Yes — its here. Its finally here. The Feminist Uprising has arrived, taken to the streets, and is making its way through the collective consciousness everywhere. Launched in coordination with the annual celebration of International Women's Day, the Feminist Bubble is a curated space where People of all color, diversity, and identity can visit to discover & cultivate their own intersectional political foundations. The month of March is designated as Women's 'History' Month, however, like that of Black History Month, we live these experiences every day. There is no separation of our identity from one month to the next, rather we are situated within the reality of our lived experiences through the medium of our bodies, and the environments we find ourselves in. It is critical to recognize systems of oppression within the media, legislative governments, state violence, and white supremacy, so that We the People may collectively organize all our tools and resources to combat, dismantle, and decolonize our minds & bodies from their corrupting influence & control. Teacher, Poet & Xicana Feminist Gloria Anzaldúa charted the physical, psychic, intellectual, and spiritual territories for decolonizing our minds from oppressive constructions, while empowering our intersectional identities:
“Its is a path of knowledge — one of knowing (and of learning) the history of oppression of our raza. It is a way of balancing, of mitigating duality.” — Gloria Anzaldúa
On Sunday March 5th, 2017, transnational feminist organization AF3IRM took to the streets of Los Angeles in an organized day of creative action, protest, and solidarity with International Women’s Day, a global celebration of Women's cultural, economic, political, and social achievements. Planted firmly between LA City Hall and the LAPD, the day was filled with excitement and community building activism, calling accountability for the lives of those incarcerated within state prisons and detention centers, as well as those lives have been stolen by police and state violence.
Speakers included activists from social justice initiatives throughout Los Angeles, including Black Lives Matter LA, Immigrant Youth Coalition, TransLatin@ Coalition, Tiyaa, and UTLA. The call to divest from systems of oppression targeting Black & Brown bodies as a site for violence was a constant thread through each address, a unifying platform to build the movement around. The campaigns are impassioned as they are immediate and timely. Placing Women of Color at the head of the struggle of the movement, we are more clearly able to see how violence meets us in our own experience. Shifting from the center to the margins, we can explore how Black Trans Women are systemically targeted for discrimination, violence, and murder, and ask questions about why their narratives are erased from media conversations. Already this year, at least seven Transgender Women of Color have been murdered across the country with very little media reporting or conversations around on their wrongful deaths. If we simply open our eyes, we may recognize the signs enacted in front of our very being. Recognize the signs.
“For only through the body, through the pulling of flesh, can the human soul be transformed. And for images, words, stories to have this transformative power, they must arise from the human body — flesh and bone — and from the Earth’s body — stone, sky, liquid, soil.” — Gloria Anzaldúa
Make no mistake, the signs are there. Everywhere, beautiful representations of diversity and creativity, from performance to street, art reigns supreme. AF3IRM’s Purple Rose Campaign original art glittered among marching crowds of thousands with a powerful fist among blooms of solidarity. Shades of indigo, magenta, and lavender broadened the spectrum of color & perspective, raising awareness around global sex trafficking, the hyper-sexual commodification & consumption of women and children. Because the modern day Feminist movement is intersectional, we can understand how systems of oppression work to dehumanize and exploit people on the basis of gender, race, class, and sexuality. Poetic & empowering words from Master Teacher Audre Lorde, Feminista Artist Frida Kahlo, and Radical Intellectual Leader Angela Davis. We can sense and the feel the power and presence of these Women living in the movement of our feet and creative action. We are calling forth their energy that it may inspire the paths we have yet to chart in the creation of a radically different, equal world.
Emma Goldman is often quoted as having made a statement inciting that if there were no dancing at the revolution, she would have no part of it. Most thankfully there is dancing & joy in the Women's movement, song, painting, mixed media, and performance art. Marching down Main St. & Temple, the Feminist Uprising arrived at the Metropolitan Detention Center, where we encountered the intersections of freedom of expression & dissent, incarceration, and democracy. Looking up into the empty eyes of opaque windows, institutions of power and control incarcerate and detain People who are neighbors, friends, and family. Stone walls built and constructed by those who now inhabit cells. On any given day, the MDC holds 720 people with room for 1,100 bodies. Down below on the streets, the stage truck lead the procession in songs and poetry of freedom, protest, and solidarity. LA Legend, Chicana Feminist Punk musician & master troublemaker Alice Bag performed the rebel cry ‘Let Them In’ and ‘White Justice’ exposing the hypocrisies & contradictions of white supremacy parading as middle class democracy.
"I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everyboy's right to beautiful, radiant things." Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world--prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own comrades I would live my beautiful ideal. — Emma Goldman
During an inspirational & soaring acoustic performance by Xochi Flores, we began to hear audible tappings coming from above, signaling their presence through morse code translation. It was inspiring to see People raising their faces, arms, and fists with the empowered stance of organized labor and Black Feminist Power symbolism. It is something entirely surreal when a moment presents you with the collective realization that there are people who have been illegally disappeared from our communities, right here on this land, through generations of systemic removal through incarceration and genocide. It is the practice of ethnic cleansing and puritanical political structures for power and control. The sooner we come to the truth and recognition of history, we can get to the remembrance of our distinctively Women led narratives of Herstory, and the creation of a radically equal Feminist economy, political party, and spirituality.
“The work of mestiza consciousness is to break down the subject-object duality that keeps her a prisoner and to show in the flesh and through the images in her work how duality is transcended.” — Gloria Anzaldúa
There is room for everybody to outline and define their space in this movement. Parading across bridges spanning the iconic 101 Los Angeles freeway brought an incredible perspective to the lengths we had traversed. As though a river had been forged, we continued to swim with the steady flow of the mainstream discourse, disrupting the status quo of white hegemonic capitalist patriarchal narratives. Flags of diversity & inclusivity flew proud in iconic Los Angeles sun, while the refrain “We’re Women, We’re Loud, We’re Organized & Proud!” rang through the air, in the eyes, ears, and sight of the public. Past Union Station connections, through historic Chinatown & within distance of Davis Siqueiros sacred mural América Tropical, and the cultural center of Olvera St., our voices shook the walls, inspiring dissent & hope in the minds of those who witnessed the collective insurrection. In an imperfect, yet harmonious unison, the People called for “No Borders! No Nations! End Deportations!” / “If We don’t get no justice, they don’t get no Peace” / “No racist police”. “Brick by brick, wall by wall, We will make the system fall.” The movement is nothing if not poetic.
The call and response of Black musical traditions came forward to call on the names of Black African-American Women who had been senselessly killed by militarized police, actors of state violence, and a morally bankrupt healthcare system that continues to criminalize and pathologize people suffering from mental illness.
Kinda Darnell Chapman! Say Her Name!
Korryn Gaines! Say Her Name!
Michelle Cusseaux! Say Her Name!
Aiyana Stanley Jones! Say Her Name!
For Women engaged in the social justice work that real activist Feminism calls for, we must continue to exorcise the names of those Women who have already paid the most highest and precious of price in the sacrifice of their lives. We must metaphorically exhume their narratives to fully appreciate and understand the rights, protections, freedoms, and full equality we are working for. If not for all, then who? The American Constitution does not stand if it only represents fractions of the collective body politic.
“The spirit of the fire spurs her to fight for her own skin and a piece of ground to stand on, a ground form which to view the world — a perspective, a homegrown where she can plumb the rich ancestral roots into her own ample mestiza heart.” — Gloria Anzaldúa Gloria Anzaldúa
Yes, that is the call and the creed. If this is going to live up to the true revolution that this moment appears to be ready for, then we need active, engaged bodies on the streets, in the classrooms, in the boardrooms, executive suites, and legislative offices. What Audre Lorde may have referred to as “on the battleground”. This sacred ground is territory, soil, and earth. Women’s bodies are likewise sacred, spiritually connected to the natural world and environment. Likewise, we must learn to read, understand, and write our Feminine Bodies, our Spiritual Bodies, and the earthly body politic. Because if we do not act or speak out, our bodies will continue to be exploited on the basis of gender, sexuality, economic, creative, and reproductive labor.
Throughout the march, parade, protest, and procession, one young Woman stood out among the crowd, braving the Los Angeles winter chill and light showers that had cleansed the streets over the morning, glistening on grass in Sunday afternoon soon. Courageously provocative in her stance of solidarity, Annï engaged in act of political performance art, riding bare breast into peaceful protest. Using her body as a canvas for a message of rebellion & beauty, political &personal autonomy, Annï channelled the iconic resistance of ‘Liberty Leading the People’ made immortal heroine Goddess by the brush stroke of Eugene Delacroix. It takes fearlessness and audacity to place one’s body on the line for something they believe in. The public rarely questions the soldier’s commitment to the protection of the American way of life and the interests of the United States government. What of a Woman’s Right to Public Space and Freedom of Expression? What of Her Right to Her Own Body, and the Choice to do with it what She Will? What of the Black Transgender Woman’s Rights to Life, to Be? It is wholly empowering to witness & recognize brave, daring People disrupting social mores of conservative capitalist & colonialist consumption of the “Other”. The Artist lays their body on the line to raise consciousness, create awareness, and start a conversation about the role of performance art in the streets, theatres, and the Feminist Revolution. La Liberacíon de los Angeles!
Coming full circle to where we began, we witnessed the full revolution of our path. Like the cosmic constellations and movement around the universal sol, Women found themselves where they stood, feeling the power of solidarity and the energy of the Divine Feminine. The work is set out to be accomplished, and trust there is much work to do. In the closing statements and songs, we listened to an impassioned address by Salina from the Diné Grandmothers of Black Mesa, Arizona tribe. Medusa the Gangsta Goddess of Los Angeles rocked the stage at the intersections of Sister & Sanctuary Cities. The Chicana from Down Under, singer Maya Jupiter gave an interstellar performance, tearing down rape culture and patriarchal myths with her consent power anthem ‘Never Said Yes’. With her song ‘Crumble’, Jupiter revealed the connections between militarized police, corporate greed, and the school to prison pipeline that funnels youth from classrooms to cells of incarceration #SchoolsNotPrisons. Bringing us back the power of the soil, the ability to heal, grow, nurture & cultivate life, Jupiter serenaded us with Madre Tierra, proudly proclaiming the Mexican proverb "They tried to bury us. They didn't know We were Seeds".
In the moments before the last women standing disbanded, AF3IRM Feminist activist and community organizer Sumaq invited us to participate in the dream of liberation, a Pro-Women led movement that encouraged all freedom fighting social justice warriors to empower & inspire through music, poetry, art, and activism. Through the creative power of the written, spoken, and shared word. Our tongues may speak different languages, in varied cultural dialects, but when we speak through the poetic bodies of our experience, through shared communion & engaged dialogue, beloved communities of sangha will begin to root in rich soils ripe for a Feminist Revolution. With persistence and continued hard work of dismantling systems of oppression while empowering through knowledge and creativity, Women, their allies, and accomplices have the power to direct their creative & economic resources in the femme’ifestation of a radically equal and free world. We control the narrative. We will no longer continue to allow outside actors make decisions on our behalf, nor subvert our own will, suppress our own desire, for the pleasure principles of a flaccid patriarchy whose attempts to neutralize, sterilize, demoralize, and dehumanize only serve as evidence that toxic masculinity is shooting blanks.
If you would like to learn more about the #FeministUprising, AF3IRM Los Angeles is hosting a social mixer Thursday, March 16th, 2017 for women-identified of color interested in joining. RSVP to losangeles@af3irm.org. Now would be a good time to get engaged in the movement. So what are you waiting for? Reach out and pop the Feminist Bubble. Subscribe and lets talk about what you can do, where you are now. Until then, pop into the Feminist Art/Gallery on Feminist Bubble to see the AF3IRM International Women's Day March come to life!
Peace Out & Viva La Revolución!