5 Things Friday
White supremacy’s dirty little secret.
Happy Lunar New Year! While you are celebrating the year of the Ox and enjoying your day off, make sure you are doing all you can to support your local Asian-American neighbors (see below). White supremacy’s dirty little secret to survival has long been pitting marginalized groups against each other, so they have less time, energy, and solidarity to battle the real foe. Let's not fall for that old trick, shall we? “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Also, this seems like a decent time to reread MLK's Letter From Birmingham Jail in its entirety.
Here are your 5 Things.
GO TO THIS. A fatal attack on an 84-year-old Thai man in San Francisco. A violent attack of an 91-year-old man in Oakland’s Chinatown. An attack and robbery of a 64-year-old Vietnamese woman in San Jose, and another, targeting a man at a San Leandro bank. Graffiti outside of a Chinese school in San Francisco. A 61-year-old Filipino man slashed across the face on a New York City subway. In Portland, more than a dozen Asian-owned businesses, vandalized. All of these hate crimes took place over the last 14 days. Take a stand against the recent wave of hate crimes against Asian Americans by learning about them, sharing the stories, and speaking out against them. And if you are in the Bay Area, show up for "Love Our People, Heal Our Communities," a vigil in Oakland's Madison Park tomorrow to unite to condemn violence Asian elders, women, and youth.
READ THIS. Meet Tovah Cook, designer, dancer, ceramicist, and author of Black Binder, a notebook of curated prompts to steer anti-racist questions and topics into actions and solutions. Her own exploration of anti-racism and Black history is what inspired her to create Black Binder in the midst of *so* much coming to the surface in the summer of 2020. Tovah found herself navigating topics and questions she still had much to learn about, and realized others were on a similar journey. Read her full story (and buy the book!) right here.
SHARE THIS. San Francisco is looking to fill the 15-member advisory body to draft a plan for paying reparations for slavery. To ensure all voices are heard, there are specific and different requirements for each spot, including a member of the Black press, a person who was incarcerated, someone who has experienced homelessness, and even one spot for a member as young as 14 years old. Check out the full list here and share it with your network. The sooner the committee is formed, the sooner it can get to work making reparations a reality!
BUY THIS. Pre-Order your copy of Abstractions Magazine now. Created by artist A’Driane Nieves, a Black woman and mother, and her Tessera Arts Collective, a non-profit arts org that "supports womxn (including queer, trans, femme and non-binary) abstract artists and critics of color by providing opportunities, resources, and programming that elevates their work and practice." The very first issue ships soom and features the work of the essayist (and Rep Co fam!) Shaquille Heath, who interviews artist Carmen Neely..
DONATE TO THIS. Have you chipped in to our Vegan Hood Chef's fundraiser yet? REP CO is helping these incredible women raise $5,000 to cover the cost of photographing their first cookbook. We have until February 28 to make it happen. We are still FAR off from the goal, but If everyone who gets this email donated $5 we would blow past it. Let's go!