ARTICLES

• First Nation People Ring Alarms

  First Nation people are on the front lines, experiencing the disparate impact of the climate crisis.

  Follow The Journey

  Jenni Monet of the Laguna Pueblo tribe produces a wonderful newsletter called Indigenously. In last week’s edition, Jenni endorsed the 20 year totem pole journey tradition of The House of Tears Carvers from the Lummi tribe. The carvers use the ancient totem pole storytelling tradition to remind us of our shared responsibility to the earth and to highlight the natural disasters caused by the extraction of fossil fuels and the climate crisis. The totem pole’s journey begins July 11th in Washington state and ends July 29th in Washington D.C. You can follow along on the Red Road to D.C. website or the Totem Pole Journey Facebook page.

  Long Form Listening

  The First Nation tribe of San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in what is present day Nevada is doing a 8-part podcast series. The first episode is called The Water Protectors and it opens with Beverly Harry recalling the devastation of the X river over her lifetime. The LIttle Colorado River used to come down to her hometown and she recalls, “I remember what that river used to be like. I remember how gigantic those Cottonwood trees were. But now, there's nothing.”

  You don’t want to miss this series.

• BLM in Action

  BLM Women Get S*** Done

  Everyone remembers the Charlottesville tiki-torch white supremacist rally around a confederate statue of Robert E. Lee. Well thanks to the very hard work of local movement women like Zayhna Bryant, the Lee statue has been taken down like 333 other confederate monuments that have come down since the 2015 church shooting in South Carolina.

  Who is Zayhna Bryant you ask? She was the 15 year old who sparked the movement to remove confederate monuments around the US. She is now 20 years old. Zayhna writes in an op-ed for Teen Vogue, “As the Charlottesville city council finally voted to remove the Lee statue, allocated the funding for the project, and scheduled its removal amid concerns about the fourth anniversary of the Unite the Right rally in our town, I find myself wondering if I’ll be recognized as the catalyst for this moment or forgotten by history.”

  A third statue in Charlottesville may also come down.

  The Heart of A Movement

  The movement to value Black life in America has been underway well before it was named BLM. Throughout time, Black women have been the backbone and beating heart of the movement. All too often they have been forgotten and undervalued but It’s time they are remembered, rewarded, and lauded for this work.

  Young people like Zayhna are also the heart of the movement and they are moving BLM work forward in the US and abroad. In Patterson, NJ young people have designed a BLM summer camp raising $20,000 for resources and stipends. In Canada, a new BLM centre is opening with plans for a dance floor and space to cookout.

  Activist Lessons for All of Us

  Of course you can get involved with BLM in your hometown no matter what race, color or creed you are but did you ever think about language as activism?

  In a recent Salon article Professor Eurie Dahn writes, “Punctuation activism can be an important companion to on-the-ground activism. It reveals language's capacity to transform the world. At the same time, it exposes language's often hidden role in maintaining structures of power.” Professor Dahn’s article is great to learn how activists and writers are thinking about punctuation as activism today and perhaps you might pick up some things you can use.

• Large Entertainment Platforms Show Notable Representation

  Artistic Representation is Complicated

  We have entered a golden age of options in entertainment. Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney, Paramount, and on and on have tons of shows for your viewing pleasure. So far, representation of historically marginalized people has improved.

  For example, early sneak peaks for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s new Disney film Encanto are getting great reviews. The film centers a magical Columbian family.

  In TV, Ginny and Georgia has been uplifted for representing Indo Carribean culture on screen although reviews have been mixed. Some praise the “Gossip Girl” like feel, others dislike the “fake woke" writing that feels disingenuous.

  Everything is not for everyone. And with increased representation, the burden for one show or film to be everything decreases. We are finally seeing the options increase.

  Sustainable Diverse Representation

  The more important question to me, is this diverse representation sustainable? Sure we celebrate advances in representation in front of the camera but we also must join voices calling for support staff in Hollywood to make a living wage for their work.  This is foundational to building a sustainable, diverse, and equitable entertainment economy given the wealth equity gaps we know exist across most historically marginalized groups.