Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Resist Newsletters Resist Collection 1-31-2015 Resist Newsletter, Special 2015 Resist Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/resistnewsletter Recommended Citation Resist, "Resist Newsletter, Special 2015" (2015). Resist Newsletters. 401. https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/resistnewsletter/401 #BlackLivesMatter The Newsletter Special 2015 Volume 24 #1 A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement How a moment became a movement By Alicia Garza We were humbled when cultural be the highest form of flattery, I was workers, artists, designers and techies surprised when an organization called I created #BlackLivesMatter with offered their labor and love to expand to ask if they could use "Black Lives Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi, two #BlackLivesMatter beyond a social Matter" in one of their campaigns. We of my sisters, as a call to action for media hashtag. Opal, Patrisse, and agreed to it, with the caveat that a) as Black people after 1 7 -year-old Trayvon I created the infrastructure for this a team, we preferred that we not use Martin was post-humously placed on movement project-moving the hashtag the meme to celebrate the imprison­ trial for his own murder and the killer, from social media to the streets. Our ment of any individual, and b) that it George Zimmerman, was not held ac­ team grew through a very success­ was important to us they acknowledged countable for the crime he committed. It ful Black Lives Matter ride, led and the genesis of #BlackLivesMatter. I was a response to the anti-Black racism designed by Patrisse and Darnell L. was surprised when they did exactly that permeates our society and also, Moore, organized to support the move­ the opposite and then justified their unfortunately, our movements. ment that is growing in St. Louis, MO, actions by saying they hadn't used Black Lives Matter is an ideological after 18-year old Mike Brown was killed the "exact" slogan and, therefore, they and political intervention in a world at the hands of Ferguson Police Officer deemed it okay to take our work, use where Black lives are systematically Darren Wilson. We've hosted national it as their own, fail to credit where it and intentionally targeted for demise. conference calls focused on issues of It is an affirmation of Black folks' con­ critical importance to Black people tributions to this society, our humanity, working hard for the liberation of our and our resilience in the face of deadly people. We've connected people across oppression. the country working to end the various forms of injustice impact­ Resist. ing our people. We've cre­ ated space for the celebra­ Resist tion and humanization of 259 Elm Street, Suite 201 Black lives. Somerville, MA 02144 617-623-5110 [email protected] The Theft of Black Queer The Resist Newsletter is published four times a Women's Work year. Subscriptions are available free to prison­ ers and to individuals for a suggested donation of $25/year. The views expressed in articles, As people took the other than editorials, are those of the authors #BlackLivesMatter de­ and do not necessarily represent the opinions mand into the streets, of the Resist staff or board. mainstream media and Resist Staff: Miabi Chatterji corporations also took Ravi Khanna Seth Kirshenba um up the call. #BlackLives­ Yafreisy Mejia Matter appeared in an SaifRahman episode of "Law & Order: Resist Board: Jennifer Bonardi SVU" in a mash up con­ Jackie Gil taining the Paula Deen Kevin Alexander Gray racism scandal and the Judy Hatcher Kay Mathew tragedy of the murder of Jim O'Brien Trayvon Martin. Gregory Pehrson Suddenly, we began to Nisha Purushotham Camilo Viveiros come across varied adap­ tations of our work-all Newsletter Editor: Saif Rahman lives matter, brown lives Printing: Piro Printing matter, migrant lives Cover Photography lippe (vinwwwflackr t·o m/ 1x-oph•/ hppd) matter, women's lives Printed or, recycled paper with t•egetable- based ink Member of BreakOUT!, a Resist grantee in New Orleans, Loui­ matter, and on and on. .e,. .. www .resist.org siana with a sign reading"#BlackTransLivesMatter." While imitation is said to 2 Resist Newsletter, Special 2015 came from, and then use it to applaud with us, but to investigate the ways in Broadening the incarceration. which anti-Black racism is perpetuated Conversation to Include I was surprised when a community in their own communities. We are also Black Life institution wrote asking us to provide grateful to those allies who were willing materials and action steps for an Black Lives Matter is a art show they were curating, en­ Survival Tip #3587: When walking through your 'hood, hoodies not advised. unique contribution that goes titled "Our Lives Matter." When beyond extrajudicial killings questioned about who was in­ of Black people by police and volved and why they felt the need vigilantes. It goes beyond the to change the very specific call THE narrow nationalism that can and demand around Black lives be prevalent within some Black to "our lives," I was told the art- BLACK BODY communities, which merely call ists decided it needed to be more on Black people to love Black, inclusive of all people of color. I SURVIVAL GUIDE live Black and buy Black, keep­ was even more surprised when, ing straight cis Black men in in the promotion of their event, Help us #WriteABookln 1Day! the front of the movement while one of the artists conducted an Tweet #BlackBodySurvival tips @intelmischief our sisters, queer, trans, and interview that completely erased All Day Sat. Feb. 22 disabled folk take up roles in the origins of their work-rooted in the background or not at all. the labor and love of queer Black Black Lives Matter affirms the women. lives of Black queer and trans Pause. folks, disabled folks, Black­ When you design an event, undocumented folks, folks with campaign, et cetera based on the records, women and all Black work of queer Black women, don't lives along the gender spectrum. invite them to participate in shap­ It centers those that have been ing it, but ask them to provide ma­ marginalized within Black lib­ terials and ideas for next steps for eration movements. It is a tactic said event, that is racism in prac­ to (re)build the Black liberation tice. It's also hetero-patriarchal. movement. Straight men, unintentionally When we say Black Lives or intentionally, have taken the Matter, we are talking about work of queer Black women and the ways in which Black people erased our contributions. Perhaps are deprived of our basic hu­ if we were the charismatic Black man rights and dignity. It is an men many are rallying around acknowledgement that Black these days, it would have been a Intelligent Mischief (IM), a Resist grantee, ''provide(s) poverty and genocide is state different story, but being Black space for low-income communities to experiment with cre­ violence. It is an acknowledg­ queer women in this society (and ative actions to improve their lively hoods ... " and believe ment of the fact that one million apparently within these move­ that "mischief-makers push the boundaries of authority Black people are locked in cages ments) tends to equal invisibility and allow us to see what is possible." Members of IM in this country-one half of all and non-relevancy. spent time in Ferguson, MO. They state, '~s a response people in prisons or jails-is an to the current state of race relations in the US, we have We completely expect those act of state violence. It is an designed a multimedia project called 'The Black Body who benefit directly and improp­ Survival Guide.' This will be a compilation of rules and acknowledgment that Black erly from White supremacy to try regulations for surviving in the US as the owner of a black women continue to bear the and erase our existence. We fight body. When the problems of race become absurd it's time burden of a relentless assault that every day. But when it hap­ to get (sur )real!" on our children and our fami- pens amongst our allies, we are lies and that this assault is an baffled, we are saddened, and we act of state violence. Black queer and are enraged. And it's time to have the to engage in critical dialogue with us trans folks bearing a unique burden in a political conversation about why that's about this unfortunate and problematic hetero-patriarchal society that disposes not okay. dynamic. And for those who we have not of us like garbage and simultaneously We are grateful to our allies who yet had the opportunity to engage with fetishizes us and profits off of us is have stepped up to the call that Black around the adaptations of the Black state violence; the fact that 500,000 lives matter, and taken it as an oppor­ Lives Matter call, please consider the tunity to not just stand in solidarity following points. continued on page seven Resist Newsletter, Special 2015 3 Timeline of Police Violence March 7, 1965 - March 25, 1965 Selma to Montgomery Marches January 13, 1874 Selma, Alabama: Civil rights activists are attacked by Tomkins Square Riot police as they attempt to march peacefully from Selma January 1, 1845 to Montgomery. TV & till cameras capture the violence. New York Police NYPD riots against immigrant protestors. Over 7,000 people gathered, which was the largest demonstration that New York City 600 marchers, protesting th death of Jimmie Lee Depoartment is Jackson and ongoing exclusion from the electoral process, founded. had ever seen at the time.