Tag: multiculturalism

New Blog: Anti-Racist Parent

tekanji

Just a quick post to highlight a new-ish blog, Anti-Racist Parent. From their introductory post:

Thank you for visiting us here at Anti-Racist Parent! This is a blog for parents who are committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook. If you’re a parent who is tired of having your child learn about race and identity through the mixing of neapolitan ice cream 🙂 , playing dress-up with national costumes, and absorbing the same handful of sanitized historical facts every single Black/Latino/Native American/Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, this blog is for you.

Via other blog.

Using Privilege to Make the Oppressed Look Like the Oppressors

tekanji

And here I am talking about race… again. I have all these beautiful posts on gaming started, but then I see things like nubian’s interview over at feministing and I feel like I have to say something. Whenever posts from feminists of colour talking about their experiences as feminists of colour get linked, invariably at least one person (sometimes another feminist, sometimes not) turns it into how the feminist of colour is mean, bad, racist, whatever.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but it still surprises me how easily the tables get turned on the feminist of colour. How easy their righteous rage, their justified anger, is presented — and accepted! — as them unfairly attacking white feminists/women/men. I just see the smooth 180 and it boggles my mind. Does no one besides the women being attacked see the ridiculousness of privileged people crying, “help, help, I’m being oppressed!’? Does no one see how it’s used to derail the thread from productive conversations?

In the interest of time (and my sanity) I’m just going to examine two of the many ways this happens, using the feministing thread as a case study. But don’t be fooled — nubian may be the most recent victim of this phenomenon, but she is far from the only one.

I. Rage Versus Oppression

I’m sorry Nubian, I have just one word for you:

Hypocrite.

[From Nubian: Blogging While Black, comment by MsJane]

MsJane calls nubian a hypocrite for expressing anger towards white feminists — anger that we don’t get the same hatred heaped on us and anger at the way we often ignore the very real, and very important, experiences of people of colour. In the course of the comment, MsJane uses the same harsh language that she faults nubian for, using words like “pompous,” “nasty,” and very condescendingly saying that she’s “sad” that nubian ‘chooses’ to “create divisions and make mocking statements.” Not to mention using the passive agressive method of saying that some people (ie. nubian) have to grow up. Come on, now.

I will be the first to admit that the balance between anger and viciousness is a hard one to find. We’ve all stepped over the line at some point, but I honestly believe that this case is different. What nubian, and every other feminist blogger of colour I’ve read, are being lambasted for in these instances is really that they call us out on our privilege and we don’t like that.

These days, it seems like whenever nubian’s name comes up, someone has to step up to the plate and start whining about how nubian said something mean. It turns nubian into the bad person. I’ve seen it happen with other bloggers of colour, like the time Jenn was practically called a race traitor because she dared to speak about sexism in the Asian American community.

I don’t see this being any different than when I rant about the “boy’s club” of video games, or comics, or whatever. I get men who want to do anything except for question their privilege coming over and calling me names, calling me a hypocrite, doing anything they can to discourage me from posting more on the issue.

Suddenly, I’ve become the bad one and they are the wronged party. Wait… what? I’m the one who has to see her gender objectified, who has to put up with being sexy first and a geek second, who has to deal with a hostile environment trying to keep me away from doing something I love. All they have to put up with is a woman huritng their feelings by being angry at her lot, which is only a momentary annoyance before they go back to the culture that caters to them.

But, I’ll admit that it’s a great method for derailing the thread — instead of talking about the subject, the thread is inundated with people defending or supporting what amounts to ad hominem attacks.

II. When A Compliment Isn’t Really A Compliment

I’m tired of people writing, “I’m a White feminist and I’m learning so much from you.” And I want to write back and be like, “I’m not here to teach you!”

[From Nubian: Blogging While Black, quote from nubian]

MsJane, who I referenced in the previous section, also takes issue with this. She brings out the “we are all teachers” argument, which is all fine and dandy if you don’t mind having privileged people come up to you and say, “Show me the oppression!” Even times and places where I’ve chosen that role I get tired by the assumption that I’m somehow responsible for thinking for them. Being a good ally involves not trying to foist responsibility onto the oppressed group with weasely phrases like, “we’re all teachers,” when it’s clear that the onus is disproportionately on the individual and/or group you’re talking to.

Furthermore, given her tone, I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the impression I got from what she said was that she was more affronted that nubian dared to slap white feminists’ wrists for trying to say something nice. And, hey, the first moment that I read what nubian wrote I was like, “Why’s she complaining about taking a compliment?!”

But I took the time to read it again, read it in context, to think about what I know about nubian and her blog. And I realized that getting angry that she’s tired of being patted on the head by white feminists for being a good little token is just as condescending, if not moreso, than when guys force their chivalry on me (without my wanting it) and then expect me to be thankful. Fuck that shit.

Instead of getting angry at nubian for calling us out, we need to be truthful with ourselves: if we’re turning bloggers of colour into The Teacher on racial issues, we’re doing something wrong. If we tell her that we’ve “learned so much” from her and then expect her not to be angry, then maybe we haven’t actually learned that much at all.

III. Conclusion

True equality requires giving something up: our privilege. Until we’re ready to do that, forget equal wages or any other equality.

[From Nubian: Blogging While Black, comment by luci33]

There is a fundamental difference between a person speaking as a minority, on a minority issue, and being angry about it and a person speaking as a privileged person, from a position of privilege, being angry about a minority issue.

Power.

Privileged people have it and we use it, mercilessly, in order to prevent any conversations that may lead to us losing it. We use it to take a critique and turn it on the head; after all, it’s much easier for us to rally people against that oh-so-mean minority who isn’t being the proper token than it is for us to turn the harsh critique into something we can use to fight against a privilege-based culture.

I fully believe that we, as feminists, have a responsibility to see “oppressed as oppressor” line of thinking for what it is and not engage in it ourselves.

Link Blogging: AA and Multiracial Reading List

tekanji

First off, sorry for the lack of posting recently. School has just stepped up a notch and I’m struggling to readjust. Next week my part-time job starts, too, but I’m hoping to get some quality posting time in this weekend. Anyway, onto the main event.

Claire of SeeLight has posted this excellent reading list for people interested in learning more about racial/ethnic issues. In the introduction, she says this:

All of these are sources of my knowledge and understanding, sources of my vocabulary. But, of course, I’ve done some study and reading as well, and I should be able to share some print sources with you. And because it’s amazing how difficult it is for a google search to occur to the ignorant (I’m complaining about myself as well; I’ll go halfway around the world to ask a friend a question before I’ll sit down and do a google search about something I’m ignorant of) here’s a non-threatening reading list of things that might help you share the current common understandings that shape the activist Asian American and Hapa spaces in the US today. Basically, I’m providing this (as my last post for IBAR) so as to give no one who reads this an excuse for not knowing. These are my reading recommendations. You can start here and let the reading itself guide you on.

She actually has a lot of great things to say in her introduction, so don’t just skip it and check out the books. Read the whole thing. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.

Integrating Minority Spaces

tekanji

On the subject of integrating spaces, Claire of SeeLight has written an interesting article, How To Welcome Outsiders, on what to do when a privileged person enters a minority space that you’re hosting. She tackles topics like determining acceptable versus unacceptable behaviour, being proactive in maintaining a safe space, and the difference between guests and invaders.

Here’s an excerpt from her introduction:

I am not monoracial and I do not live a monoracial life. I also do not restrict my social life to people who share my sexual orientation, age, religion, etc. The circle of my life intersects many, many more or less enclosed circles—in fact, I’d venture to say that I intersect more circles than most people (not my friends, though; they’re just as culturally slutty as I am). My friends, family, colleagues, models, and other loved and respected ones come from all communities. All are welcome in my life, and all are welcome to follow me into circles I belong to that are not their own. But it is up to me to make sure that anyone I invite into my life, into any room of my life, is safe there.

Now if only I can muster up the drive and find the time to write on integrating privileged spaces because, hey, the onus shouldn’t always fall on the shoulder of minority groups.

On The Feminist Carnival, Privilege, and Objectivity

tekanji

Reading blac[k]ademic, as I am known to do, I came across this excellent post by nubian, did i hurt your feelings?, on (white) feminism and (not) respecting minority spaces. First of all, I’m telling you all to put my post on hold and go read it. Now, not later.

Have you read nubian’s post yet? Yes? Good.

So, aside from thinking that I want to include it in my How to be a Real Nice Guy post, I was struck by this line:

the really upsetting part about this, is that the posting by nio was linked in the (white) carnival of feminists

“White carnival of feminsts??” I cried. Then my mind started inventing all these reasons why Niobium’s post would have been included in the carnival. The one I settled on was that the Feminist Carnival has a duty to be objective. It should include all of the feminisms, even the ones that contradict each other.

But… is that true? Is that true objectivity, and even if it is, is objectivity really useful in a carnival by feminists, for feminists?

I. My Privilege is Showing

I will admit it to the world right now: reading nubian’s blog makes me uncomfortable. I have raged in private about how wrong I think she is on this or that topic. Why have y’all never seen it? Simply put: because I was wrong. Because I knew I was wrong, even when I was saying how right I was. So, it came as no surprise when I saw her criticize the carnival for being primarily by and for white feminists that I jumped headlong into denial mode.

Mind you, I agreed with what nubian was saying in her post. That shit is “Minority Spaces 101”. It’s not even that I have so great an investment in the Feminist Carnival that I felt it could Do No Wrong (please, I criticize everything — including things I like). I was cheering her on through every criticism she made about white feminism, white culture, etc. And then, because I wasn’t expecting it, I got smacked in the face with her “(white) carnival of feminists” jab.

Without knowing how the carnival put Niobium’s post in context, or even having read her post, I had already made up my mind. Nubian was just wrong. Women of colour had hosted the carnival before, and they often got included… Because, you know, I — as a white feminist blogger who really hasn’t given the issue much thought before now — am a better judge about token minorities, exclusionary tactics, and the racial problems with the carnival than a person of colour. Right.

II. ‘Objectivity’ as a Privileged Stance

So, once I got off of one idiot thought train, I jumped right onto another. I started waxing poetically about how the Carnival had a duty to be objective and include all forms of feminism, even the ones that were at odds with each other. I wouldn’t want to be exluded if I wrote a post on sex positive feminism, so why should Niobium be excluded because of her form of feminism?

Of course, I was buying into the same broken logic that the The “What About the Mens?” Phallusy does — assuming that “objective” means giving inequal arguments equal weight. Furthermore, if we look at the carnival page, we’ll see that the two arguments were not presented the same; Niobium’s was given more focus.

Going with the latter point first, here is how nubian’s post was introduced:

Kactus at Super Babymama writes in Space about Women of Colour, their right to their own space without, in nubian’s words, having to “appease white guilt”, and how white feminists can find this hard, despite feeling that they shouldn’t.

Her post inspired two other bloggers to talk about the issue, but yet her link is what amounts to a mere footnote to Kactus’ post. Not only that, but they have been framed to focus once more on the majority: appeasing “white guilt” and how white feminists can find this hard despite their feelings to the contrary. Isn’t this exactly the kind of marginalization that feminists of colour have been blogging about since, like, forever? Why does the struggle of white people get all the press when the real topic — the colonization of people of colour’s spaces — get no mention? Seriously, this isn’t rocket science here.

To add insult to injury, Niobium not only gets her own explanation, but also an excerpt about her post. I shouldn’t have to tell you that having a quote draws more attention, and gives more weight, than not having a quote. First of all, the person reading the carnival has a sample of the linked person’s writing right there. If they like it, chances are they’ll like the post, so they’re more inclined to click on it than they would just a paraphrased link. Secondly, quotes draw the eye because they are different than the rest of the text, separated from the endless summary/link dynamic. And, lastly, having a quote devotes more space to the argument, thus making the implicit connection that it’s more important.

As for the relative equality of the subject matter of the two posts… I really didn’t want to get into Niobium’s post because I know this is going to start a shitstorm, but I think I have to. Having read it, it starts off with the “can’t we all just get along” type argument, but then devolves into the “reverse racism” myth that stems from the privilege not to understand the difference between a minority space and an exclusionary space. The thing is, what Niobium’s post is challenging is the very ability for minority spaces to exist — and I believe that that is a fundamental concept to any oppression work, including feminism.

IV. Conclusion

Nubian’s original post on the issue was a perfect example of the way majority groups colonize minority spaces. She talks about well meaning white people derailing the conversation, minimizing the experience (and even the humanity) of people of colour, and basically hindering the important conversations about race relations today and in the past.

People, this is huge. No, it’s not novel. No, it’s not new. But this dynamic is fundamental to understanding privilege, and understanding privilege is fundamental to fighting oppression. In America, overt oppression has taken a back seat to a more subtle network of cultural traditions, ways of thinking, and allowed ignorance that those who do anti-oppression work have come to call privilege. This privilege exists in all of us, no matter how hard we fight against what it stands for. To deny this — as Niobium was doing with her “reverse racism” take on minority spaces — is to discredit the very foundations of what we, as feminists, stand for.

And that is why I don’t buy my original line of argument about “objectivity”. It is no more objective, in my mind, to give equal airtime to the rape of men than it is to give equal airtime to the argument that minority spaces aren’t needed. Both of these arguments ignore the fact that they don’t exist on an equal playing field — men are not raped nearly as much as women, and minority spaces exist because minorities do not get equal airtime in “default” spaces.

Feminist SF Blog: Joss Whedon & race

tekanji

Over at the Feminist SF Blog, Laura Q has written an excellent analysis of Joss Whedon & race.

Here’s a small excerpt of what she says in regards to characterization in Firefly:

The ‘Verse is much more suggestive of Whedon & crew’s take on politics: generally progressive, comfortable with feminism, interested in but a little clueless about class, and deeply uncomfortable with dealing with race and racism. So the racelessness of the people of color is the white boy version of racial utopia: color-blindness, where we can all just appreciate each other for the color/texture of our skin and hair. The color-blindness of not wanting to deal with it.

All I can say is that you need to go read this. Now. No, seriously, you’re taking too long. Stop reading what I’m writing and go read Laura’s post. I mean it.

Japanese Beauty, Indeed

tekanji
Japanese Beauty, Indeed
Japanese Beauty, Indeed

As all of you know, I was in Tokyo last weekend (it was a fun trip; thanks for asking!). There was an advertising campaign that I saw on the train whose tagline was “Japanese Beauty.”

The first time I saw this ad, it was in the form of a commercial being played on the screens in the train. It featured a clearly white woman — the same one as in the above image — in Japan doing traditionally Japanese things and wearing traditionally Japanese clothes. My feeling of WTFerry grew and grew until it culminated with a picture of the white woman with the words “Japanese Beauty” printed clearly in the corner. I sort of made an indignant noise, but none of my friends had been paying attention. Nor, if they had been, do I think they would have cared.

It brings to mind a line from Tanizaki’s essay, “In Praise of Shadows,” which focuses on the Westernization of Japan. In it, he has a sort of love/hate relationship with Westerners and Westernization in which he both argues for the merit in traditional Japanese culture while putting Westerners above the Japanese in terms of ideology, inherent qualities, and as for women, whites are more “pure” and more “white”:

The Japanese complexion, no matter how white, is tinged by a slight cloudiness… But the skin of Westerners, even those of a darker complexion, had a limpid glow. Nowhere were they tainted by this grey shadow… Thus it is that when one of us goes among a group of Westerners it is like a grimy stain on a sheet of white paper. The sight offends even our own eyes and leaves none too pleasant a feeling.

And, really, that’s the feeling I get from this ad: that it’s buying wholeheartedly into the fallacies that excuse cultural imperialism. To me, Japanese beauty is about Japan, not some white woman “being Japanese.”

In Lieu of Pop-Culture Part Deux

tekanji

I have the next installment of my series mostly written, but it’s already 6 here and I haven’t eaten nor done my homework yet. So, I’m going to point you in the direction of an interesting post instead.

OS.CB regular Dora has made a post, Repeat after me: “We are all individuals …”, on her livejournal inspired by my post on Superheroine’s Demise. In it, she talks about the difference between criticizing individuals and being aware of the institutions of oppression that influence our choices. I’m with her 100%.

An excerpt:

Superheroine’s Demise, and the people who hold that fetish, are individuals. I won’t tell an individual to change who he is, or the individual choices he makes. I will not even wholly condemn him, because he is not completely, or exclusively, guilty. All of us are at least partially culpable in maintaining sexism. Yes, this case is worse than others, but it isn’t the sole villain among innocents.

I will, however, continue to (vocally) expose the sexism beneath practices such as these, so that people will learn about it. And I will continue to believe that people have a responsibility to educate themselves when they are presented with the opportunity. Unquestionable acceptance of misogyny is inexcusable – especially when you’re given the chance to enlighten yourself.

If that’s your kink, then that’s your kink. Just be honest about what that means.

I like Chinese, I like their tiny little trees…

tekanji
Gamestop Ad
A Chink in the Armour by White Light Films

Via one of my friends, A Chink in the Armour is a light hearted documentary that explores the stereotypes about Asians (specifically Chinese) in North America (specifically Toronto). There was a lot of fluff in it, but I think it would make a nice segue into talking more about racism against Asians in Western culture. (Hint, hint)

¡Viva la Campesina! Women Fighting Back

lake-desire

Searching for Activism

My feminist activism is far from isolating. I meet and connect with great women and men who are my peers on campus or online in the blog network. But I sometimes feel disconnected from the people beyond my immediate circle; I feel that the ways in which I’m a participant in a global world are invisible to me. In my Global Women class this quarter, my classmates and I tried to see some of those connections. As university students in the United States, we are privileged to ignore them. For my own term project, I chose look to into who grows the organic, local produce I enjoy so much. I wanted to know: who grows it, and why didn’t I know already?

I live in Bellingham, a city along the Puget Sound between Vancouver and Seattle. I seldom adventure beyond walking distance of my campus and apartment, so I see little of farms and most of that is from a distance on the highway. In spring and summer, I walk downtown to purchase local produce at the Saturday Farmer’s Market. The people selling the produce usually look like me, and I don’t give much thought beyond the cooking I will do when I get home.

My project led me to a local group called Community to Community Development, “a place-based, grassroots organization committed to creating alliances in order to strengthen local and global movements towards social, economic and environmental justice.”

¡Viva la Campesina!

How does this mission statement translate into practice? The panel I attended on Tuesday, February 28, 2006 is a good example; I’ll do my best to recount it. Pardon my slipping into pseudo-objective report mode, it’s not my usual writing style but I’m also turning this in for my class. I’m not sure how “accurate” this account is, but this is what I interpreted from what was said.

Organization director Rosalinda Guillen led the three panelists through sharing their experiences as farmworkers in my own Whatcom County and the adjacent Skagit County. The dialogue was held at Western Washington University and attended by both students and community members. I’m using fictional names of the panelists to preserve their privacy.

The presentation was bilingual, which challenged the pervasive English norm that surrounds me. Most of the farmworkers in the area are Hispanic. Language was used that the panelists were comfortable with, and the latter two speakers chose to talk to us in Spanish.

Anna

A woman named Anna was the first panelist to speak. She began with sharing her situation: fifty years old, in her thirty-first year of marriage, a mother of three, and grandmother of three. Originally from Texas, Anna’s family moved to the Skagit Valley when she was a young child and lived in labor camps for farmworkers. She began working in the labor camp at age five, and the fields at eight. When her family and their colleagues were able to find work, they were at it from dawn until dusk, seven days a week with no holidays. The labor camps were crowded–she recalled that the individual houses had bathrooms, but the camp shared communal showers. Labor camps are worse now than they were then, she said, because the same structures are used and are decaying with little or no maintenance.

Because farm work is seasonal, Anna’s parents often couldn’t find work and therefor relied on government assistance and help from relatives. It was a stressful time for her parents, Anna said, so she learned to be quiet and cooperative to avoid being a target. She didn’t want her dad to strike her. Anna pointed out that this was a tool for survival for people in powerless situations. “I want to help people in similar situations,” she said. She now works at Group Health so she can help people from her community.

Isabela

Isabela was the second panelist to speak. She moved to Yakima–a city in Eastern Washington–from Jalisco, Mexico in 1990 and sorted and packed apples, cherries, and pears. Eventually she moved to Bellingham. She is thirty-five and the mother of a young daughter; Isabela is currently unemployed and is looking for farmwork to support her family.

Isabela’s father was a bracero who, when she was a girl, traveled seasonally to the United States to find work. He lived in barracks-like with bunk-beds that housed several men to a room, and hundreds of men in each camp. Jobs typically were, she described, dawn to dusk with no holidays. Isabela’s father earned American dollars, which was more valuable than pesos, to send home to his family. Isabela feels that this little bit of extra income didn’t make up for the time he missed with his family.

Isabela’s father warned her not to travel to the United States because she’d be treated so poorly as a farmworker. She pointed out that now there are more considerations being made for farmworkers, including an hourly wages being at minimum wage, which is currently $7.63 in Washington (the highest in the country). But it still isn’t enough to get by, Isabela said.

Alessandra

Alessandra was the third and last person to speak on the panel. She moved to Bellingham, from Mexico, in 1996. She shared that she was a mother of three children–the youngest, and infant, with her at the panel. She primarily worked at a local organic farm. Crops there included peppers, eggplant, corn, carrot, broccoli, and cauliflower. She described the work as physically hard, including moving soil with wheelbarrows and transferring plants from flats into soil. One crop was harvested right after another. “One must present quality work so he can get paid,” she said.

Alessandra said she was happy at the organic farm because she was allowed breaks and the owner was respectful in that she let Alessandra spend the time she needed being a mother, getting her children to and from school.

Alessandra was recently let go from another farm she had worked for because some of her documentation was invalid. “If they only give work to people with proper documentation,” she said. “There’d be no one to do the work.”

After the three women introduced themselves, the panel was open to questions from the audience. Some of the topics discussed included:

Housing

Workers are known by what labor camp they’re from, and people still live in the same deteriorating camps. This reminded me of well off, white family friends from Pasco who blame the “Mexicans” for ripping apart the houses the farmers are kind enough to provide. These friends don’t work in agriculture. What the women told is a very different story, and I believe them.

Pesticides

Isabela told a story of an incident that occurred when she worked in Yakima. Apples were being sprayed outside of her packing plant when fumes came inside and made the workers feel dizzy and sick. Many had to go home sick, and others were afraid to leave. Alessandra went home sick but had to be back the next day. No incident report was filed, no doctor’s visit was provided. Alessandra said she was kept ignorant of her rights.

Anna only recalled being near the planes that sprayed pesticides on fields adjacent to ones she and her coworkers were working in. She reiterated that they weren’t allowed to be sick.

Raspberries as are a big crop in the area, and Alessandra reported that the roots of the plants are covered in a dust she suspects is a pesticide. Workers are provided with no masks and only cloth gloves. The dust they inhale makes the workers feel sick with constant flu-like symptoms. Alessandra used doubtful language–who knew what was going on?–but I argue that it doesn’t matter if it’s pesticides or not the workers are getting sick from: they should have to tolerate constant illness at work.

Children

Supporting a family as a farmworker was tough. The children of the farmworkers no longer performed labor like they used to, according to the panelists, but many still come with their parents to the fields. This is technically prohibited, but done out of necessity, said Alessandra. When she worked on at “conventional” (non-organic) farms, her children were exposed to pesticides. Although none of the women had observed pesticides harming their children, the host Rosalinda pointed out that it still may be happening even if they can’t see the immediate damage.

The women reported facing discrimination against their children. Alessandra couldn’t find an apartment for her three energetic children, the owners of the farms she worked at refused to help her. One said his empty house needed to be remodeled, the others outright said no. Anna recalled that as a girl, public school didn’t want to spend time on her because children of the farm workers are barely there. She said that was true today.

Alessandra said her children were told they had to speak English while at school. (Washington State does have an English Language Learners program.) She confronted teachers and principal. They apologized but Alessandra did not think things would change.

No daycare was provided for the farmworkers children, but the women did rely on each other for support in caring for children.

Gender

It was asked: why all women on the panel? Rosalinda replied that usually we think of workers as men. Women have different concerns that are often ignored. They bring a different perspective than the one we usually hear. The women farmworkers keep the family together, and must work full time and care for the children.

Moving Forward

The panel ended with a discussion of the future. Alessandra said that “hope is good” but she didn’t see how things were going to change as the rate of living rises faster than the minimum wage that traps people in poverty.

But by being there, we were moving towards change. The audience was asked to leave considering how their purchases affected the women they met that night.

“We’re here and we want to talk to you!”

Community to Community Development, by presenting such panels that open dialogues between the consumer community and farmworker community, want to educate the consumers so they will be allies when the farmworkers are ready to demand changes. The organization also wants local, family owned and sustainable systems that hold farm owners accountable.

Things to Come

The following day, I met with Rosalinda in her office. We reflected on the presentation. I shared how I’d just seen something I was oblivious to but realized I’d always know was there, and I thanked her for putting on a presentation that literally opened my eyes. I asked what was next. What activism was going on? What was to come?

In addition to the presentation I attended, Community to Community Development is working with farm owners to improve wages and working conditions. Beyond that, not much has been done yet. If more isn’t done, things may be grim. She shared stories of racism and hate crimes–such as cross burnings–the farmworkers have faced and continue to face. The Minutemen are the latest threat–these (white, as far as I saw on their website) men want to “help” border patrol keep aliens out. Rosalinda hopes that by establishing connections between the communities, we’ll remember meeting Alessandra and be ready will be prepared to stand up for immigrant rights. I’m listening and ready to be an ally.