Mizery Loves Company
Mizery Loves Company rocking a set at the end of For The Love of Black Womyn @ Howard University.
For the Love of Black Womyn: Reclaiming the Radical Tradition of Black Feminism @ Howard University, 2/26/2013.
2 weeks ago the national arts and activism group CultureStrike presented me with the lovely opportunity to shadow and photograph a group of undocumented youth and self-described DREAMers working alongside artist Miguel Luciano.
Luciano held workshops photographed undocumented participants and their allies with the goal of creating massive kites sporting each individuals portrait to fly on the national mall, high above the symbols of America’s indifference to these young people.
“While the kites can physically transcend a fence or border from the sky, they can also address non-physical borders metaphorically,” Luciano told the CultureStrike blog. “It is a symbolic action to raise our own images into the sky and celebrate our dreams, desires, and indeed our right to fly and be free. These are universal desires, and can be applied to community struggles throughout the world.”
Some images from last weeks Black Friday Walmart Strike in Landover, MD, in which dozens of workers left their positions to call for better working conditions. Amidst threats from Walmart bosses for retaliation against striking workers, nearly 500 supporters took to the streets (and parking lots) to express solidarity and show strength in defense of the workers.
The Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), called for the strike after numerous unfair labor practices (ULPs) the company committed against worker and in protest of Walmart’s ongoing attempts to silence workers for speaking out for better jobs. This strike followed successful direct action by warehouse workers and seafood workers along the company’s vast supply chain.
The only solution is for Walmart to sit down with all of its workers, from factory to store, to collectively negotiate better conditions for the people the company depends on.
WalMart associates are organizing for better working conditions and plan to go on strike Black Friday 2012. We as an artist community support them.
Join us in using your visual skills to support a national movement against exploitation.
http://artistsvswalmart.tumblr.com/
I was fortunate to be able to sit in for part of a recent workshop collaboration between anti-street harassment leaders from Collective Action for Safe-Spaces and Defend Yourself’s empowering defense trainers. A group of young women participating in the workshop learned skills to help them prevent, heal from, and end violence and abuse. The group began by sharing stories around their personal experiences with street harassment which later led into a cathartic sign making process that allowed the group to creatively respond to would-be harassers with their own 2 cents..
We had a mini photo-shoot of the women with their signs and then the group went on to learn some practical street-defense techniques ala’ Lauren Taylor, Defend Yourself’s lead trainer and co-founder of My Sister’s Place, DC’s shelter for battered women and their children, and who was also an organizer of the 1978 March to Stop Violence Against Women (DC’s first Take Back the Night March).
This group of portraits is meant to be spread awareness of gender and LGBTQ targeted street harassment and assault, and as a model to raise consciousness and confront these problems in our own communities. Please spread, replicate, and support groups like Collective Action for Safe Spaces and Defend Yourself!
Images from the We Shall Not Be Moved rally and march in response to an incident on July 22, in which two men were physically assaulted while exiting their vehicle in the 1900 block of 3rd Street NE D.C. Their assailants shouted homophobic slurs before punching and kicking the victims. The march called for an end to violence against LGBTQ people in our city and rallied support for creating safe communities for all. Representatives from Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (GLOV), the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department, the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, the DC Office of LGBT Affairs, SMYAL, and the Critical Incident Team.
According to District police, hate crimes based upon the victims’ perceived sexual orientation in 2012 are 47% higher than at the same time last year:
Saturday, July 28th 2012 a coalition of community groups, citizen activists, and environmental organizations 5,000 people strong gathered on the West Capitol lawn to protest their mutual concern over oil and gas drilling in our communities. This protest marked the first time a national coalition has gathered specifically in regards to gas fracking.
http://www.stopthefrackattack.org/
