Some bitty thoughts on Resisting Racism: Queer Liberation is Collective Liberation Workshop

Jenna and Damien (facilitators of the workshop) and Ian (Provdience-based queer organizer and artist extraordinary) celebrating the warm feeling of "woah, we talked about some heavy shit" after the workshop.

Traveling organizers!
what a thought!
what a dream!

Last weekend Jenna Peters-Golden and Damien Luxe blew in to town for a weekend of doing. The two bad-asses facilitated a refreshingly (not being sarcastic! truthfully!) 4 hour long workshop about how racism manifests itself and what queer liberation has to do with all forms of liberation.
It was refreshing cause it didn't have to end as soon as we got started.
15 people came, which is wildly wonderful considering the time commitment. It speaks to the hunger of people to connect the queer movement to broader struggle.

We almost had enough time to and enough detail to get really specific with our dreams. One exercise had use imagine the collaboration of two historical activist groups who never actually had anything to so with each other. I was in the group combining the American Indian Movement and the Boston Women's Movement. This was surprisingly fruitful, but so rushed that we couldn't get very creative and I felt anxious the whole time about getting a chance to speak or about one person talking the whole time. So, note to all facilitators: give lots of time to the creative side of things! I felt like most time was spent on clever tricks for understanding racism, taught by the folks in the front of the room to the folks in the back of the room. Because it was an audience of activists, I think more time could have been spent sharing our own opinions and experiences, and spent on building alternatives. Remember y'all, i'm in a hyper-action-ey mood lately, so i guess take this criticism with a grain of salt. or don't.

There were almost only white people in attendance, which we didn't mention, but I just mentioned, so there. Is there a growing attempt on the part of white activists to get real about their anti-racist work? Is this just guilt? Is this just a tiny subsect of people who were already convinced that there's such a thing as modern racism? Where is this coming from and where is it going to?
My hope is that more folks are waking up to the pervasiveness of racism in the United States, that more folks want to figuring out how they can DO something about it versus comment on it often, that folks are increasingly seeing how racism operates at every level of society and identity.

What is the conversation around race in organizations and communities that you are a part of? What are the actions people are taking? 

I'm particularly interested in groups that aren't explicitly anti-racist, such as feminist groups and queer groups - are y'all organizing around race?

Fuck This; or how I feel on Youtube; Or Sexism is more than a Feeling

This was set off by a conversation with my father. He was complaining that he'd heard all about this "war on women" thing, but couldn't see how women's rights are being particularly eroded right now, why there's a war on women specifically at this moment in time.

I answered that it's harder to get an abortion now than it was ten years ago. That one in six women get raped. That women still get paid an average of 77 cents to a man's dollar, less if you're a woman of color. All these arguments seemed to fall flat on him - those were issues of access, of economics, not gender. Those were long-standing issues that have gotten better, not worse. None of those things are rights that the national government has impeded.

I realized that I need more facts in my toolbelt. I need numbers, ratios, trends, graphs that help break down the invisible oppression that mediates most women's lives, killing them, raping them, preventing them from realizing their dreams, keeping them from health, love, and intimacy. Ok.

 I will begin compiling my own and create a post with the most poignant information (i'll cite whoever sent me the info), so we can all use this in our toolbelt of education. Please send your factoids (cited if possible) my way.

 Re-post this or respond, and we'll make a great resource for everyone!

In the meantime, here are some interesting youtube trends I've noticed. I was really excited to find Anita Sarkeesian's series, Tropes vs. Women. Get's into some of the nifty bullshit I'm almost entirely used to. So I get all excited and then start clicking on links that pop up on the page - featured videos, etc. At first I'm thinking - wow, Tropes vs. Women is so smart, so well produced, and it has so many views! Until I noticed how many views these other videos were getting.
Note how youtube works: you see an opening image, a title, and the number of views. With that in mind, check out these popular videos and imagine what sort of culture results in these numbers.

#4 The Evil Demon Seductress (Tropes vs. Women) : 95,978 views

#1 The Manic Pixie Dream Girl (Tropes vs. Women) : 145,746 views

Anti Feminist : 326,101 views

Mumbai Girl Forced in Jungle : 740,762 views

 

Detroit: Yeah, But... and why I'm so tired

Two other people were also couchsurfing at the Goldengate Restoration Project. They were around my age, early twenties, lived in DC. And I can't stop thinking about what one of them said the first night we met.

 

I asked her what she thought about the AMC (she hadn't been yet) and she responded "The AMC is cool, but it's problematic."
Not Detroit enough.
Only a certain kind of person comes.


And it made my heart sink. Like sink. Suddenly I was barely breathing to stave off the collapse. I wanted to cry but my face was so moist from humidity that it felt superfluous.




Will it ever be enough? Everything is too narrow, too broad, too radical, too reformist. I don't want to discount these problems, in fact I want to live inside them, every damn day. But shit. When do we get to sink deep into our trying; sigh and say "we're doing our best" and not mean it as a cop-out? Cause let's be real - that's all we've ever been doing and if we can't celebrate it right now then when the hell do we get to celebrate at all?

Yea yea yea we're always pushing, but that isn't the same thing as not being there yet.

Bus to Detroit Reading: As a Weapon In the Hands of the Restless Poor

Sunset on the first of three buses to Detroit: 3 hours down, 15 hours to go

"Numerous forces—hunger, isolation, illness, landlords, police, abuse, neighbors, drugs, criminals, and racism, among many others—exert themselves on the poor at all times and enclose them, making up a “surround of force” from which, it seems, they cannot escape. I had come to understand that this was what kept the poor from being political and that the absence of politics in their lives was what kept them poor. I don’t mean “political” in the sense of voting in an election but in the way Thucydides used the word: to mean activity with other people at every level, from the family to the neighborhood to the broader community to the city-state."


This is a quote from an article sent to me by the ever-learning Sam Tarakajian in Harper's article "II. As a Weapon in the Hands of the Restless Poor." by Earl Shorris

I'm thinking about this definition of "political." Does the commonly understood bounds of the "political" mean that all emphasis is put on raising engagement with voting booths? could an expansion of our understanding of where the political takes place = an expansion of civic engagement? work with people where they are, in the many arenas in which life takes place, instead of this already-too-abstract-and-precious sport called electoral politics? 

I'm also finding it breathtaking how unflinchingly Shorris claims a direct link between poverty and political (all sorts of political) alienation. Don't know why, it's just hitting me hard to see it stated almost like a math equation. 

Also also, this casts a whole new light on the feminist project to reclaim the "personal" as "political."

Every space in which humans interact is a political space. Every moment we think or act we are inventing society, inventing political climates.  In lieu of this article, the lines are drawn ever more clearly: gender liberation IS class liberation. The sort of arguments that have kept women from playing economic ball are deeply linked to the behavior that keep all poor people poor. Discounting everyday life. Waiting and trusting and believing only in electoral politics. Denying the possibility of a politics that involves those not already privileged enough to have a seat on the ballot. 

Noooooooooow, as for other thoughts on this article... complicated. The article is mostly about an experimental class program where people in poverty took a rigorous course in philosophy, the idea being that learning about how to think, how to reflect, is the real first step out of poverty. Let's just say I have a problem with the curriculum. And the analysis. A curriculum based solely on and taught solely by wealthy white men? Yeah, that has defined culture for a long time, but only in the eyes of the elite. They missed out an a great opportunity to expand past this reverence of the same power structures that have confined societal thinking for so long. To connect with the roots of the people IN in the class, not continue demanding that everyone lay aside their histories and learn that value and knowledge is something that somebody else, somebody with money and skin privilege, gets to make up. 


Also, I think there was a major flaw in the conclusion of the experiment. There seems to be a lot of back-patting at the end - this many students are attending college, that many students are employed. But was that just due to the thinking ability these folks gained in philosophy class? Could it be the connections they formed to people in the system (most students ended up attending Bard, the college that partly sponsored the program)? Could it be that they were treated as scholars, as worthwhile, as more than society's burden? Could it be that what this class did was simply not treat them as poor and give them the same inside loopholes that folks already attending college prep schools automatically have? I think that the author needs to do a bit of a privilege analysis on the things beyond the textbook that happen for most kids who don't live in poverty. I think this experiment was still a total success, cause it does seem like the participants are doing well, but the factors of success need to be reconsidered.


 But I will let y'all read for yourself and maybe we can talk about it more on this here blog. The last sentence sent chills all through my body though, so try and make it to the end.

Queer Pride! Insurgent queer fabulosity shouts out from Providence's Gay Pride Parade, 6/17

This month was Pride Month! Rhode Island has its very own massive Pride Parade, which is one of the best days of the year to be downtown. Everyone is excited to see you. Are we in this together? Not even a question.

BUT

(and not queer buttz)

As is the case in most cities I've been to, the LGBTQ scene is dominated by LGB folks and is increasingly corporate. The scene almost always takes place in bars, i.e. youth-free zones dedicated primarily to mating and alcohol. Pride Parades the world over are being sponsors by corporations responsible for the nasty capitalism that leaves so many queers and tradespeople in the streets. Has Pride lost its radical roots?

Nahuh. Cause the radical queers are coming! As a part of Queer Lil Rhody's month 'o' fun, an insurgent (non-permit-paying) queer faction joined the festivities at pride. This culminated in a crazy fun youth-organized, corporate-music-less by-donation partay. I don't feel like the insurgency was aggressive as much as it was instructive. Many folks seemed overwhelmingly pumped to see us, cause after all, marriage licenses aside, this shit is revolutionary. 

Parade Prep Party!

Parade Time!

Find out more about CeCe Mcdonald,
the target of racist transphobic attacks being incarnated for self-defense
http://supportcece.wordpress.com/

Oh dang, these folks made me cry. Youth Pride Rhode Island was fierce beyond reason!

Here's the poster from the Queer Dance Party that rocked the end of the night! 

and had very nice cake!

poster by Meg Powers

Great amazingness everyone! 

I really don't even know much more than that it was crazy fun, and having fun is half the battle.

Unite? and Fight!

I wasn't comfortable, necessarily.

Poster by Jenine Bressner

Not the way I usually am in these sorts of things: all fired up, all action-planning, all here-we-are-and-aint-it-cool-that-we-have-the-answers. I found my breath often held, slightly, partially engaged and partially waiting to see what would happen next. 

Last Thursday the Rhode Island Anti-Sexism League and Queer Lil Rhody hosted Unite & Fight! A Forum on Queer Liberation and Feminism at Libertalia Autonomous Space. This panel was a part of Queer Lil Rhody's month of radical queer events, a massively awesome fest of queerness that has rocked Providence's lil June socks off. There's been a youth-organized dance party, a political poster-making workshop, 8 films, a farm day, and so much more that I've given up listing each thing. Basically the queer community in Providence is popping and it's extremely delicious.

So back to that circle of folks sitting together and talking about how, why, when, and what is up with the union of queer liberation and feminism. So many important concepts were brought to light, but I want to focus on that slight discomfort that crept in to this seemingly obvious discussion. Turns out, uniting is more complicated than a hand shake and an agreement that gender oppression sucks. The discomfort I am speaking of came from the very raw realization that many people in the room did not in fact share the same politics, or the same priorities, or the same reasons for being there. This is true for any group of people hanging out, but often in activist circles we cling to our categories of oppression and hope that broad titles; "feminism," "queer liberation," etc; will keep us all convinced that we are in the same boat. 

How do we organize people whose priorities often fail to coincide, in fact sometimes contradict? One participant, who was queer-identified and male-bodied*, shared his first-time activism story: his mother was an anti-choice activist and he too became involved. He said that many of his beliefs had not changed since then, but he still wanted to stand in solidarity with women. He said this to a room scattered with some of the fiercest pro-choice activists I know. Did I cringe? Of course. But instead of jumping down his throat, the response was one of gratefulness. Grateful, because he went out on a limb to share his beliefs to a room full of those who fight that very belief. Grateful, because he broke the ice in a conversation that for a large part assumed we all already agreed. Grateful, because now we could get real about the challenges we face in movement-building in the real world. This might be one of the biggest ideological chasms I've seen accepted, openly, in a room brimming with political passion.

I have been reading the classic collection of essays, This Bridge Called My Back. These essays were written by radical women of color in the late '70s, and the collection addresses head-on the issue of assumed unity in a movement that in fact contains many differences. White, middle-class women's priorities are not all women's priorities. Experiences get excluded and oppression reiterated when we refuse to acknowledge these differences. It is essential that we stand alongside each other in struggle, but to claim unity numbs us to the complexity of our struggles. This assumed unity damned the women's movement of the 60's and 70's to a limited, elitist and fundamentally racist shell of what it could have been. 

This book helped me freak out with happy when tensions arose in the room last Thursday. There we were, feeling in real-time what it means to hold differences side by side without shying away. The discomfort of a situation that ain't so simple is the exact sort of discomfort that must be embraced if we are to build tolerance and respect and, ultimately, change. We will never all agree on every bullet point, but we can create tools for respecting each others' struggles and fighting together. This does not just apply to queer liberationists and feminists, but to every gradation of identity and struggle. The discussion was a meditation in listening that was sorely missed from most Occupy spaces I participated in, where the desperate rush to solidarity swept differences under the table.

This is exciting. If we can, within our own activist communities, finally start sitting with discomfort so that we can push through to understanding; if we can swallow our pride and our fears and allow people to actually be different from ourselves without pushing them away; if we can cut the politically correct bullishit and start speaking frankly about what keeps us from fully loving each other, then I am convinced liberation is unstoppable. 

The brilliant panelists and moderators blowing everyone's minds

Also, this is unrelated to the meta-conversation tone of the rest of this post, but I can't talk about the Unite & Fight panel without sharing panelist Malcolm Shank's response to a debate about the merits of radicalism versus reform: "I come from a more social services perspective... Helping people survive is the most radical sort of reform you can do."

* Male-Bodied: A term used to recognize a person who was assigned a male sex at birth, or who identifies themselves as having had/has a male body.