Peoples Summit Performances 123 by Marcus Demery on Flickr.
OCRAC members Teresa Veramendi (@ArteSoy) & Amy Buckler with their performance piece at the Peoples Summit
Answer:
Likewise!
Peoples Summit Panel by Marcus Demery on Flickr.
Peoples Summit
Found this on the front door of a beloved Dairy Bell restaurant next to my school.
Sad, sad stuff. :(
(via occupiedstories)
Fist High by Marcus Demery on Flickr.
#MayDay in Chicago
I’m not really sure I get the offense that folks feel regarding this banner. Obviously, I’m a documented person, so I don’t have nearly the same background, and I have my own privileges that blind me to it. But my impression of the Richmond May Day rally and parade was that a lot of folks, including some undocumented folks, were part of the queer group who made this banner, and that there was discussion of intersections of queerness, and immigrant or undocumented status. There was a poet who talk about this issue who presented, and there were a couple of chants that happened throughout the march speaking out about immigration issues.
I also understand that saying “my undocumented friend” approves of this isn’t legitimate/is tokenizing/is not so great. I’m just thinking that maybe the folks who are super upset about this really are perhaps not aware of the scene in Richmond, the friendships, and where this sort of thing comes from.
A home-made banner by some queers who are allies/friends with undocumented folks seems to me to be an entirely different issue than a t-shirt made by a shitty corporation for profit regarding the mainstream LGB movement. (leaving of TQIA cause I don’t think that falls within the consumer demographic American Apparel was marketing towards).
Intersectionality is something that I think is discussed frequently in the Richmond radical scene, and I feel like it was talked about during the rally and parade. Folks with marginalized identities, but especially folks with more than one, often experience oppression/maltreatment/etc. in the work place.
Frequently queer folks are marginalized in such a way that they fear coming out, and are placed in crummy situations where their identity is illegal. So maybe that is different than their entire body being illegal, but I think there are connections/crossovers.
When is it appropriate for non-immigrant people to say that No Body Is Illegal?
I’m not asking for POC or immigrant or undocumented folks to answer my questions, I just wanted to write about this. I hate infighting.
One of our May Day Queer Block banners! <3
THIS MAKES ME REALLY UNCOMFORTABLE
NO
I am unable to articulate my emotions right now but I feel like in many spaces the usage of “no body is illegal” can be very appropriative/co-optive - does this make sense?
I understand the constant menace that is the state and capitalism when it comes to the employment of trans* and queer folks and how in many states you can still get fired for being anything but straight and cisgender…
And I suppose that every time I hear the phrase “no body is illegal” or “no human is illegal” I think about the immigrant struggle and being literally seen as aliens, illegals, and sub-humans even while still carrying the mechanics of corporations and industries. And to see a sign like this that doesn’t relate the identities of queer folks to immigrant folks and how many people live at that intersection frustrates me.
But I am also confused by the sign because I’m not sure of its full context in terms of how the various identities are being used. I interpreted it as equating being queer or bi or trans* to being illegal (and I’m not saying that the structures/institutions in society doesn’t make our survival condemned but still…) and perhaps maybe it’s saying that queer folks are in that struggle too… but I can’t get over seeing mostly white people carry a banner that has text like that.
I don’t know, I’m just really confused and irked.
Ah I see. That makes way more sense.
It would (to me) make more sense if they were talking about asexual or trans or immigrant people but they added in sexualities and im not sure what its to do with bodies per se…. those are sexualities…
also whitewhitewhitewhite
yeaaahhhhhhhhh no.
i would like to know the context of this please. i cant find anything online.
I mean the May Day march that happened here yesterday was actually protesting against capitalism and fighting for immigrant rights and status for all…
so this is very confusing.
i hope they’re referring to queer immigrant youth because…
just
you dont fucking know what it’s like to actually be called “illegal” and be viewed as fucking “illegal”
so ya. no.
no these white motherfuckers didnt
i dont even have words. im so glad i dont engage w these fuckers IRL.
that sign right there?
thems fightin words.
oh they thought it would be cute to play on the language of the immigrant struggle.
yea. co-opting is so cute.
real.
fuckin.
cute.
Ain’t even the first time, either. Remember American Apparel running those “Legalize Gay” t-shirts in response to Prop 8? (A state amendment which didn’t actually brand a group of people’s existence and well-being illegal, but simply didn’t grant a specific right that they wanted and deserve.) Yasmin Nair wrote a couple essays about those shirts and co-opting a slogan like that; I’m only finding one of those essays right now but baaam!
Legalize Gay? Who, in the wake of Prop 8, is illegal for being gay? Sure, gays and lesbians might not be allowed to marry in California but Prop 8 has not meant that those with otherwise unblemished records can no longer leave their houses, or buy cars, or keep their jobs. Do people wearing this t-shirt have a clue what it really means to be illegal? To be, for instance, an “illegal alien” who gets swept up in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid and be deported soon thereafter? To not be able to travel freely because they lack the proper documentation? To pay for their school tuition and rent in cash because they lack social security numbers?
It’s not just the undocumented whose lives are effectively erased by this t-shirt, but the millions who are being funneled into the prison industrial complex in order to increase its profits. According to Critical Resistance, the prison abolition group, the United States currently imprisons around 2 million people and nearly “6.5 million people are presently under some form of supervision within the criminal justice system. Women represent the fastest rising prison population. Since 1980, the number of women imprisoned in the U.S. has risen by almost 400 percent.” The numbers have exploded because the PIC has been relentlessly creating new categories of the illegal, and putting people in jail for longer periods of time. 20% of new prison commitments in the US come from California, according to a 2006 statistic from CR.Also, if we wanna talk about people’s bodies being labelled illegal—like straight up illegal—let’s talk “anchor babies.” Let’s talk the prison industry. Let’s talk forced sterilization and police violence and life expectancies. Let’s talk access to health (I’m not talking health insurance, even, but just do you have food and is it safe? Is some corporation poisoning the land you live on?).
for the sake of transparency and accountability, i would like this conversation to be available to folks that participated in the march and created the banner. as someone who had a hand in creating it, i would like to apologize for making anyone uncomfortable. last year the queer block came up with three slogans, one that said UNITE with the rainbow banner, one that said SOLIDARITY with a rainbow banner and most of the signage other than that was “No Body is Illegal”… there was a focus on creating fully inclusive messaging that shows the intersecting nature of queerness… that queer folks are in all working environments. so this year we added the “Every Job, Everywhere”. the speeches were focused on connecting to one another in work environments through experiences of being queer, gender nonconforming and yes there was a person that holds that identity speaking about being queer and undocumented. we were trying to include all forms of work and acknowledge folks that could not be in the march for a multitude of reasons (inability to be out in fear of losing a job, currently or previously incarcerated, undocumented status, prior charges that would put folks at risk) whether that be working in prisons, sex work, service industry, labor (paid and unpaid), care work, community organizers… etc.
all of this does not go onto a banner and unfortunately it doesn’t account for folks calling it out as co-opted messaging or justify its use… so from the bottom of my heart i do apologize for any and every time it gets re-posted and hurts someone.
in the end. context doesn’t matter if the message hurts people.
(via mokarnage)
