepticism</a> about long histories of racist medical experimentation on Black bodies as well as access disparities that disproportionately impact poor, low income, elderly, disabled, and unhoused African Americans. But this perfect storm has also been fueled by the resurgence of an anti-vax movement <a class="dt hq" href="https://jezebel.com/the-anti-vaccination-movement-is-working-with-the-natio-1796021231" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">cosigned</a> by the Nation of Islam (NOI) and every other right wing conspiracy theorist quack on the Internet. As daily reports of rising Covid hospitalizations and deaths mount, social media and the anti-vax movement have gained momentum in African American communities vulnerable to the religious demagoguery of individuals like the NOI’s Minister Louis Farrakhan.</p><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7cce" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Farrakhan has argued that vaccines are a fiendish population control plot specifically designed to destroy Black folks. The Nation’s <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.noi.org/vaccine/" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">website</a> features an ominous collage of a screaming Black child, outsized horror movie-style needles, and an elderly Black man being injected by a white male. “Don’t let them vaccinate you with their history of treachery through vaccines and medication”, the website beseeches. The NOI has a long history of opposing vaccines, stretching all the way back to leader Elijah Muhammed’s opposition to the polio vaccine in the 1960s. In 2017, NOI spokesperson Tony Muhammed began railing against vaccines as part of an insidious CDC plot to cause autism in Black boys. Although the connection between autism and vaccines has been <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/concerns/autism.html" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">roundly debunked</a>, their stance precipitated a strange bedfellows' alliance between the NOI and notorious anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This spring, Kennedy’s Children's Health Defense organization released a <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/08/1004214189/anti-vaccine-film-targeted-to-black-americans-spreads-false-information" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">documentary</a> entitled “Medical Racism: The New Apartheid”. The documentary exploits African American fears of racist medical experimentation and abuse, while deceptively enlisting pro-vaccine medical experts to bolster its case.</p><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="c029" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">One of the biggest canards in the documentary is the suggestion that “the anti-vaccine movement is heroically engaged in a new civil rights campaign, meant to stop experimentation on the Black community.” This boldfaced lie is itself akin to social and medical malpractice. The cold reality is that <a href="https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-health-941fcf43d9731c76c16e7354f5d5e187">between </a>97% to 99% of patients dying from Covid are unvaccinated. Skepticism about racist medical legacies should not be a barrier to common sense and the overwhelming evidence that being unvaccinated is equivalent to playing Russian roulette on the Titanic. Ultimately, as infections continue to ramp up among the unvaccinated during the summer, low vaccination rates in vulnerable communities of color will have tragic consequences for the families of children returning to school (some states in the South and Midwest are not even requiring masks for K-12 students). And the pandemic has overwhelmingly demonstrated that extended Black and Latinx families who live in close quarters are the most susceptible to infection, hospitalization, and death. In addition, Covid transmission from vaccinated folks is higher in communities with low vaccination rates.</p><p class="gh gi gj gk b gl hl gm gn go hm gp gq gr hn gs gt gu ho gv gw gx hp gy gz hb dn fr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="34e4" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">So, no, “Jesus” will not save you from Covid, nor will bashing the scores of Black doctors, scientists, educators, activists, and average folks who are knocking on doors, conducting workshops, having one-on-one conversations, and <a class="dt hq" href="https://www.southcarolinapublicradio.org/sc-news/2021-04-22/how-real-information-is-turning-black-vaccine-hesitancy-around-in-south-carolina" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">advocating</a> for vaccination <em class="ii" style="box-sizing: inherit;">as </em>a fundamental human right and Black community imperative. At the end of the day, the Covid vaccines are not a colonial conspiracy to take out Black folks (as Internet nonsense has insisted) but the tragic anti-vax propaganda and reckless hesitancy that are contributing to mass Black death could very well be construed as one.</p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-43725502934268661752021-06-06T18:00:00.001-07:002021-06-06T18:00:30.284-07:00Shredding While Black and Female: Juneteenth Rock 'n' Roll Heretics @ Museum of the African Diaspora<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://29050a.blackbaudhosting.com/29050a/tickets?tab=2&txobjid=c1dbd9c9-b909-4ef0-bc56-c66c749a7d84" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjylZcMOuhoxor_FapzkU1U__Ug5gnMfqzSdhh6wQEe9LBpaDtURuidVFxm8cPwmBms_qDwOSIEwPKyc6RPmwmLbE-0Um5YUy7eoTG-tHh9_dYg1-5X7IeqTzvu7xCNTJ1heNnAXZ8s2iD_/w640-h640/21+shredding+flyer+p3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A <a href="https://www.moadsf.org/event/roundtable-rock-n-roll-heretics-shredding-while-black-and-female/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #007c89; cursor: pointer;" target="_blank">Juneteenth</a><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #757575;"> </span><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #757575;">multigenerational dialogue on the intersectional journeys of Black women guitarists in rock, literature, and music education, featuring </span><em style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #757575;">Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic: The Life and Times of Rory Tharpe! </em><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #757575;">The discussion will explore Black women rocker’s perspectives on confronting racism/sexism/ageism and homophobia in corporate rock, defying cultural and gender expectations in the Black community, honoring unsung Black rock heroines, and lifting up Gen Z Black girl rock musicians.</span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMq-vIFYDu3GDvp-lkvUT7R33spnqHrI98X2Lc78E6EJLZQ7_UjGqD8Wd2pBXvj9XiGd8veBpk3LMmGv7Op7oGLlwIE4xDyI_lqrrv4hweF5UmL7O7JCA2e69q2zbqV0qz6A-ih-MFl4c/s2048/RRH+cover+final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzMq-vIFYDu3GDvp-lkvUT7R33spnqHrI98X2Lc78E6EJLZQ7_UjGqD8Wd2pBXvj9XiGd8veBpk3LMmGv7Op7oGLlwIE4xDyI_lqrrv4hweF5UmL7O7JCA2e69q2zbqV0qz6A-ih-MFl4c/w426-h640/RRH+cover+final.jpg" width="426" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578852365/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0578852365/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" style="font-size: 14px;">Amazon</a><span style="font-size: 14px;">, </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578852362" href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578852362" style="font-size: 14px;">Indiebound</a><span style="font-size: 14px;"> </span><a data-cke-saved-href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1068030" href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1068030" style="font-size: 14px;">Smashwords</a><span style="font-size: 14px;"> </span><a data-cke-saved-href="http://sikivuhutchinson.com/store/" href="http://sikivuhutchinson.com/store/" style="font-size: 14px;" target="_blank">SikivuHutchinson.com</a></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: 14px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a data-cke-saved-href="http://sikivuhutchinson.com/2021/03/07/rock-n-roll-heretic-rovers-loners-and-thieves/" href="http://sikivuhutchinson.com/2021/03/07/rock-n-roll-heretic-rovers-loners-and-thieves/" target="_blank">Meet the Characters: Rovers, Loners, and Thieves</a></div></span><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Praise for <i><b>Rock 'n' Roll Heretic</b></i></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #6b5555; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><i><span style="font-family: georgia;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;">A broader commentary about the <a href="https://chicklitcafe.com/category/african-american-womens-fiction/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007068;" target="_blank">struggles of Black musicians</a> maintaining access to their music and getting equal respect and rights within the music industry, and society at large.</strong><strong style="box-sizing: border-box;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Hutchinson</span> has written a <a href="https://chicklitcafe.com/category/contemporary-fiction/" rel="noopener" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #007068;" target="_blank">complex story about genuine people</a> and situations but above all, I see this as a story of love, and eventually, acceptance. The intricate, and even difficult, relationships that the characters have with one another are genuine, leaving the reader with feelings as complex as the story itself. <a href="https://chicklitcafe.com/2021/03/02/rock-n-roll-heretic-by-sikivu-hutchinson/"><span style="color: #007068;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Chick Lit Café</span></span> </a>highly recommends this amazing, powerful and inspiring book.</strong></span></i></p><h3 style="background-color: white; line-height: 33px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><p style="color: #444444; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">As with her debut novel, </span><em style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780692267134">White Nights, Black Paradise</a></em><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">, Hutchinson proves herself adept at creating and occupying the mind-set of multiple complex characters while deftly jumping back and forth in time to elucidate on their development...Her novel is a passionate critique of the corporate music industry and its exploitation of Black musicians and appropriation of their work, which falls hardest upon Black women artists.</span></p><span style="color: #444444; font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><div style="text-align: left;">--David Anderson, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56966778-rock-n-roll-heretic" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #007c89; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">Goodreads</a></div></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #444444;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #444444;"><div style="text-align: left;">If you love fearless, bold, unapologetic strong leads, then <em>Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic</em> is for you. Paying homage to the great trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, this book is filled with twists and turns that will leave you rethinking rock music as you know it. Sikivu has created a masterpiece that will challenge history and entertain readers for years.</div></span><span style="color: #444444;"><div style="text-align: left;">—<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malina_Moye" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" style="color: #007c89; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">Malina Moye</a>, electric guitarist, international recording artist, and co-founder of the Drive Hope Foundation</div></span></span></h3><span style="background-color: #f7f7f7; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; text-align: center;"></span>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-33224614243666509732021-06-05T18:19:00.000-07:002021-06-05T18:19:08.205-07:00Over Our Dead Bodies: Ending Misogynoir and Domestic Violence<p> </p><h3 class="graf graf--h3" name="57dd"><br /></h3><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="91e9"><img class="graf-image" data-height="1321" data-image-id="1*GF0T5763lIYjxv3LPAiT5A.jpeg" data-is-featured="true" data-width="1600" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/533/1*GF0T5763lIYjxv3LPAiT5A.jpeg" /><figcaption class="imageCaption">Photo by Zorrie Petrus, Leimert Park Los Angeles, 2020</figcaption></figure><p class="graf graf--p graf--empty" name="d922"><br /></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="fcfa">By Sikivu Hutchinson</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="fcfa">Audre Lorde once wrote that “there is no such thing as a single issue struggle because we do not live single issue lives”. Lorde was a literary badass who never held her tongue or shied away from calling out how white supremacy and Black sexism led to “scarred, broken, battered and dead daughters and sisters” whose trauma never makes headlines.* When I desperately needed Lorde’s voice in my teens and twenties, I became one of those battered sisters, surviving intimate partner violence in a world where “good” Black women did not buck Black patriarchy, the Black church or any other symbol of Black gender orthodoxy. Then, as now, these institutions demanded that survivors remain silent about domestic violence and sexual abuse.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="2a93">This 21st century culture of silence is especially pronounced when it comes to Black women’s experiences with gun violence in the context of intimate partner violence and sexual violence. As the U.S. marks the grim milestone of 240 plus mass shootings this year, every day, Black men, Black women, and Black communities continue to shoulder the disproportionate weight of normalized death and violence. In April in Chicago, 7 year-old Jaslyn Thomas was <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/04/19/chicago-children-killed-gun-violence/" href="https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/04/19/chicago-children-killed-gun-violence/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">gunned down</a> at a local McDonalds, becoming the third child to die from gun violence there this year. <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/invisible-wounds-gun-violence-and-community-trauma-among-black-americans/#a-path-forward" href="https://everytownresearch.org/report/invisible-wounds-gun-violence-and-community-trauma-among-black-americans/#a-path-forward" rel="noopener" target="_blank">According to</a> Everytown Policy and Research, African Americans “experience nearly 10 times the gun homicides, 15 times the gun assaults, and 3 times the fatal police shootings of white Americans”. Nonetheless, gun violence in African American communities is marginalized as well as pathologized. It is viewed as a symptom of the racist stereotype that Black folks in the “inner city” are more prone to criminal violence. And it is downplayed in mainstream narratives about the prevalence of gun violence.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="e5cf">Commenting in <em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Essence Magazine</em>, former Ohio Congressional candidate Desiree Tims <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.essence.com/feature/black-women-and-gun-violence/" href="https://www.essence.com/feature/black-women-and-gun-violence/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">wrote</a>, “As devastating as it is to acknowledge, America’s gun violence problem particularly haunts Black women; our sons, brothers and fathers are 10 times more likely to die from gun violence than their White counterparts. Equally as troubling, Black women die from gun related domestic partner abuse at disproportionately higher rates than any other group” and Black women are more likely to die from gun violence than are white men. These two key facts continue to drive a wedge in racial justice activism. Time and again, Black women across sexuality and gender identity (for example, Black trans women have the highest homicide rates <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://harvardcrcl.org/americas-war-on-black-trans-women/" href="https://harvardcrcl.org/americas-war-on-black-trans-women/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">among trans women</a> in the nation) are mowed down in disproportionate numbers, yet the stigma around Black feminist anti-violence prevention education and engagement remains. Despite the fact that domestic and sexual violence affect the bodies of women of color every day, “quietly”, under the radar, domestic violence generally only pricks public consciousness when there is a high profile tragedy against white women or a mass shooting rampage committed by a stalker-abuser. As the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://aapf.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7f1f7469c760da7a8817f6c20&id=58e5ad8252&e=8df8c61546" href="https://aapf.us8.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7f1f7469c760da7a8817f6c20&id=58e5ad8252&e=8df8c61546" rel="noopener" target="_blank">African American Policy Forum</a> (AAPF) noted recently, “Such violence has long been a public health issue and central concern for all women, and Black women in particular. Yet it has been largely overlooked by the public, state, and judicial systems.”</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="4f7e">In March, the AAPF released a series of memes on the impact of “private violence” on Black women and girls. Black women are 2.5 times more likely to die by homicide. Be they trans or cis, the majority are killed by an intimate partner or relative. Black women are also more likely to experience sexual harassment at work. Normalized violence, coupled with systemic disparities in wages and health care access, have devastating implications for young Black girls into adulthood. In schools where youth have little to no sexual harassment prevention education, victim-blaming and shaming of Black girls are <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/metoo-in-our-schools-hearing-black-girls-in-the-sexual_b_5a4bab2de4b0d86c803c7994" href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/metoo-in-our-schools-hearing-black-girls-in-the-sexual_b_5a4bab2de4b0d86c803c7994" rel="noopener" target="_blank">legion</a>. When there is no attention to the culturally specific ways Black girls are hypersexualized and <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/news/research-confirms-that-black-girls-feel-the-sting-of-adultification-bias-identified-in-earlier-georgetown-law-study/" href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/news/research-confirms-that-black-girls-feel-the-sting-of-adultification-bias-identified-in-earlier-georgetown-law-study/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">“adultified”</a> — both by the dominant white culture and African American culture — Black girls are targeted as unrapeable aggressors who provoke violence by flouting respectability. And when there continues to be denial about the gravity of sexual assault, rape, and domestic violence in Black communities, all Black children and Black people suffer.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="1a20">For example, in California, where homelessness among African Americans has skyrocketed, one in three Black women have experienced intimate partner and domestic violence. Domestic violence is one of the leading catalysts for homelessness among women. Yet, as the Little Hoover Commission recently <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://lhc.ca.gov/sites/lhc.ca.gov/files/Reports/256/Report256_Executive%20Summary.pdf" href="https://lhc.ca.gov/sites/lhc.ca.gov/files/Reports/256/Report256_Executive%20Summary.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">noted</a>, “California does not have a substantial prevention or early intervention program.” In April, the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.cpedv.org/post/state-budget-requests" href="https://www.cpedv.org/post/state-budget-requests" rel="noopener" target="_blank">asked</a> the state legislature for over $15 million from the Department of Public Health to coordinate statewide sexual and domestic violence prevention efforts. Part of that funding would go to prevention education, as well as food, transportation, and childcare for survivors. A core piece would provide assistance to young men and boys who are experiencing domestic abuse-related trauma.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="9253">The Partnership’s campaign for greater state funding is especially critical given the grave impact Covid shutdowns, layoffs, and school closures have had on women and girls of color globally. According to a 2021 <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://geh.ucsd.edu/cal-vex/" href="https://geh.ucsd.edu/cal-vex/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">California Study on Violence Experiences Across the Lifespan</a> (Cal-Vex), reports of physical violence against women<strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">, </strong>including threats with a weapon, increased from 4% in 2020 to 7% in 2021. Globally, there was a <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://nomore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/A-NO-MORE-Report-COVID-19s-Global-Impact-on-Domestic-Sexual-Violence-Support-Services.pdf" href="https://nomore.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/A-NO-MORE-Report-COVID-19s-Global-Impact-on-Domestic-Sexual-Violence-Support-Services.pdf" rel="noopener" target="_blank">25% increase</a> in violence against women, while a majority of shelters and DV (domestic violence) providers were forced to curtail or cancel services due to Covid. Only 22% of all individuals experiencing abuse reported seeking mental or medical intervention. And 8 in 10 Californians support alternatives to incarceration for domestic abusers, and, not surprisingly, fewer Black and Latinx folks believe police are effective in violence intervention (former Assemblymember and current State Senator Sydney Kamlager has sponsored a bill that would institutionalize community-based alternatives to emergency response).</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="8b43">In the midst of escalating racialized state violence and terrorism, the focus on ending rape culture and domestic violence must not dim. Creating culturally responsive K-12 domestic and sexual violence prevention education that examines how legacies of white supremacy, misogynoir, colonization, segregation, heterosexism, and economic inequality shape sexual abuse, sex trafficking, and intimate partner violence is critical. Ensuring that this curriculum is mandatory for all youth across gender and sexual orientation beginning in late elementary or middle school is essential. Ensuring that boys and young men are trained to be allies in identifying, questioning, and ultimately disrupting sexual harassment and sexual violence is fundamental. Ensuring that queer lived experiences and that of disabled youth of color are valued, lifted up, and made visible, is also essential. Although California passed a sweeping <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/se/" href="https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/he/se/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">CA Healthy Youth Act</a> in 2016 mandating comprehensive HIV/AIDS and sexual violence prevention instruction for middle through high school grades, most students only receive piecemeal instruction if any.</p><figure class="graf graf--figure" name="ac00"><img class="graf-image" data-height="2304" data-image-id="1*3pnhHp6xxrqKbvZ6SKZuHw.png" data-width="1728" src="https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/533/1*3pnhHp6xxrqKbvZ6SKZuHw.png" /></figure><p class="graf graf--p" name="ec2c">On June 16th, youth and adult allies from the #Standing4BlackGirls task force and coalition will address these issues at the 2021 annual <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/85907319882" href="https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/85907319882" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Future of Feminism conference</a> which is dedicated to spearheading community-based solutions to end sexual violence and rape culture against Black girls and girls of color. At the beginning of the year, the task force <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.womensleadershipla.org/blog/2021/1/4/standing4blackgirls-wellness-initiative-group-and-individual-therapy-for-black-girls-and-femmes" href="https://www.womensleadershipla.org/blog/2021/1/4/standing4blackgirls-wellness-initiative-group-and-individual-therapy-for-black-girls-and-femmes" rel="noopener" target="_blank">spearheaded</a> a wellness initiative fund to provide free culturally competent therapy services for Black cis/straight and queer female-identified survivors in partnership with the BIPOC queer-affirming <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://openpaths.org/" href="https://openpaths.org/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Open Paths Counseling Center</a> in Los Angeles. Making this resource accessible to more young women, as well as developing a California state bill that provides mandatory anti-racist and queer-affirming domestic and sexual violence prevention education, are priorities of the task force. Investing in prevention and Black girls’ self-determination will ensure that the deadly reality of “one in three” broken, battered and dead sisters comes to an end.</p><p class="graf graf--p" name="f60f">*Audre Lorde, “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining,” from <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/198292/sister-outsider-by-audre-lorde/" href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/198292/sister-outsider-by-audre-lorde/" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Sister Outsider</em></a></p><p class="graf graf--p" name="b27d"><strong class="markup--strong markup--p-strong">Sikivu Hutchinson</strong> is a writer, educator, and director. Her books include <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781634311984" href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781634311984" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Humanists in the Hood: Unapologetically Black, Feminist, and Heretical</em></a><em class="markup--em markup--p-em"> </em>and the new novel <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56966778-rock-n-roll-heretic" href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56966778-rock-n-roll-heretic" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><em class="markup--em markup--p-em">Rock ’n’ Roll Heretic: The Life and Times of Rory Tharpe</em></a>. She is the founder of the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Women’s Leadership Project</a>, <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="http://www.blackskepticsla.org/" href="http://www.blackskepticsla.org/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Black Skeptics L.A.</a>, and a co-facilitator of the <a class="markup--anchor markup--p-anchor" data-href="https://www.meetup.com/Black-LGBTQI-Family-Parents-and-Caregivers-Meetup-Group/" href="https://www.meetup.com/Black-LGBTQI-Family-Parents-and-Caregivers-Meetup-Group/" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Black LGBTQI+ Parent and Caregiver group</a>.</p><p class="graf graf--p graf--empty" name="61a7"><br /></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-73565875376464561002021-04-27T09:27:00.002-07:002021-04-27T09:27:40.900-07:00#Standing4BlackGirls Sexual Assault Awareness Month Task Force meeting<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIl-RxiF5ZJkuMCtjvMvLg8iEsYhyJah6eyXKEu_Bjy-gSe_5swJe3hgIPwA8SGLomAIIQTRfaNCY-Cd7mFXetaU1AVisqMUVCo9rhEodqFpxD08PSB047Zq62hDpvaLyD8_wr8B1nc5g/s2048/SAAM+Denim+Day+%25282%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIl-RxiF5ZJkuMCtjvMvLg8iEsYhyJah6eyXKEu_Bjy-gSe_5swJe3hgIPwA8SGLomAIIQTRfaNCY-Cd7mFXetaU1AVisqMUVCo9rhEodqFpxD08PSB047Zq62hDpvaLyD8_wr8B1nc5g/s320/SAAM+Denim+Day+%25282%2529.png" /></a></div><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><p><a href="https://ujimacommunity.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Ujima-Womens-Violence-Stats-v7.4-1.pdf">"For every Black woman who reports rape,
at least 15 Black women do not report."</a></p>Every year, thousands of Black women are shot, stalked, brutalized, murdered, and sexually assaulted but this "pandemic within a pandemic" violence never makes it on the national radar. Black women experience intimate partner violence at a rate of 35% higher than do white women.</span></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.03); color: #0f1419; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">According to the <a href="https://iwpr.org/violence-black-women-many-types-far-reaching-effects/">Institute for Women's Policy Research</a>, "</span></span><span style="font-family: ProximaNova, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Black women were two and a half times more likely to be murdered by men than their white counterparts. And, more than 9 in 10 black female victims knew their killers. </span><span style="font-family: ProximaNova, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 18px;">Black women also experience significantly higher rates of psychological abuse — including humiliation, insults, name-calling and coercive control — than do women over all."</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Moreover, according to a </span><a href="https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fujimacommunity.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F12%2FUjima-Womens-Violence-Stats-v7.4-1.pdf&data=04%7C01%7Cautri.streeck%40lausd.net%7Cd4607e7b852a4ef7bcdb08d9015a5a38%7C042a40a1b1284ac48648016ffa121487%7C0%7C0%7C637542311945304443%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=fKDV4YM8af2iBjfObOW8nmnOyn5Y30lE%2BBb9Mtq6RBQ%3D&reserved=0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;" target="_blank">Black Women's Blueprint study</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">, between 40-60% of African American girls will experience sexual abuse by the time they turn eighteen. Black girls are also </span><a href="https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fujimacommunity.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F12%2FUjima-Womens-Violence-Stats-v7.4-1.pdf&data=04%7C01%7Cautri.streeck%40lausd.net%7Cd4607e7b852a4ef7bcdb08d9015a5a38%7C042a40a1b1284ac48648016ffa121487%7C0%7C0%7C637542311945314435%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=eqCKPpWdNAMCjkUlpppQlGwfci0YDlOP0ViMsUQr28A%3D&reserved=0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;" target="_blank">less likely to report </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">sexual abuse and rape than non-Black girls, while being systematically victim-shamed, blamed, criminalized, and gaslighted when they speak up about rape and sexual assault. According to a 2020 survey of over 150 South L.A. youth by WLP students, a majority of African American girl sexual violence and harassment survivors did not receive help, therapy or mental health intervention.</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">On April 29th, join the Women's Leadership Project and sexual violence prevention activists <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-black-women-sexual-assault-20170828-story.html">Chardonnay Madkins</a> and Imani Moses for a youth #S4BG task force discussion on community-based outreach, prevention and policy strategy to end rape culture and sexual violence against Black girls and girls of color. </span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Article: <a href="https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-black-women-sexual-assault-20170828-story.html">"Why It's Harder for African American Women to Report Campus Sexual Assaults"</a></span></p><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Zoom Link: </span><a href="https://nam03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fus02web.zoom.us%2Fj%2F88399389876&data=04%7C01%7Cautri.streeck%40lausd.net%7Cd4607e7b852a4ef7bcdb08d9015a5a38%7C042a40a1b1284ac48648016ffa121487%7C0%7C0%7C637542311945314435%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=8v1SLe0CuAClWOlblo%2BG6mVOwvvAOJjWLsldYPK67RU%3D&reserved=0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" style="background-color: white; color: #007c89; cursor: pointer; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;" target="_blank">https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88399389876</a></div>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-58083760627251266462021-04-21T18:11:00.000-07:002021-04-21T18:11:45.173-07:00Justice For Ma’Khia: Abolition Blooming Rebellious<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkm4TPgQ8di8Njw3u9FcbEIP92TfFi_qmPuN8ByzvSs5OT93bZuklSOdbDex-F5CJ1Kr3FQDSGu1uv5wB9OpavZM9jfWqnD_U9hRzumjWAtw_MnYex3o_2Sba_Hw7BJ0ysiOGLet1WNstz/s237/Makhia+bryant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkm4TPgQ8di8Njw3u9FcbEIP92TfFi_qmPuN8ByzvSs5OT93bZuklSOdbDex-F5CJ1Kr3FQDSGu1uv5wB9OpavZM9jfWqnD_U9hRzumjWAtw_MnYex3o_2Sba_Hw7BJ0ysiOGLet1WNstz/s0/Makhia+bryant.jpg" /></a></div><br /><em class="jv" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;"><br /></em><p></p><p><span class="jv" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;">By Sikivu Hutchinson</span></p><p><em class="jv" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;">The Nature of This Flower Is to Bloom Rebellious. Living. Against the Elemental Crush </em><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.063px;">— Alice Walker, “Revolutionary Petunias” (for Ma’Khia in National Poetry Month)</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Four shots. Yesterday, four shots from a terrorist claimed a vibrant young life. They shattered the fleeting justice celebrated in Black communities around the world after a Minneapolis jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of manslaughter in the murder of George Floyd. On Tuesday, Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old Black girl, was killed by four bullets fired by a Columbus, Ohio police officer who used deadly force after responding to her 911 call for help. According to</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"> </span><a class="cd jw" href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/columbus-police-fatally-shoot-a-person-as-derek-chauvin-guilty-verdict-comes-down?ref=home&via=twitter_page" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">testimony</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">from her family, Ma’Khia was defending herself from “several adult women” who had come to fight her at the foster home where she was living. She was slain the same afternoon Chauvin has led away from the courtroom in handcuffs. As George Floyd’s brother Philonise</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"> </span><a class="cd jw" href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/20/us/family-george-floyd-verdict-reaction/index.html" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">noted</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">after the verdict, the decision was bittersweet, because “we will have to be here (protesting and marching) for the rest of our lives”. His words hold painful resonance for the family of Daunte Wright, gunned down last week by a white female police officer in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, as well as that of Ma’Khia and so many others grieving police murder victims brutally denied justice.</span></p><p class="iz ja fe jb b gc jc jd je gf jf jg jh ji jj jk jl jm jn jo jp jq jr js jt ju ew cr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="778a" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Ma’Khia’s murder has been contrasted with the kid-glove treatment of mass murderers Kyle Rittenhouse and Dylan Roof, young white males who were coddled by police during their apprehension and arrest. It goes without saying that killer white boys are celebrated and lionized, because, as Stokely Carmichael once said, “Behind (them) stand the local police force, the state militia, the Army and the Navy.” By contrast, numerous <a class="cd jw" href="https://www.law.georgetown.edu/news/press-releases/Black-Girls-Viewed-As-Less-Innocent-Than-White-Girls-Georgetown-Law-Research-Finds.cfm" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">studies</a> and analyses have shown that Black girls are routinely adultified in mainstream perceptions of feminine respectability. They are <a class="cd jw" href="http://nwlc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/unlocking_opportunity_for_african_american_girls_report.pdf" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">more likely</a> to be viewed as older, physically threatening, more mature, and more “inherently” sexual than non-black girls and young women. In policing, the criminal justice system, and K-12 school discipline, they are never given any “benefit of the doubt” by adult authority figures. Time and again, Black folks have seen that doubt for white children leads to the benefit of therapy, counseling, relationship-building, and case management.</p><p class="iz ja fe jb b gc jc jd je gf jf jg jh ji jj jk jl jm jn jo jp jq jr js jt ju ew cr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="2fd7" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The circumstances leading up to Ma’Khia’s killing also highlight the vulnerability of Black girls in foster care. Black foster girls across sexuality experience <a class="cd jw" href="http://rights4girls.org/wp-content/uploads/r4g/2015/02/2015_COP_sexual-abuse_layout_web-1.pdf" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">high rates</a> of sexual, domestic, and intimate partner violence and are at greater risk for sex trafficking victimization and incarceration. According to data in a 2015 <a class="cd jw" href="https://rights4girls.org/wp-content/uploads/r4g/2015/02/2015_COP_sexual-abuse_layout_web-1.pdf" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">study</a> by Rights4Girls, Black girls had higher levels of “dual system” involvement with both the juvenile justice system and child welfare system than did Black boys. Repeated contact with law enforcement inflicts lifelong trauma on foster care youth, who are disproportionately pipelined into adult prisons in a vicious cycle of criminalization.</p><p class="iz ja fe jb b gc jc jd je gf jf jg jh ji jj jk jl jm jn jo jp jq jr js jt ju ew cr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="0941" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">While it is all but certain that Ma’Khia would still be alive if she were a white girl, the fact that white male mass murderers receive deference and law enforcement protection makes the racial disparities of deadly force even more despicable. In response to global Black Lives Matter racial justice uprisings around George Floyd’s murder, the House’s 2021 <a class="cd jw" href="https://judiciary.house.gov/uploadedfiles/george_floyd_jpa_2021_fact_sheet_.pdf?utm_campaign=5874-519" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">George Floyd Justice in Policing Act</a> (sponsored by Congresswoman Karen Bass) would institute restorative approaches to public safety, increase funding for mental health providers and community-based first responders, end qualified immunity, a crackdown on police sexual misconduct, create a national database for use of force deaths, and reduce reliance on militarized enforcement equipment.</p><p class="iz ja fe jb b gc jc jd je gf jf jg jh ji jj jk jl jm jn jo jp jq jr js jt ju ew cr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7955" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">While this bill is an important first step, it is not <a class="cd jw" href="https://www.akpress.org/we-do-this-til-we-free-us.html" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">abolitionist</a>, and thus does not go far enough to address the fundamental roots of policing in systematizing anti-Blackness and destroying Black self-determination and bodily autonomy. Moreover, its misguided emphasis on “best practices training” draws from a reformist ethos that ignores the insidious power of the Thin Blue Line across race, gender, sexual orientation, class, and political ideology (indeed, the white woman who killed Wright was a twenty six year police force veteran and training instructor). Responding specifically to the over-policing and criminalization of Black girls, Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley’s sponsored the <a class="cd jw" href="https://pressley.house.gov/media/press-releases/following-introduction-people-s-justice-guarantee-rep-pressley-launches" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">2019 Ending Push Out Act</a>.</p><p class="iz ja fe jb b gc jc jd je gf jf jg jh ji jj jk jl jm jn jo jp jq jr js jt ju ew cr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="0f1f" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The bill languished in the GOP-controlled Congress but Pressley recently <a class="cd jw" href="https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/04/19/ayanna-pressley-discipline-racism" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">reintroduced</a> it. With a similar emphasis on mental health as the George Floyd Act, the Push Out Act would provide billions of dollars in funding to school districts that ban punitive discipline policies and practices, and end contracts to police. While Congresswoman Pressley “acknowledges one piece of legislation will not undo generations of trauma, (she) wants to use this inflection moment to focus on reconstruction.”</p><p class="iz ja fe jb b gc jc jd je gf jf jg jh ji jj jk jl jm jn jo jp jq jr js jt ju ew cr" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="88f3" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Again, simple “reconstruction” is inadequate for a white supremacist, capitalist, heteropatriarchal system that thrives on Black death and disguises state-sanctioned terror against communities of color as “democratic” law and order. In his 1935 book <i>Black Reconstruction in America</i>, W.E.B. DuBois outlined the foundation for an "<a href="http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/abolition1313/2-13-abolition-democracy/">abolition democracy"</a> (later <a href="https://www.akpress.org/abolitiondemocracy.html">championed by</a> Angela Davis in her radical work and organizing) based on the destruction of state regimes of incarceration, policing, confinement, and labor that effectively extended slave-like conditions for African Americans long after chattel slavery's abolition. Although federal legislation can provide momentum for the city and <a href="https://m4bl.org/defund-the-police/">local</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/apr/09/justicela-los-angeles-abolitionist-coalition">movements</a> that are already underway to dismantle policing and redress the harms of the carceral state, the lives of Ma’Khia, and the youth coming behind her, demand more from national progressive leadership than a mere rebranding of the police state. Remarking on Ma’Khia to a reporter, her mother, Paula Bryant, said, “She was a loving, peaceful little girl, she was an honor roll student.” This precious image of girlhood is a testament to an unspeakable loss, one that calls for <a class="cd jw" href="http://criticalresistance.org/cr_abolish-policing-toolkit_2020/" rel="noopener" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">abolition</a>, not reform, blooming “rebellious against the elemental crush” that would seek to extinguish the revolutionary light of little Black girls.</p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-45205194735236989072021-03-25T23:19:00.004-07:002021-03-25T23:19:49.190-07:00R-E-S-P-E-C-T: Sexual Violence and the Ballad of Black Genius<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNwRcfFv_elHpfmwlm3Vh3MG_srOlAcr-aU2lTnKGmL8RcFrPzYfHC3aE0LWfxp7Jll-Gjroh7S78g5JZoWMbFW10qWnmoySfRjwzU6zPNi8LhbUnHCotDAzioARlbteZ25Ph35OnodQm/s316/ArethaAmazingGrace.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="316" data-original-width="316" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsNwRcfFv_elHpfmwlm3Vh3MG_srOlAcr-aU2lTnKGmL8RcFrPzYfHC3aE0LWfxp7Jll-Gjroh7S78g5JZoWMbFW10qWnmoySfRjwzU6zPNi8LhbUnHCotDAzioARlbteZ25Ph35OnodQm/s0/ArethaAmazingGrace.jpg" /></a></div> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">By Sikivu Hutchinson</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">In her 1970’s
anthology </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Search-Our-Mothers-Gardens-Womanist/dp/0156028646"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens</span></i></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">, Alice Walker asks, “What did it mean for a Black
woman to be an artist in our grandmother’s time…Did you have a genius of a
great great grandmother…whose body was forced to bear children (who were more
often than not sold away from her)”? It is a question, she says, “with an
answer cruel enough to stop the blood.” The question of the deferred artistic dreams
of Black women ancestors is central to the new National Geographic Aretha
Franklin biopic </span><a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/tv/shows/genius"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">Genius</span></i></a><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">, </span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">written by acclaimed playwright </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzan-Lori_Parks"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Suzan-Lori Parks</span></a><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">.</span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"> <i>Genius</i> attempts to peel back the onion layers of Franklin’s
meticulously crafted public image. In so doing, it foregrounds the </span><a href="https://www.laprogressive.com/black-silence/"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">normalized
violence Black women experience</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"> in Black families, the church, and the entertainment industry. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">As an admirer of
Franklin’s towering 1972 </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace_(Aretha_Franklin_album)"><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">Amazing Grace</span></i></a><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"> </span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">church concert album, I was excited to see the biopic. Franklin’s gifts
as an accomplished pianist, writer, composer, and arranger are often given
short shrift in her deification as soul music’s paragon. These gifts are on
full display in the 2018 <i>Amazing Grace</i> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace_(2018_film)"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">documentary</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">, which showcases Franklin’s musical dexterity and
command, as well as her volatile relationship with her father, civil rights
icon Reverend C.L. Franklin. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is a vivid
scene in the film in which C.L. pats sweat from Franklin’s brow as she sits at
a piano onstage.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This intimate gesture
is a subtle yet telling window onto their alternately tempestuous and tender
history; one that was fraught with the secrecy of sexual and domestic violence.
<i>Genius</i> interweaves scenes of the domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and early
pregnancies Franklin suffered with references to C.L.’s rape and “impregnation”
of a 12 year-old girl in his congregation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">As a revered Christian
patriarch, C.L.’s heinous actions have often been rationalized as an artifact
of a “less enlightened” era (indeed, the word “rape” is seldom used to describe
the trauma he inflicted on the young child). Part of the reason why I wrote my
new novel </span><i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578852362">Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic: The Life and Times of
Rory Tharpe</a></span></i><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780578852362"> </a>was
because I wanted to explore how White <i>and </i>Black America reveres and
reviles self-determining Black women musicians steeped in these histories of
sexual violence and resistance. Raised in the Southern Black blues tradition of
visionary guitar artistry, Rory, the novel’s protagonist (loosely modeled after
trailblazing Black queer rock, blues and gospel guitarist </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sister_Rosetta_Tharpe"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rosetta
Tharpe</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">), is a queer former child
prodigy battling depression, addiction, and music industry marginalization. A
traveling musician with no recording contract, she fronts an all-male band
whose dependency is an albatross as she fights to secure her publishing rights
and regain her footing in the corporate rock regime of the late seventies. Her
relationship with her organist-manager mother is foundational to both her
creative struggle and inner demons as a survivor of sexual abuse in the Black
church. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Traveling from a middling
dive-gig in Boise, Idaho to Nashville, she becomes entangled with the rock
industry juggernaut of a Janis Joplin-type figure named Jude Justis. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Justis/Joplin, of course, signify the long
tradition of white minstrelsy and theft that has historically informed the
commodification of African American cultural production in general and rock
music in particular. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OtzKQgNUEHZTIWzDc0u8StgtLbC2eWEdtd9vh8N4hM71qc5u0NjkiscNmLAlcykWIxzXPRC1u9IffyrtsXJcqbN-NYi32-IUYThAsL0BoMzkwhxCFyd6lDEu74fML_LrkcZzVtyuCP__/s2048/RRH+cover+final.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1365" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7OtzKQgNUEHZTIWzDc0u8StgtLbC2eWEdtd9vh8N4hM71qc5u0NjkiscNmLAlcykWIxzXPRC1u9IffyrtsXJcqbN-NYi32-IUYThAsL0BoMzkwhxCFyd6lDEu74fML_LrkcZzVtyuCP__/s320/RRH+cover+final.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">My novel also situates
this conflict within the context of cult religion, the prosperity gospel, and
the rise of televangelism as a cultural force. For Black women, </span><a href="https://medium.com/@sheneversleeps/how-respectability-politics-stifle-black-self-expression-c162d9418ff"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">respectability
politics</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"> are a crucial
element in the enforcement of these morally policing institutions.
Respectability, or the conformity to “feminine” norms of purity, piety, and
submission, based on deference to heterosexual male authority, is especially
constraining for Black women sexual violence survivors. <i>Genius</i> spotlights
the intersection of Black women’s creativity and respectability politics amidst
straightjacketing Black Christian religious traditions. Franklin’s struggle for
independence and control from her father shapes the series’ stab at a womanist
ethos. Long perceived as the prototypical “strong Black woman”, Franklin’s
resistance to C.L.’s efforts to dominate her career and personal life gives
rare insight into the creative autonomy of an elusive figure whose artistic
discipline has long been dwarfed by her legend status. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">Alice Walker
addresses this dynamic in <i>Gardens</i>. She frames Black women’s creativity
as a constant process of reinvention. It is a process that involves reclaiming
the lives of "grandmothers and mothers of ours (who) were not Saints, but
Artists; driven to a numb and bleeding madness by the springs of creativity in
them for which there was no release." Acknowledging, calling out, and
coming to terms with the legacies of abuse that these women (often) suffered in
silence is central to this journey. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">In her piece “Aretha
Franklin, Sexual Violence and the Culture Dissemblance”, Rachel Zellars </span><a href="https://www.aaihs.org/aretha-franklin-sexual-violence-and-the-culture-of-dissemblance/"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">argues</span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"> that respectability politics, Black patriarchy, and silence around
sexual violence in African American communities contributed to Franklin’s deep
guardedness about her career and family. The long tradition of protecting Black
men first and foremost, while prioritizing racialized violence against Black
men, has often undermined Black women’s push for accountability on sexual
violence. As Zellars notes, “<span style="background: white;">This seemingly
intractable custom of silence has been long curated and reinforced in Black
communities, Black organizing, and Black intellectual work. Against a backdrop
of enduring stereotypes about Black womanhood and a reactive protectionism
extended primarily to Black men, the ‘culture of dissemblance’ has helped
minimize </span></span><a href="https://www.aaihs.org/the-historical-erasure-of-violence-against-black-women/" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-themecolor: text1; padding: 0in;">Black women’s
and girls’ experiences of sexual violence</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">. It has, at times, encouraged a
short-sided historical narrative of </span><a href="https://www.aaihs.org/unrequited-toil-a-new-book-on-the-history-of-u-s-slavery/" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-themecolor: text1; padding: 0in;">plantation
violence</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">,
emasculation, </span><a href="https://www.aaihs.org/ida-b-wells-police-violence-and-the-legacy-of-lynching/" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-themecolor: text1; padding: 0in;">lynching</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">, and mass incarceration
while centering the experiences of Black men. Pragmatically, it has fostered a
decorum of intracommunity censorship that pits Black women who remain silent,
powerfully, against those who detail their own stories and name names.” <i>Genius</i>
juxtaposes multiple scenes of graphic and implied violence with Franklin’s
meteoric rise as a multi-talented musician who commands both studio and stage
with her expertise.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It implies that
women who did name names, such as Franklin’s mother, Barbara Siggers (a
talented singer and piano player in her own right who died at the tragically
young age of 34), were “invisibilized”. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">In <i>Rock
‘n’ Roll Heretic</i>, women who name names are also penalized and victim-shamed
by the community, while those who remain complicit are alternately rewarded and
betrayed by the very Christian religious power structures they cosign. Fellow Black
women who cosign, downplay or deny sexual violence are key to the novel’s raw
exploration of Black women’s stifled creativity and ambivalent solidarity,
which troubles the highly westernized, male-centric narrative of the singular
“genius”.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">In <i>Genius</i>,
Franklin is shown rising to the challenge of the political turbulence and
racial strife of the sixties and seventies while maintaining her artistic
integrity in a white man’s corporate music world. Yet, legacies of trauma and
abuse still informed her desire to craft a storybook public image and family
life. In this regard, as Zellars notes, she was like scores of everyday Black
women, who, “faced with social conditions too commanding to…overcome, </span><a href="https://www.aaihs.org/re-writing-black-gendered-stories/" target="_blank"><span style="background: white; border: none windowtext 1.0pt; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-border-alt: none windowtext 0in; mso-themecolor: text1; padding: 0in;">found a way to keep going</span></a><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;">, to keep working, and to
manage the terror of violence by holing it up and tightly protecting its
secrecy.” It is a lesson that continues to be a bitter pill to swallow in our
celebration of Black genius.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rock 'n' Roll Heretic will be featured at the Saturday, March 27<sup>th</sup>, Women’s
Leadership Project </span><a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/x/r-e-s-p-e-c-t-black-women-in-rock-womens-history-month-roundtable-tickets-138028076693"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Black
Women in Rock</span></a></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><i> Women’s History Month youth-led roundtable
with Black women electric guitarists from across the nation.</i><span style="background: white; color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaigrsYyO1-K4u7uTcAeA5vqcYiq-LwJfnP9N02Q6pzgaPUZaZRgaRgQ33blHiYKS2bR5ByRmNlOkKTgtNmVg94biZx5aAJDynBWc6XC0fAXQZEAl1D97KzjzPSRbsc7lu_sJBHL1rWoiB/s2048/21+black+women+in+rock+flyer+p3+%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaigrsYyO1-K4u7uTcAeA5vqcYiq-LwJfnP9N02Q6pzgaPUZaZRgaRgQ33blHiYKS2bR5ByRmNlOkKTgtNmVg94biZx5aAJDynBWc6XC0fAXQZEAl1D97KzjzPSRbsc7lu_sJBHL1rWoiB/w640-h640/21+black+women+in+rock+flyer+p3+%25281%2529.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-themecolor: text1;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-76383051172505060762021-03-06T13:38:00.002-08:002021-03-06T13:38:39.317-08:00The BlackFemLens: The Media Done Responsibly 2021 Virtual Film Festival<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb5LdU6s6XmLwaPfBY5gwv7Q69Zz7mQPwzc9CtoeWJWTHUfFNqoBMqpTOy4eu8FIciCad4FPbEatnesQY3bGOdvmTuTadBQLl83tWkPurFjMvp2JjYdjshjz3n6Mri_i69yWw6YHHNrKN0/s1080/Save+the+Date+MDRFF21.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb5LdU6s6XmLwaPfBY5gwv7Q69Zz7mQPwzc9CtoeWJWTHUfFNqoBMqpTOy4eu8FIciCad4FPbEatnesQY3bGOdvmTuTadBQLl83tWkPurFjMvp2JjYdjshjz3n6Mri_i69yWw6YHHNrKN0/s320/Save+the+Date+MDRFF21.png" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">By Sikivu Hutchinson</span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">Back in the day, before digital video and the Internet, independent filmmaking was regarded as a “my</span><span id="rmm" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">s</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">tical realm” dominated by charmed white boy wunderkinds and the “odd” man of color “maverick”. As independent film has exploded, so has the market for film festivals, such that there is one to fit every niche and predilection. Unfortunately, many of these ventures run on the same old cronyism, Eurocentrism, and hetero-norms that continue to tokenize and ghettoize women of color filmmakers. Case in point is the Philip K. Dick Science Fiction and Supernatural festival, a platform that boasts a standalone category entitled (direct quote), “Best African American, Latino and other Person of Color Science Fiction Movie”. Giving the huddled masses of the “other person of color” community a nice pat on the head, Dick’s programmers swaggeringly note that “we are the first US festival that offers this long-awaited category.”</span></p><p class="id ie fu if b ig ih ii ij ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja dc ee" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="f648" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The film industry is rife with great white savior proclamations like these, which is why <a class="bq jb" href="https://mdrff21.eventive.org/welcome" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">Media Done Responsibly’s (MDR) new virtual film fest</a> is a timely antidote. Founded by Shaunelle Curry, MDR’s CEO, the festival kicks off this weekend to mark Women’s History month, focusing on emerging independent BIPOC, immigrant, disabled, and LGBTQIA+ filmmakers. According to Curry, “The goal is to center the voices of diverse storytellers by amplifying their complex humanity from their perspectives, in their words and through their lens”. The event is a signal opportunity to boost the voices and visions of artists who are often “invisibilized” in a film world where Black women still comprise fewer than 1% of major studio film directors. <a class="bq jb" href="https://www.indiewire.com/2019/01/hollywood-diversity-inclusion-2018-black-directors-women-directors-1202031981/" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">As per</a> the 2019 USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the dearth of Black women directors is compounded by the underrepresentation of women of color editors, production designers, composers, cinematographers, producers <em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">and</em> critics in the multi-billion dollar film industry.</p><p class="id ie fu if b ig ih ii ij ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja dc ee" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="7144" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">By challenging the gatekeeping white folks’ regime, festivals like MDR’s can play a critical role in advancing Black women as drivers of production and film innovation. The festival slate includes works that examine state violence against Black folks (<em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Man Down, January 14th</em>), adultification/criminalization of Black girls (<a class="bq jb" href="https://mdrff21.eventive.org/films/6026ee8592d2880068983a40" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Pushout</em></a>), LGBTQIA acceptance in families (<a class="bq jb" href="https://mdrff21.eventive.org/films/6026ee8592d2880068983a3d" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Parental Guidance Suggested</em></a><em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">, </em><a class="bq jb" href="https://mdrff21.eventive.org/films/6026ee8592d2880068983a3e" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Proud Dad</em></a>), mental health care (<em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Mickey Hardaway</em>), suicide (<em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Baby Steps</em>) and unhoused African American women and girls (<em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Defining Ourselves)</em>.<em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </em>I am honored to have two short films that were chosen as Official Selections at the festival — <a class="bq jb" href="https://mdrff21.eventive.org/films/6026ee8492d2880068983a30" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">White Nights, Black Paradise</em></a>,<em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> </em>and my sci fi webseries <a class="bq jb" href="https://mdrff21.eventive.org/films/6026ee8492d2880068983a2f" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;"><em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Narcolepsy, Inc</em></a>, which both feature older women of color actresses as protagonists; a demographic that is all but invisible in mainstream film. I am also a producer on teen filmmaker Zorrie Petrus’ Official Selection student documentary, <a class="bq jb" href="https://mdrff21.eventive.org/films/6026ee8492d2880068983a2e" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">“Defining Ourselves, For Ourselves”</a>.</p><p class="id ie fu if b ig ih ii ij ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja dc ee" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="5645" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">The festival will feature panels with filmmakers and community organizations, as well as sessions focusing on the work of acclaimed documentarian Byron Hurt (creator of the landmark social justice film, <em class="jc" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Hip Hop Beyond Beats and Rhymes</em>), and young entertainment and arts activists. The MDR festival runs from March 4th-11th.</p><p class="id ie fu if b ig ih ii ij ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw ix iy iz ja dc ee" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="0a61" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">Tickets and info @ <a class="bq jb" href="https://mdrff21.eventive.org/welcome" rel="noopener nofollow" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit;">https://mdrff21.eventive.org/welcome</a></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-46940703286182293412021-03-05T07:38:00.000-08:002021-03-05T07:38:14.864-08:00Fighting for 15, the Equality Act, and Black Queer Families<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBoeNoNFN6efz__drbMhBpBzpCrMshQ28sRD63pkvI7AQympH9AdlsQ9WsMwoKisVx9CuZAJreXIReID0uyhbTZJsznzaazor0bS4udeNxW6CTzXh8qxApwrboggjdFyhyphenhyphenwTQQ4sCuid_/s232/Trans+power.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="189" data-original-width="232" height="326" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBoeNoNFN6efz__drbMhBpBzpCrMshQ28sRD63pkvI7AQympH9AdlsQ9WsMwoKisVx9CuZAJreXIReID0uyhbTZJsznzaazor0bS4udeNxW6CTzXh8qxApwrboggjdFyhyphenhyphenwTQQ4sCuid_/w400-h326/Trans+power.PNG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><br />
<p align="center" style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">By Sikivu Hutchinson</p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">As the Religious Right doubles
down on its fascist grip on Midwestern and Southern state legislatures, the
House recently passed the <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5/text">Equality
Act</a>, which grants historic protections to LGBTQI+ communities in the
workplace, public accommodations, and public education. The Act now moves to
the Senate, where it faces stiff opposition from GOP “Christian family values” bigots.
The House’s support </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">comes at a critical juncture in the pandemic,
coinciding with the Democrats’ efforts to pass the Covid relief bill, increase the
federal minimum wage (temporarily <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/us/politics/biden-progressives-wage-increase.html">derailed
by</a> “Senate parliamentarian rules” bureaucracy and Democrats’ gutlessness),
and institute a “child allowance”. </span><span style="color: black; mso-color-alt: windowtext;">While passage of the Equality Act would be an economic justice
watershed for LGBT communities overall, the Act, along with these pieces of
legislation, could significantly boost African American queer families. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;">Nationwide, <a href="https://blackcensus.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/When-The-Rainbow-Is-Not-Enough.pdf">Black
LGBT families</a> are <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-poverty-us/">more
likely</a> to be at or below the poverty line than non-LGBT Black families, with
poverty rates of 30.8% to 25% respectively. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><a href="http://nbjc.org/">According to</a> the Human Rights Campaign and the <a href="https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/Erasure-and-Resilience-Black-2020.pdf">National
Black Justice Institute</a>, a majority of Black youth have been <a href="https://www.hrc.org/resources/black-and-african-american-lgbtq-youth-report">subjected
to</a> homophobic climates in their schools, families, and neighborhoods. Hence,
the Equality Act would be a sea change for LGBTQ+ communities long disenfranchised
by everyday religious bigotry, normalized transphobia, poverty wages in the
workplace, and exclusion in public schools.</span></p><p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">The </span><a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/5/text" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; color: #5076b8; padding: 0in; text-decoration-line: none;">Equality Act</span></a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> “would
amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly prevent discrimination based on
sexual orientation and gender identity.” It effectively buttresses the Supreme
Court’s 2020 ruling extending anti-discrimination protections to lesbian,
gay, and transgender Americans. Gender identity and sexual orientation would become
federally protected class categories (as race and gender are currently), affording
LGBT folks legal rights to employment, schooling, and housing regardless of
what state they live in. Federal expansion of civil rights to queer communities
is critically important because many states in the Bible Belt and Midwest </span><a href="https://www.hrc.org/press-releases/the-human-rights-campaign-releases-annual-state-equality-index-ratings" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">do
not have</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> laws explicitly protecting LGBT workers and families.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">The legislation has elicited the usual backlash from
conservative religious groups due to the threat it poses to the Religious
Freedom Restoration Act or RFRA. The RFRA essentially gives religious groups carte
blanche to discriminate against LGBT folks under the guise of protecting “religious
freedom”. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">According to NPR, “Under the
Equality Act, an entity couldn't use RFRA to challenge the act's provisions,
nor could it use RFRA as a defense to a claim made under the act.” By taking away
the legal foundation of so-called </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">religious freedom claims, the Equality Act would reinforce
church-state separation and curtail religious fundamentalists’ federally
sanctioned license to discriminate.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p>L</o:p></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">egal barriers to LGBT equity are undergirded by </span><a href="https://www.advocate.com/commentary/2019/7/17/why-raising-minimum-wage-critical-lgbtq-issue" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">disproportionate
poverty</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> levels among queer families of color. The Williams Institute
estimates that Black LGBT couples earn less than non-LGBT couples, while Black
female-headed same sex households earn approximately $20,000 </span><a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/lgbt-afro-am-indv-and-ss-couples/" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">less</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">
than Black male same sex households. African American lesbians in particular are
</span><a href="https://blackcensus.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/When-The-Rainbow-Is-Not-Enough.pdf" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">more
likely to be</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> raising children, while being segregated into low wage jobs
with few benefits and nominal workplace protections. It is projected that the child
allowance </span><a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/02/26/970999998/with-one-move-congress-could-lift-millions-of-children-out-of-poverty" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">would
cut</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> child poverty in half, with African American and Indigenous families reaping
the greatest benefits. According to the Economic Policy Institute, </span><a href="https://www.epi.org/publication/the-raise-the-wage-act-of-2019-would-give-black-workers-a-much-needed-boost-in-pay/" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">over
thirty percent</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> of Black workers would get a raise if the federal minimum
wage increases. LGBT families of color would directly benefit because </span><a href="https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/COVID_19_EconImpact-CommunitiesColor052020d.pdf" style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">many</a><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">
Black, Latinx, Asian, and Indigenous queer, trans, and gender-nonconforming rank
and file workers are employed in low wage service and food sector jobs.</span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">Nationwide, people of color in general, and Black youth in particular,
are <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/black-gays-lgbt-community_n_1989859">more likely</a> to identify as queer, a fact still obscured by cultural representation
that privileges white queer lives and childless white gay men. These major
demographic shifts away from Black hetero-norms are rarely addressed in Black liberal
economic justice discourse. And, truth be told, even the most “progressive” Black
pundits assume straight/cis single or two parent households when condemning institutionally
racist family policies. The new safety net provisions can help create and
preserve multigenerational wealth among Black queer families doubly
marginalized by white supremacy on the one hand, and Black heterosexism on the
other. But it will only be through forging coalitions which go beyond Pride celebrations, and actively fight for Black queer familyhood, that true
Black community self-determination will be achieved. </span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><b style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Sikivu Hutchinson</span></b><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">
is a writer, educator, and director. Her books include </span><a href="https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781634311984" style="background-color: transparent;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Humanists in the
Hood: Unapologetically Black, Feminist, and Heretical</span></i></a><i style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,
</span></i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/White-Nights-Paradise-Sikivu-Hutchinson/dp/0692267131" style="background-color: transparent;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">White
Nights, Black Paradise</span></i></a><i style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span></i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">and
the novel </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56966778-rock-n-roll-heretic" style="background-color: transparent;"><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Rock
‘n’ Roll Heretic: The Life and Times of Rory Tharpe</span></i></a><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">,
due this month. She is the founder of the </span><a href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Women’s Leadership
Project</span></a><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">,</span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> <a href="http://www.blackskepticsla.org/">Black Skeptics L.A.</a> and a
co-facilitator of the </span><a href="https://www.meetup.com/Black-LGBTQI-Family-Parents-and-Caregivers-Meetup-Group/" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Black
LGBTQI+ Parent and Caregiver group</span></a></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="background: white; margin-bottom: 0in; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Georgia",serif; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><o:p> </o:p><p></p><br />Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-49407685914306246542021-02-25T11:35:00.002-08:002021-02-25T12:20:34.086-08:00#Standing4BlackGirls Task Force Meeting: February 25th<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YI5-E33GVynLU-DE1ZeAWpl7n-8Gyi2c6Rw7EfpNPBdCIKlClHN9RCj8hVwoV5-Bba7FUmwZw4WY5CIvvI4kCJ5bpk3RF4BhfZN_pdT6t4orm6PqWEkGX17jieIyqhQmFGG-esSE9RpT/s400/S4BG+flyer.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2YI5-E33GVynLU-DE1ZeAWpl7n-8Gyi2c6Rw7EfpNPBdCIKlClHN9RCj8hVwoV5-Bba7FUmwZw4WY5CIvvI4kCJ5bpk3RF4BhfZN_pdT6t4orm6PqWEkGX17jieIyqhQmFGG-esSE9RpT/s320/S4BG+flyer.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;">In the spring of 2020, </span><a href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org" style="font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;">WLP youth</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; text-align: center;"> surveyed over 150 youth of color sexual violence and harassment survivors on their experiences with mental health care. The majority of Black girl survivors who responded had never received mental health care intervention or counseling for their trauma. Moreover, according to the Black Women's Blueprint, nearly 60% of African American girls will experience sexual abuse by the age of 18, and African American women are less likely to report sexual violence and abuse than non-black women. In addition, Black queer gender non-conforming and trans youth are more likely to experience sexual violence, harassment, and displacement--while having greater risk of falling into poverty--than straight youth. These youth are triply traumatized by the culture of victim blaming, shaming, and gaslighting inflicted upon them by their own communities.</span><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica;"><span style="background-color: white;">Why is there no broad community outcry about these atrocities? And what would a Black girl-survivor focused policy agenda and platform look like?</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">African American girls and young women and community allies are invited to the first #Standing4BlackGirls task force meeting on </span><strong style="color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; text-align: center;">Thursday, February 25th.</strong></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;">This youth-facilitated task force, co-hosted by the Office of Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager, will address developing mental health, educational, economic and social resources for Black girls across sexual orientation<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> in L.A. County and across the state</span>. </div><div class="yiv9098742648yqt4615706903" id="yiv9098742648yqtfd07596" style="background-color: white; color: #757575; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px;"><blockquote style="text-align: center;"><strong>Join Zoom Meeting</strong><br clear="none" /><strong><a href="https://caasm.zoom.us/j/91517883069?pwd=S01WdmllSkhXZlJpZ3BuNGZhK1hydz09" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" style="color: #007c89; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">https://caasm.zoom.us/j/91517883069?pwd=S01WdmllSkhXZlJpZ3BuNGZhK1hydz09</a></strong><br clear="none" /><br clear="none" /><strong>Meeting ID: 915 1788 3069</strong><br clear="none" /><strong>Passcode: 74874</strong></blockquote><div style="line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><br clear="none" /><strong>#S4BG issues survey Link: <a href="https://bit.ly/38U4RNY" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" style="color: #007c89; cursor: pointer; font-weight: normal;" target="_blank">https://bit.ly/38U4RNY</a></strong></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkCf36GOKnutHLYul9KQCn_pK6Kq66vi5XWAleO3KPLnvAqk0u9ffeJWdL2r9UtVDGWQh9CQChIzit9mzSL_DQ9aVqce5yivFU9jHid8k6VgMNsf9dfkosJPnncDEpoXvl0MfmpHiKpfjR/s750/IMG1822811243543254237.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkCf36GOKnutHLYul9KQCn_pK6Kq66vi5XWAleO3KPLnvAqk0u9ffeJWdL2r9UtVDGWQh9CQChIzit9mzSL_DQ9aVqce5yivFU9jHid8k6VgMNsf9dfkosJPnncDEpoXvl0MfmpHiKpfjR/w400-h400/IMG1822811243543254237.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="line-height: 24px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-58591886135481192482021-02-07T16:09:00.003-08:002021-02-07T17:29:05.116-08:00Rock 'n' Roll Heretic: The Life and Times of Rory Tharpe<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkjiL5ziINQ9Y-kcY3ckUUNCh_jcr6GxYsE2luGQNf7B5ZKTHjIVfgV9o4CqeAZCBSYrYoiclDhbpmO3HLTSsXpDQ9FMV16hf1t-ULHNAPHH8lM4_UanATlsLy0NgeS9npv2GfcQ0LAFtF/s1350/Front+cover+RRH.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1350" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkjiL5ziINQ9Y-kcY3ckUUNCh_jcr6GxYsE2luGQNf7B5ZKTHjIVfgV9o4CqeAZCBSYrYoiclDhbpmO3HLTSsXpDQ9FMV16hf1t-ULHNAPHH8lM4_UanATlsLy0NgeS9npv2GfcQ0LAFtF/w266-h400/Front+cover+RRH.jpg" width="266" /></a></i></div><i><br /><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56966778-rock-n-roll-heretic">A novel by Sikivu Hutchinson</a></span></i><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08W24P5QQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4">COMING MARCH 2021</a></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">“Those
white boys on the major labels would never give an inch to a Negro woman
playing race music.”</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">It’s
the late 1970s, and ex-Pentecostal Black female electric guitarist Rory Tharpe
navigates the cutthroat world of corporate rock, dive bars, dusk-to-dawn
recording sessions, and shady contracts as she travels the nation in a
dilapidated tour bus with her bickering, boozing all-male band.
Much-imitated and little-credited, Rory is in a late career tailspin when she goes
on tour with international superstar Jude Justis, a white woman blues-rock
singer who has built a turbulent mega-platinum career out of stealing from Black
musicians. Broke and frustrated by the racism, sexism, and ageism of the rock
boys’ club, Rory warily joins forces with Jude. She then takes a detour through
the painful past she shares with childhood nemesis Divinity Mason Mulvaney, a maverick
pastor at the helm of the mega church enterprise Revivals, Inc. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">A
homage to pioneering guitarist Rosetta Tharpe,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Rock
‘n’ Roll Heretic</span></i> <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">is a bracing
look at the power politics, heartbreak, and hypocrisy confronting a queer Black
woman visionary at the intersection of music and commerce, faith and heresy, in
a segregated music industry that eats its Black artists.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Praise for <i>Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic:</i></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">If you love fearless, bold, unapologetic strong
leads, then <i>Rock ‘n’ Roll Heretic</i> is for you. Paying homage to
the great trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, this book is filled with twists
and turns that will leave you rethinking rock music as you know it. Sikivu, you
have created a masterpiece that will challenge history and entertain readers
for years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">—<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malina_Moye">Malina Moye</a>, electric guitarist, international
recording artist, and co-founder of the Drive Hope Foundation <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><i style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Rock 'n' Roll Heretic</span></i><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">
is a powerful, unflinching, unforgettable, wild ride journey into the struggles
a vigorous Black queer woman artist endures to survive in an industry that does
not want her there. Every daunting step Rory takes towards her rock ambitions
leads her further back to a haunting childhood and Pentecostal past. On the
edge of defeat, her trusty guitar is the armor that guards her sanity, allowing
her to break through the “isms” that threaten to overshadow her contributions
to Rock ‘n’ Roll.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">--<a href="https://www.facebook.com/The.Official.GhettoSongBird/">Samantha “GhettoSongBird”Hollins</a>, Rock ‘n’ Roll singer-songwriter-guitarist</span> </p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-36642907901333798702021-02-07T08:55:00.000-08:002021-02-07T08:55:11.013-08:00Transhealthnow: Uplifting Black Trans/Gender Non-conforming and Nonbinary Youth<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2ywvlPa1j5f9noSLrZzHCnhZAq3Iy8Tame_YZtRZXWXaVAzNxvGvY5l76QW5M9-K7mzm1s5d2KK_gQ5LbhXuODcrznI2dknxH1S5_r8_J3fvxmaRDd6vuy8Xy3EOUTx5YDqFiFQ-h1lY/s1080/trans+panel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="608" data-original-width="1080" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN2ywvlPa1j5f9noSLrZzHCnhZAq3Iy8Tame_YZtRZXWXaVAzNxvGvY5l76QW5M9-K7mzm1s5d2KK_gQ5LbhXuODcrznI2dknxH1S5_r8_J3fvxmaRDd6vuy8Xy3EOUTx5YDqFiFQ-h1lY/w640-h360/trans+panel.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Black parents lead a discussion on affirming, uplifting, and supporting Black trans/gender nonconforming and nonbinary children at the <a href="http://Transhealthnow.com">Transhealthnow.com</a> conference. Sponsored by Colors' LGBTQ Counseling Center with members from the <a href="https://www.meetup.com/Black-LGBTQI-Family-Parents-and-Caregivers-Meetup-Group/">Black LGBTQI+ Parent and Caregiver Group</a>.</p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-27017042927812713252021-01-25T11:33:00.003-08:002021-01-25T11:37:29.672-08:00#Standing4BlackGirls Task Force Survey and Wellness Initiative<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioCBqzLZg2OXdXQy4pTSlcjZ0GEEVSm-AQFiHqo-e227jq0l8o1tIejygIq4nmGeuTtcALBDOjXn6ygcV-HgdR2v3CrImGHluFFqmnQO_JoBGiV-hcQkAurIFq21glXNg8K8H6HIdqK_hj/s2048/S4BG+Survey.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioCBqzLZg2OXdXQy4pTSlcjZ0GEEVSm-AQFiHqo-e227jq0l8o1tIejygIq4nmGeuTtcALBDOjXn6ygcV-HgdR2v3CrImGHluFFqmnQO_JoBGiV-hcQkAurIFq21glXNg8K8H6HIdqK_hj/s320/S4BG+Survey.png" /></a></div><br /><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.96); font-family: "Source Sans Pro"; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">By Sikivu Hutchinson</span><p></p><p><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.96); font-family: "Source Sans Pro"; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Black LGBTQI+ and Black female identified youth have some of the highest rates of sexual violence abuse in the nation, yet seldom receive culturally responsive mental health intervention, and are routinely victim-blamed/shamed and policed by law enforcement, Black churches, families, and schools. Although psychotherapy has gained more mainstream acceptance in communities of color due to the pandemic, Black women and girls who seek out therapy are still burdened with the stigmatizing cultural stereotype that they should be "strong", self-sufficient, and supportive of others before they take care of themselves.</span></p><p><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.96); font-family: "Source Sans Pro"; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">This summer, <a href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org">Women's Leadership Project </a>youth from King-Drew Magnet conducted a wellness survey with over 150 South L.A. youth and adults, focusing on their experiences with sexual violence and harassment. Nearly 70% of Black female sexual violence survivors reported that they had not received mental health intervention (i.e., counseling or therapy) after their experiences. In anecdotal responses provided to WLP youth, African American girls who sought out therapists also reported that they had difficulty finding or being placed with culturally competent Black women practitioners. When they were able to find these practitioners some could not afford their rates. </span></p><p><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.96); font-family: "Source Sans Pro"; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a result, the WLP created the </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/standing4blackgirls?__eep__=6&__cft__[0]=AZUR6GjQAXOwwLP8OJNTMge_f245AzukYpyTbq3EllEnRdrekD-uFanNM_oisf-GadVVNbszezuI2HN7VutNd4RApzICptViRboYxnYB4BQ8Mfv_SyJ9wtkgxwGw6XHhiLX5GjO2hYGnCwJCFCMp3S07-D76eVpO9rZNTiLT4s3Avg&__tn__=*NK-y-R" style="color: #8ead67; font-family: "Source Sans Pro"; font-size: 17px; overflow-wrap: break-word; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;">#Standing4BlackGirls</a><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.96); font-family: "Source Sans Pro"; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Wellness Initiative fund. The fund provides free, culturally responsive, humanist</span><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.96); font-family: "Source Sans Pro"; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and secular individual/group therapy for LGBTQI+ straight/cis&femme Black girls in L.A. County from 16-24 years old. The initiative will begin this month, in partnership with Black women and BIPOC mental health practitioners from <a href="https://openpaths.org/">Open Paths </a>and <a href="https://www.mychoicemypower.com/">My Choice, My Power Counseling</a>. Application info is available here </span><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="font-family: Source Sans Pro;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://bit.ly/3hwrwTi">https://bit.ly/3hwrwTi</a></span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTNkFMXSMwNZut7ZwV1TqdeSRuGTgbHYbvCg04HLtMcj8S_hhC55xKs4dYx6srOvfdraJ8S1ddQQlAncMCsbhf8s0AcQWll9E6NOwiPHHzdfTCYxEFWA0japmO7q0vXMKvJ0n73GK9_rz8/s2048/S4BG+Wellness+Fund+%25287%2529.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTNkFMXSMwNZut7ZwV1TqdeSRuGTgbHYbvCg04HLtMcj8S_hhC55xKs4dYx6srOvfdraJ8S1ddQQlAncMCsbhf8s0AcQWll9E6NOwiPHHzdfTCYxEFWA0japmO7q0vXMKvJ0n73GK9_rz8/s320/S4BG+Wellness+Fund+%25287%2529.png" /></a></div><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.96); font-family: "Source Sans Pro"; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">In addition to this initiative, WLP youth are spearheading a regional Black Girls' task force to address the need for more mental health, social, economic, and educational support resources that are specifically designated for Black girls. As part of this effort, WLP youth launched a survey to collect data and information for the launch of the task force in mid-February (the first meeting will be facilitated in partnership with Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager's office). The survey is for Black and African descent girls between the ages of 12-24. Preliminary results indicate that Black girls are experiencing high rates of trauma, anxiety, and stress related to the pandemic, unemployment, domestic violence, lack of child care and health care, educational disruption, and having to work part-time or full-time to support their families. </span><p></p><p><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.96); font-family: "Source Sans Pro"; font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;">To participate in the survey and find out more about the task force, please see this link </span><span color="rgba(28, 32, 24, 0.8)" style="font-family: Source Sans Pro;"><span style="font-size: 17px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://bit.ly/38U4RNY">https://bit.ly/38U4RNY</a></span></span></p><div><br /></div>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-85102176635284088412021-01-07T09:32:00.005-08:002021-01-07T09:55:19.187-08:00Amerikkkan Bloodlust<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aWN-BF8t09kLX-Pw-nZM68sUuw5JfPjGakwh1xC50Q7CiPWsClbSvYrpvmYk-9miuINJmbUKcu1KYLjhZB2K9SJAU4nnfkoWWE9yX7_-3Sw0cs9Py6_5Kh5VEF7SoABhrzNN9yRfuMuk/s2048/insurrection.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_aWN-BF8t09kLX-Pw-nZM68sUuw5JfPjGakwh1xC50Q7CiPWsClbSvYrpvmYk-9miuINJmbUKcu1KYLjhZB2K9SJAU4nnfkoWWE9yX7_-3Sw0cs9Py6_5Kh5VEF7SoABhrzNN9yRfuMuk/s320/insurrection.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">By Sikivu Hutchinson</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">In 1967, Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael commented, “When you see an individual white boy, y</span><span id="rmm" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">o</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em;">u are not afraid of that individual white boy. What you are afraid of is the power that he represents because behind him stands the local police force, the state militia, the Army and the Navy.” Yesterday’s bloodlust at the Capitol bore out Carmichael’s statement, as well as the power of state violence manifested in the protected bodies of individual white people across gender (white women played a key role in the terrorist attack. According to the DC police, eight of the current arrestees are female and the sole individual who was killed during the attack was a white woman). Black Power exposed the fundamental lie of American “democracy” and its basis in white supremacy, white terrorism, and white imperialism. Black Power, like the Black Lives Matter movement that draws from its legacy, identified the heart of terror in a police state that normalizes white violence via the courts, the jails, law enforcement, public policy, public education, and private capital. Hence, it should have been no surprise that there were no riot police, rubber bullets, tear gas or pepper spray deployment on the protected bodies of white terrorists in contrast to the violent backlash against BLM protestors.</span></p><p class="hz ia fq ib b ic id ie if ig ih ii ij ik il im in io ip iq ir is it iu iv iw dd ef" data-selectable-paragraph="" id="d4c0" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #292929; font-family: charter, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif; font-size: 21px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 32px; margin: 2em 0px -0.46em; word-break: break-word;">A decade ago, after the election of President Barack Obama, white Tea Party terrorists and armed militias stormed state capitols across the nation in resistance to the Affordable Care Act, “illegal” immigration, and delusional threats to the Second Amendment. In townhall after townhall, they ginned up violence and hate against Obama, “criminal” Black communities “on welfare”, and undocumented immigrants while infamously screaming ignorant bullshit like “keep your government hands off my Medicare”. Throughout the rise of both the Tea Party and Trumpism, white pundits across the political spectrum have invoked economic grievance as an explanation for these displays of unadulterated white racism and white supremacy. But the white supremacist terrorism that the entire globe watched on January 6th had nothing to do with white “proletarian” angst or class struggle. It was fueled by the same barbaric anti-Black demonization that fueled the Confederacy, Jim Crow terrorism, and Northern style apartheid. Poor whites, such as those who boarded buses and planes to ransack the Capitol while flying “Don’t Tread on Me” flags, gain capital from white supremacy just as they did in the aftermath of Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 (which, among other things, codified the right of working class whites to assemble, bear arms, and hold property). To all Black folks watching, the Capitol violence was yet another gut punch reminder that being white confers concrete class privilege and carte blanche to commit mayhem on public institutions with impunity. White pundits and politicians who lamented that the assault desecrated Western democracy were soundly smacked down on social media by Black folks who schooled them that Amerikkkan “law and order” has always been forged through the violent domestic <em class="ix" style="box-sizing: inherit;">and</em> global suppression of Black and brown bodies. Even though the superficial targets of the January 6th terrorist uprising were the Capitol and the election certification process, the assertion of Black self-determination, human rights, and social justice — as embodied by last summer's <span style="background-color: transparent;">racial justice uprisings,</span><span style="letter-spacing: -0.003em;"> Black mobilization around the presidential election and the Georgia Senate race — were the ultimate targets.</span></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1021643873630667397.post-29886594194044705562020-12-11T20:28:00.000-08:002020-12-11T20:28:27.386-08:00Black LGBTQI+ Youth and Mental Health Resilience in the Pandemic<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVyRRAunEhpV3UybN_UCkiZ5zFJCgHnc5hS6BrxmayTtWsv82qZKnClsIbQx7zyPzm5ZR7zZXMMqhnaDZC_UVNVF6WeTSl5xquWnYRIGnJd8Lofhmzo2_oeF7fP21cJkLan9NDLx_wW0z1/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="300" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVyRRAunEhpV3UybN_UCkiZ5zFJCgHnc5hS6BrxmayTtWsv82qZKnClsIbQx7zyPzm5ZR7zZXMMqhnaDZC_UVNVF6WeTSl5xquWnYRIGnJd8Lofhmzo2_oeF7fP21cJkLan9NDLx_wW0z1/" width="320" /></a></div><br />By Sikivu Hutchinson<p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After
the four-year barrage of homophobic and transphobic policy rollbacks by the
Trump administration, the Biden-Harris administration’s pledge to push
queer-affirming civil rights policies offers a ray of hope. Before the
pandemic, queer BIPOC communities were already besieged by rampant
unemployment, homelessness, and educational disparities. <a href="https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/508359-covid-19-is-quietly-ravaging-the-lgbtq-community"><span style="color: blue;">Since the pandemic</span></a> was declared in
March, <a href="https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/COVID_19_EconImpact-CommunitiesColor052020d.pdf"><span style="color: blue;">38%</span></a> of LGBTQI+ workers have had their hours
reduced (while 34% of the overall population have) and 22% have become
unemployed. Biden has prioritized “corrective action” such as reversing Trump’s
ban on transgender military personnel and aggressively advocating for the
passage of the stalled <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equality_Act_(United_States)"><span style="color: blue;">Equality Act</span></a>, which would amend the federal Civil
Rights act to prohibit discrimination against LGBTQI+ individuals in
employment, housing, public education, and public accommodations. Currently, 29
states do not have LGBTQI+ civil rights protections. Building on campaign
promises to lift up transgender issues, the administration would also increase
violence protection funding for the trans community and seek an end to the
harmful practice of conversion therapy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
pandemic has brutally exposed the nexus between health access and economic
inequality for queer communities of color. LGBTQI+ youth of color have borne
the brunt of this fallout. While health care access is abysmal for communities
of color overall, LGBTQI+ communities of color are least likely to receive
culturally competent, quality health care. Practitioner ignorance of and
disrespect for transgender and nonbinary patients are contributing factors, as
health care training and medical protocols are still designed to meet the needs
of cis-straight patients. School closures and the downsizing of other support
facilities have taken an especially large toll on Black and Latinx LGBTQI+
youth who are more likely to experience family rejection and separation. As one
advocate <a href="http://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/how-covid-19-is-impacting-the-lgbtq-community/"><span style="color: blue;">note</span></a>d, “Many LGBTQ students rely on student
health insurance for mental health services and other healthcare needs,
including hormone replacement therapy. All students are struggling with social
connectedness and belonging, but isolation may be especially detrimental for
LGBTQ students, particularly those who lack loving familial relationships.”
This viewpoint is amplified by the pre-pandemic <a href="https://www.glsen.org/"><span style="color: blue;">Gay Lesbian Student
Education Network</span></a> (GLSEN) and <a href="http://nbjc.org/"><span style="color: blue;">National Black Justice Institute</span></a> (NBJI) <a href="https://www.glsen.org/sites/default/files/2020-06/Erasure-and-Resilience-Black-2020.pdf"><span style="color: blue;">report</span></a> “Erasure and Resilience: Black LGBTQ
Youth in Schools”. Published earlier this year, the report concluded that the
intersectional trauma that Black LGBTQI+ students routinely experienced with
racism, homophobia, and transphobia was amplified by disconnection from health
and social safety net resources. While in school, Black queer and trans
students disproportionately rely on supports provided by counselors, health
practitioners, ally teachers, and queer-affirming organizations like the Gender
and Sexuality Alliance Network (GSA). A majority of students who participated
in the GLSEN/NBJI survey consistently heard anti-queer statements at their
schools. As a result, “Black LGBTQ students who experienced higher levels of
victimization based on race/ethnicity (as well as sexuality and gender) at
school were more than twice as likely to skip school because they felt unsafe.”
These students also experienced lower levels of “school belonging” and greater
levels of depression.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINt15lcbwM5Z5YNSCzNBYC5GRDE6z7TazPGZio-enPpU4J3G3pWvH_vSUFcg8oQ2XQzVKVDsdbiL8rg-V2NWHBtrRmuhFr4CfGie-w-dTfsFxnTewi0JSN73Q8CFznVcvfxaziLQYDOWr/s874/erasure-and-resilience-black-thumbnail-672x874.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="874" data-original-width="672" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhINt15lcbwM5Z5YNSCzNBYC5GRDE6z7TazPGZio-enPpU4J3G3pWvH_vSUFcg8oQ2XQzVKVDsdbiL8rg-V2NWHBtrRmuhFr4CfGie-w-dTfsFxnTewi0JSN73Q8CFznVcvfxaziLQYDOWr/s320/erasure-and-resilience-black-thumbnail-672x874.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">For
Black queer students, not having access to therapy can potentially lead to a
vicious cycle of invisibility and erasure. In the GLSEN/NBJI report, over 90%
of Black queer students heard the word “gay” used negatively. It was also the
norm for students to hear negative comments about gender expression, as well as
comments about not acting “masculine” or “feminine” enough. Women’s Leadership
Project (WLP) South L.A. students who surveyed students at their school
reported similar experiences, expressing dismay about transphobia among peers
they believed would be accepting. As one Black GSA-WLP youth said, “Youth of
color who were born in the colors of the rainbow flow to heaven’s gates four
times faster than anybody else because we lack emotional and mental support.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The
cumulative effect of these experiences can lead to trauma and long term
depression. Due to systemic mental health barriers and faith-based stigmas
(e.g., messaging that emphasizes prayer and trusting god/Jesus as magic bullets
for dealing with trauma), only 39% of Black queer youth have sought help from
mental health professionals. By contrast, nearly 47% of non-black LGBTQI+ youth
have. In addition, Black LGBTQI+ students who attended majority Black schools
were less likely to have GSAs than those in majority white schools. Having a
GSA at their school increased Black students’ feelings of school belonging and
helped stave off leaving school.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">These
stressors reverberate throughout life. A recent <a href="https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/pathways-into-poverty/"><span style="color: blue;">study</span></a> by UCLA’s Williams Institute concluded
that anti-LGBTQI+ attitudes in families and the workplace were major
contributors to high LGBTQI+ poverty rates. In addition, the absence of
childhood support for LGBTQI+ folks who <i>did not</i> grow up poor
is one of the biggest determinants of adult poverty later in life. And for both
older and younger LGBTQI+ folks grappling with HIV, COVID “has disrupted the
health system, making it much more challenging for people living with chronic conditions
like HIV to see their healthcare providers in person or feel safe going to a
pharmacy to obtain their medications.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Going
forward, public policy and legislation changes under the Biden-Harris
administration, and a potentially Democratic-controlled Senate, will be
critical. But in the midst of pandemic surges that weigh most heavily on BIPOC
communities, schools and families must act immediately to ensure that Black
LGBTQI+ youth are provided with the social and academic supports they need to
thrive.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Youth
serving BIPOC LGBTQI+ community resources in the L.A. area and beyond:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">· <a href="https://gsanetwork.org/resources/gsa-network-of-california-socal/"><span style="color: blue;">GSA</span></a> support for LGBTQI+ students is
available virtually in partnership with school advisers and mentors<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">·
The Standing4BlackGirls coalition and <a href="http://www.womensleadershipla.org/"><span style="color: blue;">WLP</span></a> will
launch a 2021 wellness fund and task force focused on providing counseling and
therapy for Black queer and cis/straight female-identified youth and biannual
LGBTQI Youth of Color Institutes<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">· <a href="https://www.bravetrails.org/"><span style="color: blue;">Brave Trails</span></a> LGBTQ
camp offers year-round virtual programming for middle school, high school and
college age youth<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">· <a href="https://colorsyouth.org/"><span style="color: blue;">Colors LGBTQ</span></a> counseling
service provides free therapy for youth in the Los Angeles area.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="color: #292929; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 16.0pt; letter-spacing: -.05pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">· <a href="https://mirrormemoirs.networkforgood.com/"><span style="color: blue;">Mirror
Memoirs</span></a> is a “national storytelling and organizing project
uplifting the narratives, healing and leadership of LGBTQI+ Black and
indigenous people and other people of color who survived child sexual abuse, as
a strategy to end rape culture and other forms of oppression and injustice”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 24.0pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 24.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">Twitter </span><a href="https://twitter.com/sikivuhutch" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;">@Sikivuhutch</a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>Sikivuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18421641001672980440noreply@blogger.com