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Hahahahaha

Enter Gordie C. “Jack” Hanna – not the zookeeper from those old television shows, but a plant breeder at UC Davis. In 1942, Hanna had a dream: a world that no longer needed anyone toiling in the tomato fields, but which instead used machines to pick out those blood-red jewels from the bushes. Hanna’s insight, and it was one that you really had to be a plant breeder to come up with, was to see the harvest from the tomato’s point of view. 

Imagine that you’re a tomato, and that you wanted to be picked by a terrifying metal monster without being turned to tomato paste prematurely. Hanna had a simple test for his tomatoes: He would throw them onto the road by the experimental farm at UC Davis, and breed the ones that survived.

It took nearly 20 years between breeding road-resistant tomatoes and building the machines that would pick them before Hanna and his engineer colleague, Coby Lorenzen, got it right with the VF-145 tomato (called the “square tomato” because it wouldn’t roll) and the Blackwelder mechanical tomato harvester. 

But this invention didn’t take place in a vacuum. Hanna and Lorenzen were working against time. National opinion had turned against the dreaded Mexican, leading to things like the Eisenhower administration’s subtly named Operation Wetback. The bracero program was going to be phased out, leaving California’s processed tomato industry with no one exploit. Kick out the Mexicans, and what happens to the ketchup? The square tomato and the mechanical tomato harvester saved the processed tomato industry. In five years, over 95 percent of processing tomatoes in California were picked by machine.

There was one problem, though: The square tomatoes sucked.

America’s Tomatoes Taste Like Garbage (Because Of Racism)

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Kinship and family are called upon again, but their meanings are now subverted in order to seek justice for this aging population of workers and their descendants

Mireya Loza

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Week 2

"Botanical Gardens of the Dispossessed Revisited" 

by Tinde R. van Andel, Amber van der Velden, Minke Reijers

Although this reading is densely compacted with botanical analysis, it opened up a new perception to fruits and vegetables I have never encountered until now. With endemic amounts of food available at almost every corner (thanks capitalism), I have never taken the time to think about the history behind them. They are more than simply sustenance; they symbolize the solidarity and cultural connections that are passed down through generations and generations.

“Tradition was the main motivation to grow specific crops and landraces: ‘my parents grew this type and that’s why I also do it’’ (pg. 706)

My mom really enjoys to garden in our backyard and basically cultivated her own nursery full of edible and nutritious plants. From my experiences, I’ve noted that most (if not all) of my Asian friends’ parents also happen to be very fond of gardening as well. Personally, my hypothesis is that after the Vietnam War, refugees who lost their native home found refuge in planting and growing those plants and trees of those fond memory. My mom’s garden ranges from commonly grown American plants (ex. tomatoes) to traditional Southeast Asian plants (ex. finger bananas). The historic diversity of trees, vegetables, fruits, and herbs she’s collected in her garden from various parts of the world is the embodiment of creating a new future accountable beyond the past. 

As Katherine McKittrick states from, "Plantation Futures,"  “...plot-and-plantation as a new analytical ground that puts forth a knowledge system, produced outside the realms of normalcy, thus rejecting the very rules of the system that profits from racial violence, and in this envisions not a purely oppositional narrative but rather a future where a corelated human species perspective is honored” (Pg. 11)

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How do Horror Movies Structure Entire Systems of Chattel Slavery versus Settler Colonialism?

Most horror movies in the cinema typically have similar plots with only one antagonist and a handful of protagonists that get killed off one by one by that scoundrel. However, in the case of chattel slavery, settler colonialism, and oppression of colored communities, the antiheroes are the collective in the position of power whose misdeed is their wholesale active participation in denying legacies of white supremacy.

People who currently benefit from the system leftover from settler colonialism actively deny the fact that the luxury of their lifestyle would not have been possible without the oppression of people of color. Although they may not support or agree with past racial ideology (you’re not racist, congrats!), they nonetheless continue to reap the benefits from racial power structure (structural/institutional racism) sowed by their ancestors.

Blame and horror is then strategically shifted from the perpetrators to the natives. For example, Oyewumi and Njambi criticize how the “Western Gaze” is imposed upon indigenous practice to villany, criminalize, and erase cultural traditions. Female circumcision is practiced throughout various African cultures as a physical and spiritual journey one takes as they transition from adolescence to adulthood. Westerners have tainted the perception of this ritual with their demeaning classification of it: female genital mutilation. Christian missionaries justify the colonization of these communities under the guise to “save” them from their “barbaric” and “primitive” lifestyles. The reality is that there are multitudes of complicated intersections which can be understand. 

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Being infiltrated from your own home by people from your own land... it’s another layer of pain.

A look back at the life of the girl from the iconic ‘Napalm Girl Photo,“ which is turning 40.

”'I wanted to escape that picture,“ she said. 'I got burned by napalm, and I became a victim of war … but growing up then, I became another kind of victim.’”

'Napalm Girl Photo’ From Vietnam War Turns 40

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... Tearing apart the Palestinian homeland intimately ruptured Palestinians’ sense of self, their families, and their hearts.

Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

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Targetting: Mediating US Drone Wars by Lisa Parks

“...Drone attack scene photos foregrounds the damage drones do to the flesh, representing dead or injured bodies... not all victims’ bodies can be found and represented” (pg. 150)

Our cultural understanding of robots typically incline to those built with a similar physique to our own bodies, with artificial intelligence (AI) emerging as a huge breakthrough in the electronic/scientific community through complex coding and processing. The robots frequently presented to us through pop culture media has always depicted as these futuristic mechanisms that flawlessly imitate life. Take Bender from popular adult sci-fi cartoon show, Futurama, as an example. Though he is a robot, Bender exemplifies an astute consciousness that seemingly blends in with the other humanoid characters on the show. Some hold an underlying fear that the advancements of AI may one day become the downfall of humankind. There are plethora of dystopian societies in popular movies and books that forewarn about the advancements of robots, AI, and the destruction they may bring; however, the focal adversary they pinpoint on robots and technology is a misguided conclusion. Humans, with their manipulation in advanced technological warfare, are the real threat to our world. Drones themselves are harmless when they roam to take majestic landscape shots (refer to Animal Planet on Netflix). It is through human hands that the assembly of weapons, a clear airstrike from single command, that human lives are lost. We created this monstrous present ourselves.

“Such images should not be thought of as records or documents, but as ‘bioweapons’ that can affect or infect thought, behaviour, and feelings in multifarious ways and thus intervene directly within power relations” (pg.152)

I really concede with Parks’ assertion that images have much greater power of influence through what we subject them to. These images from the drone war are more than just far away militarized zones with a caption of the city; they were somebody’s communities. Such violent photographs may be seen as disturbing or gory, but we must confront and acknowledge its existence to  fathom the truth of war. The infamous picture of the Vietnam war, Execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém, is said to have been an influential reason (almost a catalyst) as to why the Antiwar movement against Vietnam grew so quickly. 

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Starlights Landing

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“Inflitrated Intimacies: The Case of Palestinian Returnees”by Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

“Refugees went from stateless and homeless to being fundamen- tally illegal overnight” (pg. 171).

“The criminalization of Palestinian returnees under-pinned a public discourse that reimagined Jewish settlers in historic Palestine as native to the land and Palestinians as wayward foreigners and invaders” (Pg. 172)

This is a common strategy prevalent adopted by colonialist because the success rate is so high (as seen through history from a non-objective lens) and the reward is extremely invaluable: the support for colonialism from the mass public under the guise of salvation. The greatest value of public support comes from the justification of blatant violations against human rights abuse and further normalization of settler-colonialism in international discourse. As Shalhoub-Kevorkian clearly emphasizes, “by shifting a refugee crisis into a threat to national security, Israel integrally supported the goals of its settler-colonial state” (pg. 176). 

 “... In the years following the Nakba, the international community failed to address the crisis of Palestinian refugees...” (Pg. 170)

Furthermore, anti-Zionist conversations against Israeli imperialism and hyper-militarization against Palestinians are often heavily chastised and slandered as anti-Semitic, such as when Minnesota congresswoman Ilhan Omar came under fire for criticizing Israel. Settler-colonialists shift the narrative from their own problematic exercise of forceful colonization and oppression upon indigenous groups; they purposely mislead the brush of historic accuracy that paints them as the saviors who freed the aboriginals from their primitive lifestyles. That is, if they even bother to acknowledge the livelihood of the colonized. Within this context, Israel disregards Palestinians by further condemning their stateless predicament into a legislative crime for merely existing.

“... Her account attests to the inability to live in the present when one’s connections with the past have been sundered”) Pg.176

Being forcibly removed from your native home… there is is a disconnection of culture, heritage, family that leaves behind an unimaginable weave of pain that is describable. After the bloody violence, the only things you have left is your body and the daunting memories that haunt your for the rest of your cognizant consciousness until they exasperate you to insanity. You become a lost vessel at sea, analogous to the the embodiment of an orphan missing it’s parent, the homeland. Perhaps that is why we characterize parentage to our native land as “motherland/fatherland.” We gender the roots of our native home to express the familial relation we have to the conditions and surroundings that raised us. 

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friendly Sunday Funday reminder from the Proletariat Pug to at least nod & make eye contact with homeless people, it’s not that hard <3

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Because it’s been the other way around for centuries

White People: *breathe and exist*

Black Tumblr: omfg why are white ppl… like that…

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“I’m not America’s nightmare. I’m the American Dream.”

-Janelle Monáe

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Our identity is our defense mechanism

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“Dirty Computer” by Janelle Monáe

Janelle Monáe’s short film is a narrative collection of music videos from her third album, Dirty Computer, that is heavily imbued with social criticism concerning gender, race, sexuality, religion, and life in a futuristic utopia. Dirty Computer is a beautiful, artistic rendering of Monáe’s experiences living in America as a black woman, an identity whose oppression is continually downplayed. Not only does the storyline proclaim her pride as a queer, black woman, but it recounts the history of adversity which forged that pride and resilience. Monáe’s affirmation of identity had to grow in order to become capable of enduring the hardships imposed upon her by external forces (to conform). Since the piece emphasizes a dissent from societal conformity, the power of affirmation thus becomes a tool of survival to validate one’s own existence and space they occupy. The juxtaposition of strength and vulnerability are depicted to capture the full existence of what it means to be human (specially as a marginalized person).

“They drained us of our dirt and all the things that made us special.”

This narration is particularly interesting because we often associate “dirt” negatively as undesirable, grimy, and soiled; we want to clean dirt from our homes and thus cleanse ourselves from it’s presence. In her film, the authoritative government attempts to cleanse her from this impure entity, yet Monáe’s character resists and embraces the “dirt” as a unique quality that individualizes people. While her character has to repeat "I am a dirty computer,” she relishes in the idea of being dirty because it means a celebration diversity; dirt is messy and malleable, constantly changing and never the same. Being dirty is like being an orphan in a sense that we were left behind by the government that vowed to protect us and keep us safe... Instead, we are ambushed for being different.

Song - Crazy, Classic, Life

“Remember when they told you I was too Black for ya? And now my Black poppin' like a bra-strap on ya I was kicked out, said I'm too loud Kicked out, said I'm too proud But all I really ever felt was stressed out”

As orphans from the government, we lack the representation of our own beings - people who share similar qualities that divert from the norm. I love these lyrics specifically because it lyrically juggles the objective power dynamics of race and gender eloquently while also hinting at Monáe’s own vulnerability. Society discriminates that she’s “too black” and “too proud,” but beyond the hard front she has her own worries that stresses her out, alluding to the humanity that is far too often overlooked. 

The “bra-strap” is also a thoughtful commentary on the imposition people have on simple bra-straps showing, inducing the normalization of sexualizing our women over articles of clothing. This feeds into more problematic ideas, such as blaming women for misfortune out of their control (Ex: “she asked for it because she was dressed like a skank!”).

Song - Django Jane

“Already got a Oscar for the casa Runnin' down Grammys with the family Prolly give a Tony to the homies Prolly get a Emmy dedicated to the Highly melanated”

These lyrics reveals Monáe’s own interpretation of an accountable future: showing solidarity with her community through her success. This suggests a future where the historically marginalized groups create their own triumph and inspire future generations to continuously produce their own knowledge. Although the film heavily celebrates individuality, there’s an underlying emphasis on community as well. To hold an accountable future is become our own knowledge/content producers, while never forgetting our own identity and people (who’ve supported us as well).

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“Disability and Difference in Global Context” by Nirmala Erevelles

Perceived as the very embodiment of the irresolvable “case,” and therefore a constant source of curiosity and experimentation, such bodies also find themselves “being on permanent display, of being visually conspicuous, while being politically and socially erased”

A girl with mental disability? Don’t talk at her. A homeless man on the street? Don’t look at him. We assume a lack of awareness to be “deferential,” but what if it’s actually for our own benefit to turn a blind eye because we subconsciously feel guilty for our fortunes? Or on the contrary, a lack of sympathy? Whatever the rational, in the midst refusing to acknowledge the existence of the disabled community, and we ostracize the people and disregard their humanity.

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“Disability Justice” is Simply Another Term for Love by Mia Mingus

Prior to this week’s critical readings, I have never heard of the term “ableism” but I have encountered the perceived violence multiple times throughout my lifetime without being to articulate the essence of it... until now. Mia makes a compelling yet compassionate argument for the utmost need to create these safe spaces in which individuals (that don’t necessarily meet to societal standards) can find solace in. Whether it be mental or physical disability, ableism maintains the assumption that disabled people need to be “fixed” as a the pretext to make abled-bodied people comfortable with their own privilege.

I believe a huge factor why I’ve never been exposed to ableism is because it has been ingrained in our culture not to discuss another’s unfortunate circumstances (as if it would befall upon on us next). We were taught to refrain from speaking upon vexed topics to eschew another’s uncomfortableness. 

“It shouldn’t be that we have to go to the margins of the margins of the margins of the margins... It shouldn’t be that we have to hold our tongues or risk backlash or be met with empty silence just to be able to talk about our own realities and the realities of our communities.”

Mingus relays the need to create an inclusive space by imploring others to share their stories and experiences within the community. She paves way for historically silenced voices of the disabled community to be heard by acknowledging, validating, and empowering their humanity. Moreover, she emphasizes the necessity of solidarity from those outside of the community as well to propel change and seek justice.

"...isolation, exclusion and erasure has been destructively wielded against us and our communities, so why would we want to wield them against each other?”

This sentence made me think of how the language we use with each other is imbedded with identity. Comparative slurs such as “that’s so retarded bro” or “that’s so gay” is problematic because it insinuates slander against these already-marginalized communities and normalizes the oppression of them. Just as Mingus inquires, why would we “wield [these vicious words] against each other?” Every time someone uses the word “retarded,” I can’t help but become passionately irate because I think of my innocent uncle (who wouldn’t even know better to fend for himself due to his mental aptitude). Compassion towards these communities can be practiced through various multitudes, whether it be mindful vernacular, speaking up for these causes, volunteering... etc. 

“We have to work to transform the world, but we can only do that effectively if we can work to transform ourselves and our relationships with each other at the same time.”

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[image description: projection on a classroom whiteboard that reads “treating disabled people like people is basic human decency, not heroism. you guys are just ableist”]