obscurenordicconspiracy

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#change

I chose the hashtag change because it is a broad topic that covers a lot of different ideas and themes. As I browsed the hashtag, I found different topics and types of change. Some of the more frequent topics were about personal growth and self care. Some, more obscure topics, were about change as in quarters and nickels, or some random posts about tv shows that just had change tagged in it. But the most frequent posts that had the hashtag change were about racial justice. These posts also had the hashtag activism tagged in them as well. In order to narrow it down, I also browsed posts that had the hashtag activism in them as well. These posts reflect current events surrounding recent issues with racial justice. Just this year, we have seen so many different tragedies that resulted in a rise in activism. We have seen massive protests occur across the country on a massive scale. Hundreds of thousands of people of all sizes, shapes and colors taking to the streets to show their solidarity for the people who have lost their lives at the hands of systemic racism. From these demonstrations, we have seen change happen through the hands of activism. 

These posts related to change shows how serious the majority of our generation feels about the systems in place that have lead to racial injustice. It shows that there are a lot of us who support change in our systems and how many people are affected by these systems. In between the posts about the protests and racial identity, there were also posts about how transgender people have been affected by these systems and the intersection between race, sexuality, and gender and how these identities are affected separately and together. There were even a few that included people of differing abilities and sex workers. These posts are important reminders to those of us pushing for change because we have more than one identity and these injust systems affect us more than just on the basis of race. This can create conversations with people who may not realize they are being affected by these systems. For example, someone who is white may not think that they would be affected by an unjust court system in their area because their skin color, but they may still be affected because they identify as transgender or as a different sexuality. These pieces of art and photography being the focal point of the hashtag change helps people realize the ways in which they are being marginalized in ways they might not even know. Creating these conversations helps us realize and deconstruct the unjust systems embedded in our legislations, academia, and in our society. 

In our class, we reviewed many different pieces of artwork and performances that spark conversations about prejudices and stereotypes that people have historically held about people who aren’t white, heterosexual, and cisgender. These pieces of art are creative, they push the boundaries, and make people uncomfortable as their own biases are placed in front of them. This has been seen in the performance put on called “Couple in a Cage” by Gomez-Pena and Fusco who put on a show that pointed out historical events in which indigenous people were put on display and famous people would take photos with them. A similar thing can seen in the posts with hashtag change when pieces of art depict disabled people of color, people who identify with different sexualities, and people with differing gender identities. These posts are designed to make the viewer uncomfortable and make them face their own biases about people different than them and their own biases about a system that may favor them. Another art project we reviewed in the class is Kip Fulbeck’s photography project called Hapa. This project features people who have multiple racial identities and their statements. Many of the statements have a recurring theme of not feeling like they belong to either identity because they have one foot in each world. To fully immerse into one would mean to reject the other, which is impossible, because that would mean rejecting half of their identity. This similar thing can be seen in the hashtag change, where people of color struggle to thrive in a country that seems to not have their side. On one hand, people of color identify with a different identity than the majority of the country, but they also identify as an American. It is a constant struggle to feel like a part of America when it seems like the country itself just does not want them here. That is why the hashtag change, in the context of racial equality is so meaningful. It is the push to make America accepting of all racial and ethnic identities. We strive to create a society in which no one is displayed purely for diversity sake but for their character and their accomplishments, and a society where everyone who lives here is protected by systems that are kept in check. 

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American Horror Story Season 3

American Horror Story is a TV series that tells a different story each season based upon urban legends from American History. Season 3, titled Coven, depicts a small boarding school for witches in Louisiana. This season is based on the urban legend of witches that escaped the salem witch trials and sought refuge in New Orleans. It follows a fictional story of the descendents of these witches. Zoe, a girl who was ripped from her home after realizing what happens when she has sex with a male, is the main character in this season. When she arrives to the academy for witches, she meets Madison, a former movie star, Queenie, a human voodoo doll, and Nan, a clairvoyant. Over the course of the series, there are many blatant struggles, the headmistress Cordelia Foxx tries everything to conceive with her husband but eventually learns the truth about her husband’s true intentions. Fiona Goode, the supreme witch and also Cordelia’s mother, goes to desperate measures to maintain her youth, and her status as the supreme. But there is also another, underlying struggle. The academy and the council are made up of white women except for Queenie, who descends from a long line of African American witches, the Voodoo. The coven and the Voodoo have had generations of conflict originating from the conflict between Delphine LaLaurie and Marie Laveau. Delphine LaLaurie was a slave owner who kept her torture of her slaves a secret. Marie Laveau was an African American woman who studied voodoo. magic and eventually was deemed the Queen of Voodoo. In the TV show, LaLaurie tortured a slave who was Laveau’s lover so Laveau gave Lalaurie a potion that would make her immortal. This unresolved conflict was passed down through generations and seen between the coven and the voodoo. Later, it is revealed that one of the first victims of the Salem witch trials was a slave girl named Tituba who founded witchcraft in America. She taught what she knew to other women, black and white and was eventually burned at the stake. This would be the start of the divide between the African American voodoo witches and the white witches of the coven. Over the course of the series, we see this conflict arise in multiple ways. In the end, Cordelia Foxx takes over the academy and decides to release the secret that witches exist, opening up the doors for every girl of all ethnicities, breaking down the divide that existed for centuries. 

Showing an idealized conflict between historical figures that may have not made its way to high school history classes let alone university women’s history courses helps start this conversation. This focus on the racial struggle between different women is one that has existed for centuries. Besides the blatant discrimination that existed since slavery was enacted, the racial struggle between white and black women is a different story. When suffragettes fought for the right to vote, black women, latina women were excluded from parades and protests. When schools first started to desegregate, pictures of white women screaming at black women were seen in the media. It is an interesting dichotomy, women have been oppressed for centuries, and the internal struggles between groups of women that existed is, in a sense, odd. It is said, strength in numbers, even our military believes in sending 3 soldiers to fight one man, so why wouldn’t women band together to fight against oppression, fight for suffrage, fight for equal respect and representation? This can relate back to Peggy McIntosh’s idea of white privilege. Even in a society that oppresses women, they would rather see a white woman than a woman of color. White women still have advantages, especially in media portrayal. Coven takes this and creates a conversation around it by having strong African American female leads, showing a racial divide between a mainly white coven and an African American tribe dated back to slavery. Coven also addresses the experiences of young women of color using Queenie. Using known experiences of young women of color, they are able to create a stylised story of a young woman of color growing up in world without representation.

Queenie’s struggle with her identity is a recurrent theme since the beginning of the series. She is the only African American girl in the academy painted a stark white. In the first few episodes she describes a childhood where all the witches she saw on tv were white. She even says that she never knew there were black witches. Throughout the series, her struggle to find where she fits in is apparent. At one point, she leaves the coven to join Marie Laveau. She believes this to be the best decision because since she is a direct descendant of Tituba, and her specialty is voodoo magic, she would rather join the voodoo. This struggle of identity is one that can be related to in Kiri Davis’s video a Girl Like Me. She details a study that looked young African American children and how they would rather play with the white dolls even though they identified with the brown dolls. This struggle with identity is not uncommon and Coven shows this well with Queenie. 

Throughout the series, flashbacks to instances in history where African American people are lynched are portrayed. Furthermore, Delphine LaLaurie, as portrayed in the series, is a blatant racist. She calls Queenie disgusting names and even cries at the sight of Obama as president. While these scenes are used to show more backstory with the historical figures, they are also there to remind the audience of a history that isn’t that far in the past. These uncomfortable scenes are there for a purpose. Showing scenes of African American mothers crying over their sons, lynched in cold blood is designed to create discomfort in the audience. Relating back to the discussion of the shadow archive, these recreations are particularly hard to process because the last time much of the audience had seen such images were in textbooks. In fact, it may be the first time some of the members of the audience saw such acts recreated on TV since Roots aired. Nonetheless, Coven takes these historical tragedies and recreates them in a way to preserve the gory details but still have the same heaviness that is contained in old images of lynches. American Horror Story tells a story with underlying themes that tackle intersectional issues in a very interesting way. The season Coven tackles intersectional issues between white women and women of color, and they tell a story of racial divide, racial identity, and historical tragedy in a provocative way. 

A Girl Like Me. YouTube, 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyI77Yh1Gg.

Love, Victoria Cosner., and Lorelei Shannon. Mad Madame Lalaurie: New Orleans's Most Famous Murderess Revealed. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2011.

Katkin, Brian. Bitchcraft. 2013. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitchcraft_(American_Horror_Story).

Katkin, Brian. Angela Bassett Voodoo Queen. 2013. Basement Reviews . http://basementrejects.com/review/american-horror-story-coven-season-3/.

Katkin, Brian. AHS Coven. 2013. IMDB. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3743358/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2.

IMDB. “‘World Premiere’ American Horror Story: Coven.” IMDb. IMDb.com, 2013. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3743358/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl.

pantresie, Puulah, Rhonda R. Hudgins-Bundy, Queenie, Lena Hawk, Crystal Simmon, and Karen Davis. “Marie Laveau.” History of American Women, April 8, 2017. https://www.womenhistoryblog.com/2012/07/marie-laveau.html.

Wallis, Brian, and Coco Fusco. Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self. New York City, New York: International Center of Photography, 2003.

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A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun is a play written by Lorraine Hansberry and depicts the Youngers, an African American family living in Chicago during the 1950s. Mr. Youngers dies and leaves his family, Mrs. Youngers or Mama, his son Walter Lee, and his daughter Beneatha, $10,000 in insurance money. Each of these family members has some goal they want to put the money towards. Mama wants to buy a house in an entirely white neighborhood to which her children oppose this idea. Beneatha wants to use the money to pay for her to go to medical school and explore her African heritage. Walter Lee wants to use the money to invest in a liquor store that he and his friends have been thinking about for a while. Walter Lee’s wife, Ruth, reveals that she is pregnant and is worried that it will be an additional burden on the family. Abortion enters her conversation with her husband and he maintains his silence. Beneatha struggles with her family as Mama pushes to move into a white neighborhood. She goes as far to reject a marriage proposal from a man because she believes that he does not fully understand the issue of race. Beneatha is then faced with a decision to move to Nigeria with her new boyfriend and even by the end, does not make up her mind. As the play goes on, the neighborhood that Mama wants to move to offers her money to NOT move in after making a downpayment and Walter Lee takes the rest to his friends who then take the money and run off. Regardless, the family still makes the decision to move out, and while the future is uncertain, they remain hopeful. 

This play and its overall theme relates to the the class topics because the class is overall about the concept of race and the struggles that go along with it. This play depicts the struggle of a family where each member has a dream that they want to fulfill but there seems to be something holding each of them back. For example, Mama wants to move into a white neighborhood but the neighborhood association pays them to stay away. Even Beneatha rejects the idea of moving to a white neighborhood. This shows how oppressive and racist these communities were back in the 1950s. It shows how much race influenced society and how much of inequality that we see today started back then. 

This play introduced many different race conflicts. The one that is easy to focus on is the issue with the white neighborhood association paying the Youngers to stay away. But Beneatha presents a different race struggle. She was proposed to by an African American male who she deemed to not fully understand race and the struggles it presents. During the play, she explores her African heritage and is seen wearing more traditional clothing. She rejects the idea to move to a white neighborhood and encourages her family to embrace being African and look into their heritage and history. She starts seeing a new man who wants her to move to Nigeria. This is a big decision for her and she struggles with her identity as an African but also as an American and a member of her family. Beneatha wants to be more in touch with her ethnicity as she feels trapped in a society that really only sees her for her race. Beneatha’s struggle between her ethnicity and her race is one that does not have an end. She never makes a decision by the end of the play. However, this is a struggle that is seen to this day.

While this play takes place in the 1950s, we can still draw parallels from that time to modern day. There is still a clash in cities that are highly segregated. In recent times this year, divided cities had large protests, some turning violent, that erupted after many unjust killings of African American men and women. Much of this violence towards African American people in modern times stems from systematic issues that have been around in our society and are reflected in A Raisin in the Sun. Many African American families find themselves stuck in disadvantaged situations in inner cities. A Raisin in the Sun shows one aspect of this issue where the Youngers were paid to not move into a suburban neighborhood, out of their apartment in Chicago. While this is an anecdotal story, this could have been one of the reasons why cities like Milwaukee are so segregated. This also relates to Peggy McIntosh’s paper, Unpacking the Knapsack. She details in many ways how white people have privilege over people of color. One of the things she states is white privilege is “If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.” and “I can be reasonably sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.” (McIntosh, 1988). Both of these quotes target two aspects of this particular part of the play when Mama wants to move to a different neighborhood. First of all, the Youngers had to wait until they got a massive influx of cash before they were able to even consider leaving their apartment for a better place in an area where they might want to live. Second, their neighbors didn’t even want to meet them before they even moved. We can see this particular issue show how white privilege is embedded in our society. These systematic issues that were present in the 1950s still play a major role in our society to this day. 

Fig1

Fig2

Hansberry, Lorraine. A Raisin in the Sun. New York: Vintage Books, 1994.

McIntosh, Peggy. White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack By Peggy ... 1988.

Fig1: Wilkinson, Mike. Black Flight to Suburbs Masks Lingering Segregation in Metro Detroit. 6 Dec. 2016.

Fig2: Petrie, Daniel. A Raisin in the Sun . 

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Raisin in the sun

American horror story