Femmesurrection is an artist and historian percolating in the United States. Their work focuses on the intersections of labor, gender, sexuality, and violence within the African Diaspora. They are currently working on "she has a pulse," a sound, visual, and oral history project exploring vanity and violence as survival strategies for Black femmes.
"she has a pulse" debuts tomorrow! 7pm at A-Space (47th and Baltimore Ave). I've been asking black femmes questions like "what makes you feel possible?" Come hear what they had to say. (at A-Space Anarchist Community Center)
My guest mix for QVNTESSA. A love note to Maya Young, Veronica Banks Cano, Monica Leora, Lucia Anderson. And to CeCe and the women who are living, for their resilience.
Den amerikanska vänstern skvalpar i svallvågorna av två stora kamprörelser: Occupy och #BlackLivesMatter (BLM). Medan de flesta verkar vara överens om att Occupy helt tydligt hör till det förflutna är det mindre klart var #BlackLivesMatter ligger i ”kampcykeln”. Nyligen publicerade kollektivet Endnotes en omfattande artikel om rörelsen där kravallerna i Baltimore i våras beskrivs som en vind som återantände rörelsens kämpaglöd. Hur som helst är det klart att kampen mot polisvåld och rasism är långt ifrån över. Även om hashtaggen #BlackLivesMatter skulle minska i betydelse kommer nya rörelser att efterträda den. Frågorna som Occupy lyfte fram har inte heller minskat i betydelse, utan de håller sig kvar i den amerikanska debatten inte minst då USA närmar sig ett valår som ser ut att bli ganska märkligt. Både till höger och vänster har kandidater i det republikanska respektive demokratiska partiets yttre falanger överraskat stort i opinionsmätningarna. Bernie Sanders valkampanj delar
Last month I did an interview w/NyTid a Leftist Finnish publication about #BlackLivesMatter the uses of hashtags, Occupy, and the U.S. Presidential Election (*upside down smiley emoji x3*). English translations (my original text) are below:
Kc Itohan’s involvement with #BlackLivesMatter is being Black, they aren’t an activist and they hate marches. In 2011-2012 Kc participated in Occupy Philly, which led to them forging important relationships with some leftists, but mostly Occupy Philly was a liberal cesspool.
1. Has the movement that identified under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter run its course and if so, when and why did it end? What shapes do you expect similar uprisings in the future to take? #BlackLivesMatter has not run its course. So long as people are marching and protesting the oppression of the Black proletariat, #BlackLivesMatter will be relevant, both as a chant, and a hashtag. The ways people are using social media to organize events and share their experiences, necessitates some degree of categorization. #BlackLivesMatter is a way to identify the struggle, to categorize, and to record it.
Toward the end of 2014, there was a shift in the way people identified and categorized the Black struggle. Initially, conversations around #BlackLivesMatter were dominated by masculine narratives. Phrases like “It could be your son, brother, father” were popular along with urges to “Stop killing off our men.” Articles about Black men being an endangered species were widely circulated. However, in spite of this heightened awareness, people were not putting the same amount of energy into acknowledging the Black girls, femmes, and women who experience violence at the hands of police, racists, and vigilantes. I witnessed women being shut down at marches for mentioning that their experiences are also relevant. During this period, Black women were prompted to “wait [our] turn,” or to stop distracting from the real issue with feminist rhetoric.
These tensions gave rise to #SayHerName, a response to #BlackLivesMatter (when all the women are White and all of the Blacks are men). In late December 2014, Black Women Matter was published. A zine dedicated to eleven Black girls and women who were murdered by police between 1998 and 2014. Black Women Matter served as an important reminder that Black femmes are also considered dangerous, suspicious, and worthless.
In 2015, #SayHerName became more popular. Foremost, it has been used to acknowledge and pay homage to the 22 transwomen in the U.S. who were slain in 2015, the murders that were reported. It is because of #SayHerName that the world mourned and celebrated Sandra Bland. While #SayHerName is primarily used to acknowledge Black femmes, girls, and women, who have already been snuffed out, it is sometimes applied to those of us who are burdened and beaten while living. As 2015 came to a close, #NotYetDead emerged as a digital celebration of Black femmes, girls, and women who are Alive. Participants were prompted to take a selfie with a purple hued background that read “ALIVE” at the top, and post with both #SayHerName and #NotYetDead.
All of these shifts were critical. #BlackLivesMatter will still be useful, but #SayHerName and #NotYetDead are specific and relevant to so many people.
2. What are the most significant impacts that #BlackLivesMatter had on lives of different bodies in the US as well as on the sphere of institutional politics? On one hand, #BlackLivesMatter is a form of categorization to keep track of dead Black bodies, and the living Black bodies who are abused and mistreated under capitalism and White supremacy. On the other, #BlackLivesMatter has become branded, so people are literally wearing garments with “#BlackLivesMatter” on their bodies. I even saw a picture of a White guy on the subway wearing a “Black Lives Matter” t-shirt. It has become popular for non-Black people to care about Black people in appearance because that does not require them to do any tangible work. Similarly, in institutional politics, Presidential candidates can make promises to garner votes and quell the BLM movement, but they are not obligated to keep those promises.
3. What are the most significant impacts that Occupy had on lives of different bodies in the US as well as on the sphere of institutional politics? Occupy has had varied impacts across the United States. From my experiences in Philly, Occupy served as a space for people with common ideas to meet and organize around whatever struggle they felt was central. Though generally, Occupy Philly was an intense and mostly volatile experience. The movement suffered from rampant racism, misogyny, ableism, and so many other oppressive tendencies. On the very first day of Occupy Philly some White men called two Black women “niggers.” When these Black women talked about the incident at the general assembly they were asked to leave for being disruptive. That incident is indicative of so much of the Occupy culture. Due to these volatile experiences, Occupy forced people to draw lines and determine who would be on their side come some sort of revolution or popular uprising.
4. Looking specifically at the current presidential election campaigns, what kind of impact do you think these two movements had on the race? Do you expect any positive feedback out of the candidates themselves in terms of the energies and affects that fuelled the above mentioned movements? Occupy is definitely less relevant now, but the ways it was repressed and evicted by the State, does however show candidates ways to repress social movements through law enforcement. Although, the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, primarily a critique of police executions, might change repression strategies for some Presidential candidates. Donald Trump really doesn’t pretend to care about any person of color on the planet Earth. But Bernie Sanders does, he probably owns some Black Lives Matter garments, he’s definitely into the façade of caring about Black plight in America. Hillary Clinton is trying so hard to appeal to young people, it hurts. It was incredible to see BLM protestors disrupt her speech in Atlanta, for the sake of being visible and disruptive. It’s also important to acknowledge that no candidate can care about the lives and well being of Black people, and be President of the United States. This country thrives on White supremacy and the subjugation of Black and Brown people, poor people, migrants, and so many other oppressed groups. If a candidate says they support Black Lives Matter then they support the destruction of the powers that oppress us, and if they support total destruction they probably wouldn’t be running for office in the first place.
5. Looking at the Sanders campaign in particular, what were the core reasons he ended up at a crash course with some of the activists from the formalised Black Lives Matter movement and what kind of resolution, if any, do you think there’s been to that conflict?
Bernie Sanders has recognized Black Lives Matter more than any other candidate. During the Democratic debate in Iowa, he was asked “Do Black lives matter or do all lives matter,” he said “Black lives matter.” Sanders went on to cite popular atrocities against Black people, followed by a call to “combat institutional racism, from top to bottom,” and reforms in criminal justice. Recognition can be seductive, but it’s no resolution. It can be tempting for formal organizers to seize this moment of recognition and negotiate reforms, but Black Lives Matter cannot accept reform. Black Lives Matter and to a lesser extent Occupy, have shown us that there are concrete ways to engage and interrogate the government without voting. Baltimore rioted in the name of Freddie Gray, and six police officers have been charged for their involvement in his death. People cannot vote those kinds of results.
When Fetty asked I was collapsing somewhere between yes and no. Mostly just collapsing, traveling and crying to Fetty Wap on the toilet of the airport bathroom.
a short list of strategies I wrote out for Mask Magazine. Fetty Wap, a good sob in the airport bathroom, and a bad date prompted my recovery from disappointment and loneliness. <3
this time exploring The Escape, bodies, and other horrors.
heavily influenced by what I imagine the pages of Kindred sound like, and reading about ~The Failures of My Body~ repeatedly throughout history “and in all of them she is called Venus.”
thinking about the ways being "annoying" is a useful strategy. forcing myself to be seen on your social media tl over and over and over and over again. or maybe it's not me, but an image of Gynnya McMillen or Janese Talton Jackson posted 600x in a row. and ppl might wonder "when will this bitch chill?" but i am also wondering "when will black femmes stop being killed?"
homos are talking about a mercury retrogay, so i ask what that means for a Taurus in Mercury. jasmine says it means I shouldn't argue with anyone, and someone will die. for a moment i thought "damn who finna die?" but then i remembered someone is always dying, unfortunately that thought helped me feel less uneasy. i usually don't argue with people because that requires a lot of energy, but i am also just a petty bitch who will remember all the corny shit someone has done to me. some position of stars in the galaxy at the exact moment i was pushed outta my mommy's pussy have determined that i am stubborn, but slow to react to people's bullshit. so, i dont argue.
there are other reasons not to argue. lessons i have learned from being a woman who hates men. men have told me to be strategic about when, where, and why i cuss them out. so i am also strategic about submission. sometimes it is best not to argue to not be killed. sometimes it is best not to argue to evade abuse. sometimes it is best not to argue when i am not feeling brave.
tila tequila is tweeting about #flatearth and #earthprison. her brave arguments challenge an episteme about a round, rotating earth, and whether or not we can escape this miserable hell. im not sure about #flatearth, but i have felt imprisoned by this earth and its inhabitants for a long time.
jasmine said "someone will die," but tila tequila says that "When you die and go towards the light your soul ends up being recycled at the moon and then is beamed back to earth as a trap. #EarthPrison" earth as a rotating hellscape, with No Exit.
Why did God give me my talent?™ @femmesurrection - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
vaporwave
2087
izzy806
gummygunk
stormborns
romaincrisis
areudirty
dailybridgerton
yousharknotpass