(e)radical
as we wait in anticipation for the verdict of johannes mehserle, as oakland braces itself for another riot, i am reminded of the recent experiences that have made me contemplate about radical activism. radical. progressive, revolutionary, leftist, extremist existence that challenges the power structure, deconstructs normativity, and shifts accepted paradigms. does that translates to eradicating perceived "others" from the community? what then, is the difference between activism and terrorism? i always thought that activism is a community organizing at its best. why do violent words and actions need to overcompensate for the value that the insurgency on its own possesses and divide communities even further into smaller factions based on the what's believed to be the larger "agenda"?
perhaps my standing by the school of non-violence and peaceful activism is perceived as naive or in the eyes of many anarchists and activists; insufficient. though i am still not convinced that the result of community organizing with the purpose to inflict terror, violence, and casualty is somehow more meaningful in bringing justice to the community. non-violence does not mean non-anger, nor does it mean non-resilience or silence. let me tell you, i am angry. i am angry and frustrated with so many things going wrong for so many folks in this world. i am pissed off, and i believe in insurgencies. but when the emotion takes a hold of a person's impulse, and when it is coalesced with the impulsive actions of the mass with a certain agenda, it only becomes the cultivator of the extreme violence, much like the taliban, much like the rodney king riot, which, in the end, only intensifies the effect of the social injustice causing harm to the very people that it is meant to protect.
in my personal belief, activism and insurgency are tools to unite the community together, to stand in solidarity to demand justice where wrongs have been done. but my recent experiences with radical community organizing have only made me feel discouraged and well, angry.
last january when the first oscar grant riot took place in oakland, i was in downtown oakland, and my car was smashed, along with everybody else's on 17th street, where small oakland businesses owned by folks of color are located. my first response to the scene of smashed windows and dumpsters on fire was sadness and empathy for the fact that so many folks of color live with the burden of racism, that they have no other way but to store up all the rage until it is finally unleashed by an extreme example of racism that is intense enough to be singled out by the media. then i heard a woman speak. she was the owner of one of the shops on 17th street who, at the time when someone threw a brick through the store window, had her infant child in her arms. she said that she tried to ask the individual who was about to throw the brick why they were doing this to her and to her shop, and that she has a baby with her. all she got in response, was something along the line of "i don't fu*king care... we're trying to teach people like you a lesson" and proceeded to throw the brick through the window. that broke my heart. as the woman quizzically responded to the interviewer why she had to be targeted with a painful and angered look on her face, i realized the impulsive actions of so-called radical activism is affecting the communities for which it is intended to protect, in a divisive manner.
i don't think i am alone on this - this was posted by an individual who accused the local activists of not doing enough:
"Fuck Bay Area Anarchists
by xxxxxxx
Friday Mar 13th, 2009 11:43 PM
Kid arrested and no one cares
After the San Francisco Anarchist Cafe tonight, a spontaneous street party/march emerged. Folks marched from the Cafe at 16th & Potrero down to Station 40 at 16th & Mission. The first half of the march was rad. We danced to the Brass Liberation Orchestra for a good 15-20 minutes before a single cop rolled up.
10 minutes later, a youth of color was detained and cited for Jaywalking. One kid was singled out from 50-100 marchers. This is standard. What's not is that the majority of the march (all but 15-20) kept moving. When one individual ran the 4 blocks the mass had marched away from the arrestee, and informed everyone that a kid was being arrested, he was met with "we know!" We had numbers. There were only 4 cop cars. I understand that the march was a party, not a protest, but fuck, man. Y'all would rather go to Station 40 to get drunk than support a comrade? I'm not saying everyone should've dearrested him (though we should've), but even standing to support him, or just chanting or really anything would have been better than abandonment. Y'all got issues. Fuck off and die.
Fuck Bay Area Anarchists. If y'all want kids to show up on Monday, to the Justin event or the Oscar grant event, get your fucking shit together.
Out."
to that, here is the response from the person who actually got arrested:
"Don't talk like that about Bay Area Anarchists and I'm the guy who got arrested
by it's me
Saturday Mar 14th, 2009 1:17 PM
I'm the guy that got arrested. Everything is fine and I don't know what this guy is talking about. Everybody stuck around for me yesterday. I'm fine. Don't be so quick to say fuck bay area anarchists because I’m one of them too! You’re basically saying fuck you to me as well. Don't know who you are but yeah! alright!
You can apologize to my friend with the ski-mask! hahahahaha
Cheers! ! !"
and here is the story of oakland community members expressing frustration about the outsider take over of the local issue. it speaks from the perspective of someone working to prevent violence within his community, and his effort being boycotted by the intimidation of the activists bringing their own agenda without consideration of the deeper local consequences. i must say, i echo his view point. because in the end, only ones that end up paying repercussions are those who are most oppressed in the community. ironic, don't you think?
the point is, why such hostility? why the prioritization of the agenda over the well-being and the justice of the community and all of its members? why overlook the deeper consequences of careless activism that ultimately defeats its purpose??
let me tell it with my own voice: i felt as if i was personally attacked for being who i am at an event that i believed i was welcome. the event, i thought, was for the community i was a part of, though i had no choice but to leave in the middle of it because i did not feel safe. some of the statements made during the event and the cheers that followed made me feel attacked for being in an interratial relationship, and for simply hoping to get married someday. i was made to feel as if my existence was openly ridiculed and my presence - as well as my partner's - denounced. regardless of the political backdrop (and probably personal history) that may validate the rationale, to me, it was careless, and offensive. what hurt me the most, was the fact that it came from my very own community. it is true - radical activism is about speaking out and breaking the silence, increasing the visibility of the injustice that disproportionately affect certain groups of people, but how could that be achieved by dismissing the different shades, shapes, contours, of the narrative each one of us bring to the table? why call it a "safe space for all" when in actuality, it is an exclusive space that alienates the "others?" how could anyone consider pointing fingers and disregard certain experiences as a means to deny being a part of a community to be an act of resistance? isn't that what sustains the foundation of discrimination?
another example: there are many queer events throughout bay area that are intended to be inclusive of everybody. with good intention or not, i keep seeing events that explicitly invite "women, trans, and femme" and exclude other dimensions of queer community, like "butch" for example. i do understand that there are stereotypes of a certain butch culture that is considered to be obnoxious and anti-feminist, heteronormative and perhaps oppressive of others. but when did the radical queers start defining ourselves with stereotypes? quite frankly, i do not feel welcomed at events or space that exclude "queer" or "butch" identity from the targeted groups. even though i do not rigidly identify myself as "butch," and lean more on the "queer" side of things, not seeing these identity terms do make me feel rejected. what happened to breaking down the stereotyped boundaries? what happened to the framework of celebrating diversity instead of eliminating those that don't "fit in?"
speaking one's story, one's history, is a powerful tool to unite the community and to bring awareness and action to the cause. though when it is turned around and is delivered to shame or blame the certain subset of our own community - however it is defined - for one's "agenda," it only crumbles the solidarity and disassembles coalitions: the essence of a community. i don't pretend to have all the answers, nor do i view myself as some kind of a victim. i don't. though i have realized that i need to be sharing my voice, my story, more loudly within my community too. just as i will give my ears and my heart to take in your narrative, please give me yours. afterall, the culmination; the amalgamation of each of our story is what defines our community.
many people dear to my heart will be at the rally when the verdict comes out to not only show their commitment to justice, but to keep everyone safe. for their sake, and more importantly, for the sake of the most mistreated and underrepresented members of our community, please take a moment to fight in solidarity without violence. only you can redefine radical.
perhaps my standing by the school of non-violence and peaceful activism is perceived as naive or in the eyes of many anarchists and activists; insufficient. though i am still not convinced that the result of community organizing with the purpose to inflict terror, violence, and casualty is somehow more meaningful in bringing justice to the community. non-violence does not mean non-anger, nor does it mean non-resilience or silence. let me tell you, i am angry. i am angry and frustrated with so many things going wrong for so many folks in this world. i am pissed off, and i believe in insurgencies. but when the emotion takes a hold of a person's impulse, and when it is coalesced with the impulsive actions of the mass with a certain agenda, it only becomes the cultivator of the extreme violence, much like the taliban, much like the rodney king riot, which, in the end, only intensifies the effect of the social injustice causing harm to the very people that it is meant to protect.
in my personal belief, activism and insurgency are tools to unite the community together, to stand in solidarity to demand justice where wrongs have been done. but my recent experiences with radical community organizing have only made me feel discouraged and well, angry.
last january when the first oscar grant riot took place in oakland, i was in downtown oakland, and my car was smashed, along with everybody else's on 17th street, where small oakland businesses owned by folks of color are located. my first response to the scene of smashed windows and dumpsters on fire was sadness and empathy for the fact that so many folks of color live with the burden of racism, that they have no other way but to store up all the rage until it is finally unleashed by an extreme example of racism that is intense enough to be singled out by the media. then i heard a woman speak. she was the owner of one of the shops on 17th street who, at the time when someone threw a brick through the store window, had her infant child in her arms. she said that she tried to ask the individual who was about to throw the brick why they were doing this to her and to her shop, and that she has a baby with her. all she got in response, was something along the line of "i don't fu*king care... we're trying to teach people like you a lesson" and proceeded to throw the brick through the window. that broke my heart. as the woman quizzically responded to the interviewer why she had to be targeted with a painful and angered look on her face, i realized the impulsive actions of so-called radical activism is affecting the communities for which it is intended to protect, in a divisive manner.
i don't think i am alone on this - this was posted by an individual who accused the local activists of not doing enough:
"Fuck Bay Area Anarchists
by xxxxxxx
Friday Mar 13th, 2009 11:43 PM
Kid arrested and no one cares
After the San Francisco Anarchist Cafe tonight, a spontaneous street party/march emerged. Folks marched from the Cafe at 16th & Potrero down to Station 40 at 16th & Mission. The first half of the march was rad. We danced to the Brass Liberation Orchestra for a good 15-20 minutes before a single cop rolled up.
10 minutes later, a youth of color was detained and cited for Jaywalking. One kid was singled out from 50-100 marchers. This is standard. What's not is that the majority of the march (all but 15-20) kept moving. When one individual ran the 4 blocks the mass had marched away from the arrestee, and informed everyone that a kid was being arrested, he was met with "we know!" We had numbers. There were only 4 cop cars. I understand that the march was a party, not a protest, but fuck, man. Y'all would rather go to Station 40 to get drunk than support a comrade? I'm not saying everyone should've dearrested him (though we should've), but even standing to support him, or just chanting or really anything would have been better than abandonment. Y'all got issues. Fuck off and die.
Fuck Bay Area Anarchists. If y'all want kids to show up on Monday, to the Justin event or the Oscar grant event, get your fucking shit together.
Out."
to that, here is the response from the person who actually got arrested:
"Don't talk like that about Bay Area Anarchists and I'm the guy who got arrested
by it's me
Saturday Mar 14th, 2009 1:17 PM
I'm the guy that got arrested. Everything is fine and I don't know what this guy is talking about. Everybody stuck around for me yesterday. I'm fine. Don't be so quick to say fuck bay area anarchists because I’m one of them too! You’re basically saying fuck you to me as well. Don't know who you are but yeah! alright!
You can apologize to my friend with the ski-mask! hahahahaha
Cheers! ! !"
and here is the story of oakland community members expressing frustration about the outsider take over of the local issue. it speaks from the perspective of someone working to prevent violence within his community, and his effort being boycotted by the intimidation of the activists bringing their own agenda without consideration of the deeper local consequences. i must say, i echo his view point. because in the end, only ones that end up paying repercussions are those who are most oppressed in the community. ironic, don't you think?
the point is, why such hostility? why the prioritization of the agenda over the well-being and the justice of the community and all of its members? why overlook the deeper consequences of careless activism that ultimately defeats its purpose??
let me tell it with my own voice: i felt as if i was personally attacked for being who i am at an event that i believed i was welcome. the event, i thought, was for the community i was a part of, though i had no choice but to leave in the middle of it because i did not feel safe. some of the statements made during the event and the cheers that followed made me feel attacked for being in an interratial relationship, and for simply hoping to get married someday. i was made to feel as if my existence was openly ridiculed and my presence - as well as my partner's - denounced. regardless of the political backdrop (and probably personal history) that may validate the rationale, to me, it was careless, and offensive. what hurt me the most, was the fact that it came from my very own community. it is true - radical activism is about speaking out and breaking the silence, increasing the visibility of the injustice that disproportionately affect certain groups of people, but how could that be achieved by dismissing the different shades, shapes, contours, of the narrative each one of us bring to the table? why call it a "safe space for all" when in actuality, it is an exclusive space that alienates the "others?" how could anyone consider pointing fingers and disregard certain experiences as a means to deny being a part of a community to be an act of resistance? isn't that what sustains the foundation of discrimination?
another example: there are many queer events throughout bay area that are intended to be inclusive of everybody. with good intention or not, i keep seeing events that explicitly invite "women, trans, and femme" and exclude other dimensions of queer community, like "butch" for example. i do understand that there are stereotypes of a certain butch culture that is considered to be obnoxious and anti-feminist, heteronormative and perhaps oppressive of others. but when did the radical queers start defining ourselves with stereotypes? quite frankly, i do not feel welcomed at events or space that exclude "queer" or "butch" identity from the targeted groups. even though i do not rigidly identify myself as "butch," and lean more on the "queer" side of things, not seeing these identity terms do make me feel rejected. what happened to breaking down the stereotyped boundaries? what happened to the framework of celebrating diversity instead of eliminating those that don't "fit in?"
speaking one's story, one's history, is a powerful tool to unite the community and to bring awareness and action to the cause. though when it is turned around and is delivered to shame or blame the certain subset of our own community - however it is defined - for one's "agenda," it only crumbles the solidarity and disassembles coalitions: the essence of a community. i don't pretend to have all the answers, nor do i view myself as some kind of a victim. i don't. though i have realized that i need to be sharing my voice, my story, more loudly within my community too. just as i will give my ears and my heart to take in your narrative, please give me yours. afterall, the culmination; the amalgamation of each of our story is what defines our community.
many people dear to my heart will be at the rally when the verdict comes out to not only show their commitment to justice, but to keep everyone safe. for their sake, and more importantly, for the sake of the most mistreated and underrepresented members of our community, please take a moment to fight in solidarity without violence. only you can redefine radical.
posted by rikitikitembo at 3:47 PM
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