July 2020 Cultural Work Roundup

As the tides of oppression consume us, we have internally and externally organized against them. This fight has become our way of being and thinking. In this, we must imagine long-term change and prepare for the possibility of burning out ourselves. How do we sustainably do the work and survive the impact? Below is a list of BIPOC makers, radical thinkers, and doers who can guide and ground us, featuring recommendations by Cultural Work Intern Lillyanne Pham at lillyanne@apano.org and APANO's Arts & Media Project (AMP) members.

Watch

Gaza in Context – Documentary written by Noura Erakat and Noura Joudah, Project led by Arab Studies Institute (ASI). This documentary provides context on Israel’s settler-colonial project through the dispossession, displacement, and concentration of all Palestinians. In this, they emphasize a larger framework of Israeli settler-colonialism to re-frame the Palestinian-Israel conflict and maintian focus on what is at stake. Part of Gaza in Context, a pedagogical project, includes pairing the four parts of this documentary with teaching guides: Situating Gaza, Settler Colonialism, History of Israel-Palestine, and Structural Violence.



Tender Takeout – Hosted by Tender Table. In this episode, Elsy Dinvil of @creolemeup and Thuy Pham of @mama.dut.foods discuss their personal journey in starting and running Portland-based food businesses. Their experiences showcase their struggles in the food industry along with their passion to reach their dreams. Visit Tender Table’s IGTV to watch more episodes and support local BIPOC businesses.

Practice

The Chúush Fund: Water for Warm Springs – Fundraiser by MRG Foundation x the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. Donate to help Warm Springs access clean water! “On May 31, 2019 the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs approved an emergency disaster declaration due to immediate health threats resulting from a 14” water main line break in the Shitike Creek. Because of public utilities capital maintenance deferment over the last few decades, today, months into rolling water outages and a boil water notice across Oregon’s largest reservation, there is still no relief in sight. “This is a worst case scenario,” said Warm Springs Chief Operating Officer Alyssa Macy.”



Black Power is a Color – Hosted by Blackfish Gallery for their July 2020 Exhibition featuring the works of Christine Miller, Kareem Blair, and Danielle McCoy. “We invite you to join us by visiting this show on display at the gallery from Tuesday, June 30to Saturday, August 1, 2020, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays from 11 to 5pm. Masks are required and the number of people in the gallery will be restricted to 10 per the Governor's Covid-19 guidelines. To make an appointment to view the show any other day of the week email our Gallery Director, Kristin Solomon, at director@blackfish.com. A virtual opening will be held on the Blackfish Facebook page @BlackfishGallery on Thursday evening July 2nd from 6pm-9pm featuring artist talks, gallery tour, live Q&A, and music with host Cedy Ced. 10% of all art sales will be donated to Y.B.G.”



ComeThru BIPOC Market – Managed by Raceme Farm Collective and supported Black Food Sovereignty NW. The market will be held every other Monday, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, starting June 29th at The Redd on Salmon, 831 SE Salmon St, Portland. The next market will be July 13th. “Types of products include produce, teas, herbal medicines, prepared food (to go only) and more! Masks are required. We’ll provide disposable masks and some vendors will likely be selling masks.” Interested in joining as a BIPOC vendor? Visit their website to fill out the vendor application for free.

Listen

Anjali Nath Upadhyay, M.A. on Radical Unlearning – Hosted by Oregon-based ecologist Ayana Young of the For The Wild podcast. In this episode, Anjali enters as a recovering academic to explore radical unlearning and community-based education. She emphasizes the importance of learning in and from “audaciously grassroots” spaces. Ayana states, “Instead of remaining reliant on an exploitative and traumatizing system, we are called to feel into our creative powers, honor our responsibilities and cultivate our deepest curiosities in the name of collective liberation.”



False Choices & Poisoned Futures: Examining Environmental Racism – Hosted by Brown Girl Green x LaTricea D. Adams (Black Millennials 4 Flint) x Justin Onwenu (Sierra Club) on June 19. This episode explains the different manifestations of environmental racism along with the historical and present-day community responses against it. Adams states, “You have Black people who establish these wonderful foundations for powerful cities, and there’s something like environmental racism occurs and people are displaced.”



Q&A with Recent MSW Grads – Hosted by The Melanated Social Work Podcast on June 25. This episode consists of detailed conversations and personal stories about the oppressive realities for Brown and Black social workers in academia and workspaces. In this, recent Master of Social Work (MSW) grads provide advice for Brown and Black social workers on how to navigate microaggressions, tokenization, white-centered curriculums, and more.

Read

Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement – Edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha. This book is a collection of experiences and practices from “change-shapers” and “community-builders.” They will guide you through understanding, imagining, and embodying transformative justice. Leah states, ““So many people experiencing violence or other emergencies don’t want to call the police—or in some cases understand that they should not—but have no idea of what to do instead (pg 9).”



What is Owed: If true justice and equality are ever to be achieved in the United States, the country must finally take seriously what it owes black Americans. – Written by investigative journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones. In this essay, Nikole dives into the continuing history of economic exploitation of Black Americans. She expands on the need for and how to structurally implement reparations. She states, “If [B]lack lives are to truly matter in America, this nation must move beyond slogans and symbolism.” Recommended by Roshani Thakore.



Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation – Written by Rev. angel Kyodo Williams, Lama Rod Owens, and Jasmine Syedullah. This book delves into the practice of radical dharma through personal experiences in navigating violence and challenging systems of oppression. “Igniting a long-overdue dialogue about how the legacy of racial injustice and white supremacy plays out in society at large and Buddhist communities in particular, this urgent call to action outlines a new dharma that takes into account the ways that racism and privilege prevent our collective awakening.”

APANO’s AMP PRESENTS

Caring Package, Issue 1, July – Designed by Lillyanne Pham, featuring works by Marilou Carrera, Bryna Cortes, Hannah Kim, Joe X. Jiang, and Jenny M. Chu. We, Arts and Media Project, created a collection of care in the form of a digital zine. AMP finds guidance and support through our creative innermost and collective creations. We have been searching for ways to expand, practice, bend, and embody care – care for ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities. We imagine care in the form of educating our loved ones. Caring as a deep and daily breath. Caring as a process of unlearning and learning. Caring as a long and open stretch. We offer our collection of our imaginings and practices to prioritize the acts of care we all need in our lives.



If you have BIPOC art and culture to add to this list or additional resources, please contact Cultural Work Coordinator Roshani Thakore at roshani@apano.org or Cultural Work Intern Lillyanne Pham at lillyanne@apano.org.