Latinx pop art does not allow itself to be limited by a single origin nor a single narrative this is perfectly explained through different muralisms, graffiti, tattoos, street art, and more. This art is created out of the lived realities of respected communities and experiences which is why so often we see this correlated with civil rights work. It calls upon justice against, racism, classism, patriarchy, white supremacy, touches immigration, environmentalism, and more. And while all these concepts might be social construct these pop artivisms are a reminder that they have real consequences to the bodies that wear said labels and shows a sense of community. Type lettering was able to unite communities across the country from its origins in New York all the way to the LA barrios. And just as the artist has been said lettering or graffiti began to be racialized and criminalized classified as dangerous gang activity; instead of what they were really trying to say which was the signifier of a community of pride of knowing where you belonged as opposed to where you felt excluded. Yet through that, they became even more ostracised and targeted by the already existing police presence. The best part about graffiti and other street arts is that it becomes accessible to anyone in the area and can create inspiration in another person to pursue their passion regardless of what it was. Something otherwise impossible had it not been for street art and its criminalized origins. Streetart isn't always something plastered on the side of a building it can also exist in the ways of performance as explored through in the Asco interviews a group of Chicanos during the movement and the ways in which they too were criticized both by those inside and outside their own community. Classified as not real art, as either too masculine, feminine, or just plain weird now in the very museum they were kept out of. These artivisms are needed to push the narrative of what we consider to be normal both in terms of art and social norms.
I forgot what I was doing here... but I won't forget to sign your copies of my new book, if you pre-order today! 😉😉😉 >> tinyurl.com/preorderBLBF << _ 📸: @diwamalaya _ I’m accepting signed pre-orders until my 30th birthday on November 18th. If y’all would like to send your love & support, please get a copy of “Black Lives & Brown Freedom: Untold Histories of War, Solidarity, & Genocide." Proceeds will go towards establishing scholarships for marginalized and impoverished bright young students in the Philippines 🇵🇭 ♥️📚 _ #KnowHistoryKnowSelf #BlackLivesMatter #BlackLivesAndBrownFreedom #BlackLivesBrownFreedom #ProjectBulosan #AsianAmericanStudies #AfricanAmericanStudies #EthnicStudies #Filipino #FilipinoAmerican #AfricanAmerican #Kapampangan #KirbyNoodle (at Robert & Margrit Mondavi Center For The Performing Arts) https://www.instagram.com/p/BqMP9TTnqSY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=183b3nnhkssr1
UPDATE: University of Michigan’s Discrimination Against Professor Emily Lawsin
FACT SHEET: THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN’S DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PROFESSOR EMILY LAWSIN
For the past 18 years, Emily Lawsin has been an influential Asian American scholar and teacher as a full-time faculty member in the Department of Women’s Studies and Department of American Culture at the University of Michigan. Professor Lawsin is an expert in the study of women of color, Filipino Americans, immigration, feminism, and community activism. With her classes in high demand and regularly oversubscribed, she has received multiple awards and recognitions for her teaching and public service. On a campus where students of color are severely underrepresented and regularly report enduring a hostile climate, Professor Lawsin is a much sought out and cherished mentor. She is an acclaimed poet and widely hailed for her public speaking, social justice work in Detroit, and national advocacy on behalf of Filipino Americans and Asian American women.
EMPLOYMENT STATUS: U-M DISTORTS LAWSIN’S RECORDS AND DISREGARDS UNIVERSITY PROCEDURES
Professor Lawsin’s “Level IV” lecturer status, the highest rank for lecturers within the university system, guarantees a “presumption of renewal.”. This is the closest thing to tenure. Therefore, her two departments took an extraordinarily adverse action when they twice voted to recommend her termination in November 2017 and February 2018. The College of LSA did vote to terminate her in March 2018.
Revoking her right to a “presumption of renewal,” Professor Lawsin’s departments conducted her most recent review as though to build a case against her renewal. They overlooked overwhelming evidence of her scholarly merit. Distorting her record and repeatedly violating multiple university guidelines and procedures, the departments have issued the following so-called core evidence against Professor Lawsin:
a) The departments claim that Professor Lawsin focuses too much on “the Filipino experience” in her classes.
b) When taking sick/medical leave that was fully reviewed and approved by the university, Professor Lawsin was then accused of causing a “disruption” to her classes. The departments further cite a drop in student course ratings as evidence against her — when, at that time, Professor Lawsin was ordered off work by her doctor during a high-risk pregnancy and gave birth to a child with Down syndrome and potentially life-threatening health conditions.
c) The department chairs exposed Professor Lawsin to discrimination and retaliation by adding improper and inflammatory “supplemental” materials to her review file that disclosed her medical history and included extensive personal correspondence highlighting policy disagreements she had with current and former department chairs.
RACE/GENDER DISCRIMINATION AND RETALIATION
Professor Lawsin has made multiple complaints to university officials indicating a hostile race climate at U-M and a pattern of racial discrimination in faculty retention within the College of LSA. The Department of American Culture has terminated or failed to retain 20 faculty of color since just before she was hired, leaving white employees overrepresented among the senior faculty and leadership. U-M has gone to great lengths to disregard this revolving door of faculty of color and deny its relationship to disparate treatment.
The department stigmatized the most vocal graduate students and faculty of color, deeming them the source of the “climate problem.” On the other hand, it promoted white faculty who were the subject of complaints of racial insensitivity or complicit in covering up harassment of people of color. Departmental leaders introduced biases in PhD admissions against “queer of color” and undocumented students. To prevent an honest and transparent discussion of its problems, the department censored and distorted official climate studies and reviews, while secretly communicating a narrative rooted in white fragility to senior administrators.
U-M’s FLAWED RESPONSES TO SEXUAL ASSAULT AND HARASSMENT
Based on surveys and assessments endorsed by the administration, over 3,000 students are sexually assaulted each school year at the University of Michigan. However, U-M’s Office for Institutional Equity found only five student sexual assault violations in the past year. Moreover, senior administrators have pressured the Department of Women’s Studies to stand by U-M’s failed actions and policies to combat sexual assault and harassment. Professor Lawsin has been subject to retaliation for her proactive advocacy to address these alarming problems. In Fall 2015—before the #MeToo campaign went viral or the Larry Nassar scandal at Michigan State University was exposed—Professor Lawsin, as an elected member of the Women’s Studies executive committee, made a motion for the department to issue a solidarity statement with sexual assault survivors and call for more effective action from the university. Contradicting its mission stating that it is “dedicated” to feminist “activism” and committed to “challenge power inequities,” the Department of Women’s Studies rejected her resolution, effectively covering up UM’s flawed responses to sexual assault and harassment.
UNDERMINING ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER AMERICAN STUDIES
Professor Lawsin played a central role in rebuilding the Asian/Pacific Islander American Studies Program, which has been repeatedly undermined by loss of faculty, decline of public events, and the refusal of U-M leaders to appoint a director with research and teaching experience in the field. Professor Lawsin has presented evidence that senior administrators and faculty have violated U-M procedures and bylaws in appointing directors and marginalizing her presence within the program. Students and alumni, who have been shut out of meaningful involvement in the program, have circulated an open letter calling for faculty hires, resources, accountability, and external review. Representative Stephanie Chang, alumnus and elected member of the Michigan State House of Representatives, has also issued a pointed statementx in response.
ONGOING CAMPAIGN FOR JUSTICE
Every attempt Professor Lawsin made to have these matters investigated or redressed by her supervisors and senior university administrators resulted in dismissive or retaliatory action. One department chair scolded her in writing for using a “tone” characterized as “uncollegial and troubling.” At the same time, department chairs endorsed senior faculty writing emails and making statements defaming Professor Lawsin behind her back.
For these reasons, Professor Lawsin was moved to file a civil rights lawsuit against the University of Michigan in December 2016. The case, currently in discovery, effectively functions like a class action lawsuit. Vowing to fight “vigorously” against the legal complaint, U-M is actively repudiating the civil rights of faculty of color at the same time that President Mark Schlissel is directly engaged in extended negotiations to uphold the rights of white supremacist Richard Spencer. Professor Lawsin and co-plaintiff Scott Kurashige are working to expose university-wide practices and the conduct of senior administrative leaders to scrutiny within the justice system. They are seeking transformative structural changes to ensure equity and inclusion for all members of protected classes.
For more information:
74-page complaint—filed in Washtenaw County Circuit Court on December 5, 2016
To sign the petition in support of A/PIA Studies: https://www.change.org/p/fully-restore-university-of-michigan-s-asian-pacific-islander-american-studies
Today, on his birthday, we celebrate the legacy of our dear ancestor, Ronald Takaki. Takaki was an American academic, historian, ethnographer and author. He also helped pioneer the field of Ethnic Studies. #KnowYourHistory #AAPI #AmericanHistory
Throughout the research that I conducted on my country of my ancestors I noticed that there are more things that I have overlooked. Especially with the sides of the war and what their views were. I didn't know how much about the Vietnam War except for what they talked about in school which was there was a draft for men to go to fight in the war. After the U.S. helping the South Vietnam people they pulled out because of protests and later the Fall of Saigon happened. That there is more to the history that we were taught and that in our life span we can’t learn about all of them. The only thing that we can be certain about is the major events that happened and what has resulted from it. The tiny details were not important, just the main story line of what historians had written. This relates to our lecture about the master narrative. The countries that are in power today create master narratives for the world to believe in and teach in schools. What I learned in this Ethnic studies class is that there are multiple counter-narratives in this world. That there are many different stories to an event depending on the person. If the event hit home, then the story would be extremely biased. If the event was towards a certain country that has a relationship with another then the country would side with whoever they have a relationship with. This ensures that with master narratives created the countries are also intersecting with each other to make this happen. Even with the counter-narratives, there are different stories with them analyzed by experts. Without people in this field, I would never really know about the differences and instances in history where there are counter narratives.
I think this is because resistance is fairly a new approach to looking at history; therefore, I think to educate the people around me with what forms resistance are and what they can do. One thing I am really set on doing is making a change in how people are treated. There are many people who are still getting treated like they don’t belong and that they are inferior to another race. There are also people who do not have enough for health care, citizenship, and to live. Most importantly I want to inform my parents that there is more to politics than just listening and going with whatever is happening because it is the law. Since my parents came here as refugees they are very keen on what they should do to keep their position where they are. It’s like they are scared that one day everything can be taken away from them. I don’t blame them because this did happen to them many years ago when the Vietnam War started. Their home becomes something they did not recognize. This is why I want to inform them that they can resist the politics that they don’t agree with in their own way. In the lecture, there was also a talk about how Asians don't really have radical politics and are the model minority. I totally understand that because of what my parents do. They watch the presidential elections but when I ask them if they voted they always shrugged it off and said no. I first want to change my community by informing them of their voting rights and their rights to protest. Lastly, I always had a dream of helping the people who did not have health care. I wanted to travel around the world and in the states to help people. Recently, the dream has become even stronger as I have family members who don’t have health insurance that covers everything. With their piles of bills from the hospital when they have to go to the emergency room, it only makes me want to fulfill this dream as soon as I can.
This leads me to a song that I would like to share to anyone that is feeling like they are being held tight in their life and not being able to go anywhere. This song is meaningful to me because when this song came out I was in sixth grade not really knowing what to do, how to fit in with the people at school, and felt like there was nothing I could do to fix my loneliness when I watched this song being performed by Kris Allen on American Idol. The song was called No boundaries. After listening to this song I believed that nothing would be in my way if I tried and keep trying to break free of the restrictions I made in my mind.
I think this relates to my reflection of being restricted to what the government wants and forces people to be. Instead of looking at the restrictions like the mountains in the song or the hurricanes that make you run away I think it’s best to move forward and resist what you can until your dream is achieved. To the people who are fighting their restrictions, I know that you will be able to do so because there are no boundaries to where you can go.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au78ra4HsUo
Here are the lyrics to the song:
Seconds, hours, so many days
You know what you want but how long can you wait?
Every moment lasts forever
When you feel you lost your way
And what if my chances were already gone?
Started believing that I could be wrong
But you give me one good reason
To fight and never walk away
So here I am still holding on
With every step you climb another mountain
Every breath it's harder to believe
You make it through the pain, weather the hurricanes
To get to that one thing
Just when you think the road is going nowhere
Just when you almost gave up on your dreams
They take you by the hand and show you that you can
There are no boundaries!
There are no boundaries!
I fought to the limit to stand on the edge
What if today is as good it gets?
Don't know where the future's headed
But nothing's gonna bring me down
I've jumped every bridge and I've run every line
I've risked being saved but I always knew why
I always knew why!
So here I am still holding on
With every step you climb another mountain
Every breath it's harder to believe
You make it through the pain, weather the hurricanes
To get to that one thing
Just when you think the road is going nowhere
Just when you almost gave up on your dreams
They take you by the hand and show you that you can
You can go higher, you can go deeper
There are no boundaries above and beneath you
Break every rule 'cause there's nothing between you and your dreams
With every step you climb another mountain
Every breath it's harder to believe
Yeah! There are no boundaries
There are no boundaries!
Existing in the United States as the othered non-white has caused detrimental effects to various different racial, ethnic, and religious minorities however when considering not just the perseverance of culture but the creation of culture is not just an act of resistance but activism as well. Lowrider culture rose out of the streets of Los Angeles as a way for Mexican Americans to express themselves, find community and fight against oppressive systems. The Lowrider life is not just a hobby but just as previously described a lifestyle, a key player in their identity, a reclaiming of expression, attention, and most importantly a source of empowerment. Crews soon began to emerge with different clubs and names and symbols that distinguished one from another, a good gang as one described, but these crews and cars were a healthy outlet to avoid getting roped up into the gang life. These cars were an unapologetic demand for attention screaming into the silence that white supremacy has created screaming "THIS IS ME Y QUE?!" and they did just that. Upon the popularization of cruising, a designated get-together for those in the community to ride along a long stretch of land together, legal systems began to crack down first with the handing out of various tickets: too low, too loud, too whatever the cops would say code for what they really wanted to say too Mexican. Then to the complete outlawing of cruising, a criminalization of Brown bodies, as they feared for so-called gang suspicion when these were members of the community, often serving as leaders in their community as well as. This movement gave birth to not just Chicano Park, a park in San Diego that now serves as a place to host the community but to transnational trends in low riding. As riders searched for cheaper parts they traveled down to Tijuana and there came an exchange of pop culture but it's not just there as we more popularly see Mexican pop culture, better yet folklore pop culture, transcend into the U.S. La Llorona for many Latinx children is a popularized folklore about a weeping woman who lost her kids and weeps for them to come back sometimes going so far in her mourning she kidnaps others; this is something that unless told orally or by research not many would know until we saw the release of "The Curse of La Llorana' an American film premiering in 2019. This movie along with countless television episodes involving a Latina's quinceñera, their 15th birthday and coming of age party, dedicated barbies, like Frida Khalo or the special edition XV, and Disney films based on our folklores, Coco and Encanto, shows the shift in the white majority's view of the value of Latinx culture and peoples allowing them to exist more freely and embrace themselves (although some policy change would be nice too). Lastly, cultural joteria, as created by those caught on the intersection of Latiné and queer, has expanded the ways in which those in the community and pushed societies boundaries of how they should exist. From the very name cultural joteria, a Spanish phrase loosely meaning "gay culture" has been molded to allow them more space to exist as they felt the term queer didn't allow room for their Latinidad. Culture is important and its creation and perseverance show the resiliency of people to continue existing on their own terms because time and time again it has proven successful.
The occupation of white spaces is something that as Latinx peoples are always struggling to break through. As mentioned in the previous blog post within sci-fi and comics it took a lot to break through same as we see with performing arts, having to break through typically and predominately white spaces, such as broadway, to create a counter narrative and shed light on something once hidden. This is powered through the performance os Mestizaje and Indigeneity. Mestizaje a framework working to highlight the ways in which a hybrid way of being is constructed upon both mind and body. Indigeneity highlights the ways in which we understand spirituality, empowerment and liberation through the practice, representation and creative expression of said bodies. These works drive conversation of inclusion, diversity and civil rights. Zoot Suit written by Louis Valdez, the godfather of Chicano culture, had notably won a medal of arts granted by the Obama administration with its highlights of Chicano, Pachuco, culture and the ways in which they faced discrimination during the riots of the 1940s. Mexican Americans in 1940s would be racially discriminated against by the police due to their fashion, Pachuco fashion, a more loose and baggy fitting clothing style type casted as gang wear who were met with violence from sailors at bay ending with some Chicano kids behind bars. Telling a story of resistance as the infamous Pachuco character serves as the spiritual component letting us know that in the hopelessness there must be hope that while things changes they stay the same and we can constantly overcome this sense of none belonging. Entertainment with a purpose, a purpose to educate, open eyes, inspire, and demonstrate how we haven't made as much progress as we think all reminding us that Valdez's work began at its roots causes in migrant farm worker fields. Performance is done anywhere it is needed on a stage of any level even individual.
The Latinx identity is very complicated as is with so many overlapping identities so deeply embedded into our culture, from the Indigenous cultural practices that continued their way into Spanish Catholic religion or the ways in which African and Indigenous beats have created countless Spanish genres of music. The expression of such blending is still seen within media and language tools within the United States and how they reach cross-culturally and nationally. Pinto poetics describe the ways in which generational evolution forms of expression about mass incarceration. Maiz narratives dive deeper into the ways in which we navigate not feeling wanted or without belonging. Radio has served as a great driver of this as it is one of the earliest forms of television that can be done in between commutes to work and reach a large spanning audience. Piolin por la Mañana is not only a national hit amongst Latinos within the U.S. but internationally as well, growing up I would hear this show every day on my way to school as my father dropped me off. And while yes a lot of it was funny and scandalous hits it also played the latest Latinx hits but most importantly he created a community amongst Spanish speaking, heavy immigrant communities in the U.S. He informed the masses where health clinics would be, what lawyers are good or are scamming people and many other opportunities. And now with the help of different social media, other creatives are also able to explore the ways in which they are able to explore their hybrid identity. Take for example Snow tha Product, a Mexicana rapper, who first blew up a few years back on Facebook for her single "Waste of Time". Hip-hop has often served as a catalyst for change and Snow the Product demands just that both directly and indirectly, she calls upon the breaking of generational curses, calls out the Obama administration for its record-breaking numbers of deportations, and proudly flaunts her culture as she often raps in both English, Spanish and Spanglish. All while being a queen Latina she truly speaks for a community, she further proves the validity of a hybrid sense of being. Spanglish has often been discredited as a broken language but it proves itself to be a hybrid language that serves the masses and builds bridges instead of barriers. Those who understand Spanglish understand two language contexts and that should be admired and further used not shunned like how we have sadly seen in schools and communities alike.
