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HEARD teamed up with five other amazing community organizations to create the first #ASL vlog about #MassIncarceration in the United States. I was honored to draft the statement and support with the translation and coordination of this important project.
Thank you for this powerful collaboration to the following organizations:
Take a few minutes to learn why people are calling to #DefundPolice. SPANISH TRANSLATION: ¡Nos asociamos con otrascinco increíbles organizaciones comunitarias para crear el primer vlog de #ASLsobre #EncarcelaciónMasiva en los Estados Unidos! Es necesario tomar el tiempopara saber por qué la gente llama a #DesfinanciarLaPolicia/#DesembolsarLaPolicia. Gracias por esta poderosa colaboración con lassiguientes organizaciones:
#SolidaridadDeDiscapacitadxs #BlackLivesMatter #LasVidxsNegrxsImportan #BlackDisabledLivesMatter ------------------------------ Spanish & English Transcript and video description below and linked here: bit.ly/34DIBpJ ------------------------------ [TRANSCRIPT with visual descriptions: Video opens with the Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of Deaf Communities (HEARD) logo. HEARD presents: Mass Incarceration. Video opens to a Black indigenous individual from HEARD wearing a black polo shirt in front of a white wall. All messages are in American Sign Language.] Maybe you’ve seen the English term “mass incarceration” and thought, hmm...I wonder what that is? Maybe you were curious and tried to do some research for yourself. But you could never find the information video in ASL or a captioned video so you could clearly understand “mass incarceration”. We have a series of short vlogs to help make it more clear. This vlog will show important statistics on prisons, education, police as related to disabled/deaf people and other marginalized groups. We’ll explain why it’s important to our communities to pay attention and help slow down and even end incarceration in the US. Future vlogs have other information too, like the history of crime and punishment, and prisons here in the U.S. Also, examples of deaf/disabled people being wrongly accused and imprisoned, plus how to be prepared to interact with police and the legal system. Third, information about current action and movements to fight inequality in the legal system. Fourth, maybe other legal topics you think are important. Let us know, share your thoughts! Hey! One important thing: when it comes to “mass incarceration”, keep in mind that signs are still being discussed, debated and developed about this topic. Conversation and feedback is very helpful and important! Now, let’s get started with some basic facts and information. [Screen transitions to a woman representing Gathering of Deafatives. She is wearing a black shirt and turquoise jewelry in front of a light background.] Here are some signs currently being used for mass incarceration: [Two signs are offered]. Remember, we in signing communities are still developing signs so maybe after you learn about this, you can share possible signs you would use? Now we are ready for facts about the policing system & prison systems. Did you know that the United States imprisons people more than any other country in the world? Wow. The U.S. has 2.2 million people currently incarcerated, and at least 2.7 million children have an incarcerated parent. [A graphic is shown on screen: Incarceration per 100,000 people among founding NATO countries. The United States is at the top of the graph, showing a disproportionate amount of incarcerated people. Source: Prison Policy Initiative, 2018. A new representative appears on screen from Council de Manos. She is sitting outdoors, wearing glasses and a black shirt. As she gives her message, supplemental text appears on screen, matching this transcript.] Did you know that people in jails, prison and immigration detention are 3-4x more likely than the general population to have a disability? Disability can include deaf, deafblind, deafdisabled, hard of hearing, late deafened and many other kinds of disabilities. Of course, you probably already know that disabled/deaf people in prison have awful experiences. Prisons and jails often do not follow disability rights laws, such as the ADA. This results in little or no access to information, services, programs or resources, not to mention isolation, frequent abuse, and much more. Very sad. [Video transitions to a Black man representing National Black Deaf Advocates. He is wearing a green polo shirt and is standing in front of a dark background.] Maybe you’re curious, what do education and police systems have to do with education? Good question. The U.S. education system and the police system can ignite a path to prison, beginning at an intersection between these systems. In the educational system, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students, as well as students with disabilities and other marginalized students are often treated unfairly. For example, a study from the Department of Education found that Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students are punished more harshly for the same behavior as their non-disabled and white peers. Many studies show that these disparities cannot be explained by differences in behavior. Wow…The studies explain that this inequity is because of differential enforcement of school discipline policies and systemic discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes, which includes “cultural miscommunication” between students and teachers. Many teachers do not have the same background or lived experiences of their students or the students’ families. [Video transitions to a new individual representing Deaf Queer Resource Center. They are wearing a white shirt and black watch, sitting in front of a dark background.] More suspensions and expulsions mean less education time, less enjoyment of education experience, with more being held back and/or dropping out. It might surprise you that suspensions and expulsions also influence the chance of contact with juvenile and adult prison systems. One study found that students who have been suspended or expelled are three times more likely to come into contact with the juvenile system the following year, compared to students who have not been suspended or expelled. Here is a chart showing suspension patterns by race and disability. You can see that all disabled students are disproportionately suspended and disabled students who were Black, Latinx & Indigenous even more unequally suspended. [A graphic is shown on screen: Suspension by percentage. Disabled statistics are in blue, and non-disabled statistics are in green showing more disabled people receiving suspension. Source: Center for Civil Rights Remedies at the Civil Rights Project. Back to the representative from Gathering of Deafatives.] Similar to the education system, the police system also unfairly targets, criminalizes and incarcerates deaf, disabled and Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people. For example, Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people are disproportionately killed by police. Many people are killed by police every year who are deaf, disabled, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, or even low/no income. [Artwork appears on screen: Watercolor portrait of a young black man wearing a black cap and shirt on yellow background. Text reads: Justice for Mario Woods / over 50% of people killed by police are disabled *no comprehensive data is collected but available reports show at least half of those killed by police have psych disabilities, these statistics do not include people who have mobility, sensory or developmental impairments or people who are otherwise neurodivergent or sick/chronically ill. Disability Justice Now #Black Lives Matter. Back to the HEARD representative.] Let’s summarize. What is mass incarceration? The U.S. has less than 5% of the global population, but almost 25% of the world’s prison population. Since the 1970s, the U.S. incarcerated population has increased by 700% – that’s 2.3 million people in jail and prison, incarceration far outpacing population growth and crime. So, why should you care about mass incarceration? The U.S. system is extreme in targeting and disproportionately imprisoning marginalized communities! These communities include disabled, deaf, lower-income, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, migrant, LGBTQ people, and so many more. Working to end mass incarceration is important because jails and prisons have severely negative effects, harming our communities’ health, safety, rights, access to jobs, voting, education, family, language, and much more. This especially negatively affects marginalized communities, including deaf and disabled. Stay tuned for our next vlog in this very important series and share some of your thoughts on mass incarceration below! [Text on screen reads: Video editor - ASLIZED! Fade to black as video ends. Captions by aslcaptions.com.] (TRANSCRIPCIÓN con descripciones visuales: El video se abre con el logotipo Educando Para Avanzar los Derechos de las Comunidades Sordxs (conocido por sus siglas en Inglés, HEARD). HEARD presenta: Encarcelamiento Masivo. El video abre a una persona Indígena Negrx que trabaja en HEARD con una camisa polo negra frente a una pared blanca. Todos los mensajes están en lengua de señas Estadounidenses, ASL. Quizás hayas visto la palabra o frase ‘Encarcelamiento masivo” y te hayas preguntado qué es eso? De pronto tuvieron curiosidad y quisieron investigar el tema pero a lo mejor no habían podido encontrar información sobre el encarcelamiento masivo en Señas Estadounidense - ASL. Tenemos un video para Uds. que esperamos que podra explicar el tema un poco mejor. De qué consiste este VLOG/ video? ● Estadísticas importantes sobre las prisiones ● Compartir educación relacionado con este tema ● Discutir sobre nuestras comunidades y su relación con la policía ● Explicar la relación de la policía con nuestros miembros de comunidad que tienen discapacidades incluyendo a las personas Sordas y de otras identidades en las comunidades marginalizadas. ● Explicar cómo es la vida de las personas Sordxs encarceladas y otros grupos marginalizados. ● Explica por qué es importante para nuestras comunidades prestar atención y ayudar a combatir / poner fin al encarcelamiento en los EE. UU. Haremos más vídeos/ VLOGs en un futuro cercano. Los temas serán los siguientes:
Algo importante para recordar: las señas de ASL que estamos usando siguen en discusión. Seguimos elaborando y colaborando en nuestro equipo y comunidad sobre el tema de la encarcelación masiva. Sus diálogos y retroalimentación nos ayudará y es importante! [pantalla hace transición a una mujer get está juntando Deafatives - Personas Sordxs que son indígenas de EEUU. Tiene puesto una camiseta negra y joyeria de color turquesa esta en frente de una pared de color claro) Ya podemos comenzar con nuestro tema de hoy! [Deletrean an ASL ENCARCELACIÓN MASIVA para demostrar que comienza el tema] Estas son las señas EEUU/ASL que se están usando para ENCARCELACIÓN MASIVA. *damos 2 opciones por ahora* Recuerden que estamos aún desarrollando y construyendo las señas que le corresponden a estos conceptos. De pronto después de ver estos videos nos puedes recomendar más opciones de señas para usar. Ahora, podemos hablar de la evidencia/ los hechos del sistema policial y sistema carcelario aquí en los EEUU. Los EEUU tienen 2.2 millones de personas encarceladas. WOW ! 2.7 millones de ninxs con un pariente en la Cárcel. [source: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/graphs/pie2018.html] ¿Sabías de las personas que están en la cárcel, o las prisiones, o en detención de inmigracion tienen 3 a 4 veces más probabilidades de tener discapacidad? [Se muestra un gráfico en la pantalla: Encarcelamiento por cada 100.000 personas entre los países fundadores de la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte- OTAN. Estados Unidos está en la parte superior del gráfico, mostrando una cantidad desproporcionada de personas encarceladas. Fuente: - Iniciativa de Política Penitenciaria, Prison Policy Initiative, 2018. Un nuevo representante aparece en la pantalla del Council de Manos. Ella está sentada al aire libre, con gafas y una camisa negra. Mientras da su mensaje, aparece un texto complementario en la pantalla, que coincide con esta transcripción.] ¿Sabía que las personas en las cárceles, la prisión y los centros de detención de inmigrantes tienen entre 3 y 4 veces más probabilidades que la población en general de tener una discapacidad? La discapacidad puede incluir sordos, sordociegos, personas con discapacidad auditiva, sordera que ocurre tarde y muchos otros tipos de discapacidades. A lo mejor ya sepas que las personas discapacitadas / Sordxs en prisión tienen experiencias horribles. Las prisiones y cárceles a menudo no siguen las leyes de derechos de las personas con discapacidad, como el Acto de Las Personxs Con Discapacidades, conocido en Inglés por sus siglas ADA. Esto resulta en poco o ningún acceso a información, servicios, programas o recursos, incluyendo el aislamiento, el abuso frecuente y mucho más. Una triste realidad. [El video cambia a un hombre negro que representa a Defensores Nacionales de Personas Sordxs Negrxs, Lleva una camisa polo verde y está parado frente a un fondo oscuro.] Tal vez tenga curiosidad, ¿qué tienen que ver los sistemas de policía con la educación? Buena pregunta. El sistema educativo de los Estados Unidos y el sistema policial pueden abrir un camino hacia la prisión, comenzando en una intersección entre estos sistemas. En el sistema educativo, los estudiantes Negrxs, Indígenas y Latinx, así como los estudiantes con discapacidades y otros estudiantes marginalizados, a menudo son tratados injustamente. Por ejemplo, un estudio del Departamento de Educación encontró que los estudiantes Negros, Indígenas y Latinx son castigados con más dureza por el mismo comportamiento que sus compañeros blancos y sin discapacidades. Muchos estudios muestran que estas disparidades no se pueden explicar por diferencias de comportamiento. Vaya… Los estudios explican que esta inequidad se debe a la aplicación diferencial de las políticas de disciplina escolar y la discriminación sistémica, los prejuicios y los estereotipos, que incluye la “falta de comunicacion cultural” entre estudiantes y maestros. Muchos profesores no tienen los mismos antecedentes o experiencias vividas de sus alumnos o de sus familias. [El video cambia a una nueva persona que representa al Centro de recursos para sordos queer. Llevan una camisa blanca y un reloj negro, sentados frente a un fondo oscuro.] Más suspensiones y expulsiones significan menos tiempo de educación, menos disfrute de la experiencia educativa, con más retenciones y / o abandono. Puede que le sorprenda que las suspensiones y expulsiones también influyan en la posibilidad de contacto con los sistemas penitenciarios de menores y adultos. Un estudio encontró que los estudiantes que han sido suspendidos o expulsados tienen tres veces más probabilidades de entrar en contacto con el sistema juvenil el año siguiente, en comparación con los estudiantes que no han sido suspendidos o expulsados. Aquí hay una tabla que muestra los patrones de suspensión por raza y discapacidad. Puede ver que todos los estudiantes discapacitados son suspendidos de manera desproporcionada y los estudiantes discapacitados que eran Negros, Latinx e Indígenas son suspendidos de manera aún más desigual. [La imagen en la pantalla: Las suspensiones en porcentajes. El color azul representa las estadísticas de estudiantes discapacitadxs y el color verde representa los estudiantes no discapacitadxs indicando que las personas discapacitadxs reciben más suspensiones. Fuente: El Centro de Reparaciones para los Derechos Humanos en el Proyecto de Derechos Humanos. Regresando al representante de Juntando Deafatives.] En comparación al sistema educativo, el sistema policial también injustamente toma de punto, criminaliza a, y encarcela a personas sordas, discapacitadas y también a personas Negrxs, Latinxs, e Indígenxs. Por ejemplo, lxs personas Negrxs, Indígenxs, y Latinxs son asesinados por la policía en números desproporcionados. Muchas personas sordxs, discapacitadxs, Negrxs, Latinxs, Indígenxs, y también que reciben poco o ningún ingreso están asesinados por la policía cada año. [Una obra de arte entra en la pantalla: Un retrato en acuarela de un joven negro llevando un gorro negro con camisa negra en frente de un fondo amarillo. El texto dice: Justicia para Mario Woods/ más de 50% de las personas asesinadas por la policía son discapacitados *no hay datos extensos pero los informes disponibles indican que por lo menos la mitad de las personas asesinadas por la policía tienen discapacidades psiquiátricas, estos datos no incluyen las personas con deficiencia de motricidad, sensorial, ni de desarrollo tampoco no incluyen las personas que tienen cualquier enfermedad crónica ni de desviación neurológica. Justicia de discapacidad ahora #Las vidas Negras importan. Regresando al representante de HEARD.] Resumamos. ¿Qué es el encarcelamiento masivo? Estados Unidos tiene menos del 5% de la población mundial, pero casi el 25% de la población carcelaria del mundo. Desde la década de 1970, la población encarcelada de EE. UU. Ha aumentado en un 700%, es decir, 2,3 millones de personas en la cárcel y la prisión, el encarcelamiento supera con creces el crecimiento de la población y el crimen. Entonces, ¿por qué debería preocuparse por el encarcelamiento masivo? ¡El sistema estadounidense es extremo al apuntar y encarcelar desproporcionadamente a comunidades marginadas! Estas comunidades incluyen personas discapacitadas, sordas, de bajos ingresos, negras, latinas, indígenas, migrantes, LGBTQ y muchas más. Trabajar para terminar con el encarcelamiento masivo es importante porque las cárceles y las prisiones tienen efectos muy negativos, dañando la salud, la seguridad, los derechos, el acceso al empleo, la votación, la educación, la familia, el idioma y mucho más de nuestras comunidades. Esto afecta especialmente a las comunidades marginadas, incluidas las personas sordas y discapacitadas. ¡Estén atentos para nuestro próximo vlog de esta serie tan importante y comparta algunos de sus pensamientos sobre el encarcelamiento masivo a continuación! [El texto en la pantalla dice: editor de video - ASLIZED! Transición a pantalla negra y el video se acaba. Subtitulado por asl.captions.com.]
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Many people quote my definition of ableism without providing context into what it means to say that ableism is formed and informed by anti-Blackness. Many also say, sign, write these words without providing necessary nuance about what this truth means for how ableism is uniquely wielded against Black people. So while people finally seem to be coming around to believing that ableism is inherently anti-Black, they are still gliding right past how this heart connection between ableism and racism means that ableism hits real different for Black people and racism hits real different for Black disabled people. Relatedly, many people have asked me why I do not use the term "anti-Black ableism." I am encouraged by attempts to integrate these truths into folks' analysis of ableism and by continued curiosity. I also want to name that we still must collectively develop more nuanced words, signs and frameworks for these conversations to be had appropriately and justly. I will offer a bit here and expand if/when I have more capacity and more thoughts. Black disabled people, especially, are encouraged to think and language and build and convene and discuss and challenge so we can collectively come into more understandings of ourselves our experiences our journeys our hearts. I will begin here: Anti-black racism exists because “anti-Black” modifies racism, a word and practice that can and does apply to various and multiple negatively racialized groups. For instance, Native/Black peoples, Latinx peoples, Hmong peoples all experience racism specific to complexion, appearance, cultural, community, religious, and other practices, etc. Similarly, misogynoir expands on a particular kind of misogyny—the kind which is experienced by Black women/femmes. But why would we use “anti-Black” to modify ableism when by its definition, at least in the US context, anti-Blackness is at the heart of ableism? See working definition of ableism here, and context for this definition here. In short, since ableism is inherently anti-Black, I try my best not use the term "anti-Black" to modify ableism. "Anti-Black ableism" is redundant and contradictory simultaneously. That sounds weird, I know. It's because ableism and anti-Blackness are mutually inclusive and mutually dependent. So you can't have one without the other and you also can't adjectively modify one with the other because where one is they both must be. Each oppression does modify how a person experiences the other oppression, so they do modify the other in the literal sense. That said, I really do appreciate that "anti-Black ableism" has been developed to try to focus on how Black non-disabled people, Black disabled people, and Black people who are labeled disabled (in good or in bad faith) are treated in every sense of the word. I know that there is something more needed to make this very unique experience that Black people have with ableism more clear. Still, I believe “anti-Black ableism” does not succeed in achieving the necessary clarity and that it may cause more harm to the effort being sought by those using the term. There is no doubt that ableism absolutely hits different when wielded against Black people and Black communities. It’s justification of deprivation, depravity, murder and mayhem against Black/disabled peoples. It’s debasement, dehumanization and mass murder of the cruelest intensity and largest magnitude. All “justified” by racialized notions of delinquency, dependency, defectiveness as determined by white supremacists and their governments, corporations, medical/carceral institutions that directly and indirectly benefit from continued subjugation and criminalization, extraction and commodification, diagnosing and destruction of our most marginalized people and communities. We must find ways to name how ableism is uniquely felt and experienced by Black people or we are not doing justice to how the long term inescapable and inextricable bond between racism and ableism places Black non-disabled people, Black disabled people, and Black people who are labeled “disabled” in mortal danger with no recourse. I do wonder what other Black disabled folks thoughts are on this. What word or phrase can be collectively created to explain how Black people experience a racially magnified or racially manipulated or informed ableism?  Image of Talila A. Lewis, with a gray KN-95 mask on with a pen in hand and hand on chin. Lewis is wearing a yellow shirt with a black hat with a tie dye scarf under the hat and heart shaped sunshades. A circle penant and ring adorn Lewis's neck and hands. The question on the image says: What words, signs, phrase(s) can We create to explain how Black/Indigenous peoples experience a racially magnified, manipulated, &/or informed ableism? Wrongful convictions are not rare--this impacts more community members than you think. Here's a way you can protect yourself.
VIDEO DESCRIPTION: Malik Morris, a Black Indigenous man with long natural hair slicked back into an afro puff ponytail. He stands in front of a white wall while wearing a black short shirt and signing. He signs in Black ASL. **opening credits** Video Title: HEARD Statement on Wrongful Convictions of Black Disabled/Deaf People @behearddc English ASL transcript: Wrongful convictions are not uncommon. Some of the common reasons wrongful convictions happen are eyewitness misidentification; police and prosecutor misconduct or mistake; old or improper science; false or forced confessions; and because of plea agreements. Racism, classism, ableism and other oppressions play a huge role in wrongful convictions. In the 2017 report, Race and Wrongful Conviction in the United States, the National Registry of Exonerations notes that Black people represent just 13% of the U.S. population, but represent the majority of innocent defendants who are wrongfully convicted—with Black people accounting for 47% of the 1,900 exonerations listed in the National Registry of Exonerations as of October 2016 (Gross, et al., 2017). The report also notes that Black people are wrongfully convicted more often and exonerated less often due to systemic and structural racism throughout the criminal legal system. Disabled people, including deaf people, have a much higher risk of wrongful conviction than non-disabled people. Deaf people are more likely to be wrongfully arrested. Once arrested and incarcerated, deaf people are less likely to be provided access to effective communication and support from attorneys and advocates due to barriers to communication access in the legal profession and in prisons. Some of these barriers include police, attorneys, judges, juries not understanding disability/deaf cultures and communication; unqualified people, including law enforcement and children, being used to “interpret”; most jails and prisons still not providing videophones, interpreters or other accommodations and auxiliary aids making it impossible for deaf people to communicate with their attorneys, maintain their mental and linguistic capabilities, or to get support from advocates who do understand deaf/disability cultures. This means that the risk of wrongful conviction for Black disabled/deaf people is exponentially higher than white deaf/disabled people or than abled/hearing Black people, for instance. HEARD has been investigating countless deaf people’s wrongful conviction cases for over a decade—mostly deafdisabled people. HEARD has noticed that in each of these cases, almost every step of the legal process is tainted because of systemic ableism within policing and legal systems. There are often numerous cross-cultural miscommunications and misunderstandings on top of the other factors that lead to wrongful convictions. (transition) Black screen with white words: One way you can protect yourself Video Description: A young light skinned latinx person appeared with a brown hair bun. wearing a black short shirt standing behind a white wall using ASL. ASL transcript: HEARD strongly urges all people to NOT talk to police during interviews and interrogations. Asserting your Constitutional rights to remain silent and demand an attorney is the first step in protecting yourself from wrongful convictions and to protect your right to the best chance at succeeding in your case. It’s difficult but very important HEARD also urges people to NOT sign any documents police show and to demand an attorney immediately. Even if police can sign your language, or if police provide interpreters, deaf people should continue to assert their right to remain silent and to an attorney. Stay tuned for a future vlog on this topic! Attorneys also must provide qualified interpreters and other accommodations so attorneys and clients can effectively communicate confidentially OUTSIDE of the presence of law enforcement. HEARD also works to educate attorneys and judges about these issues but we recognize that these problems are systemic within the legal system so will not simply disappear. So all deaf/disabled communities must be aware of the dangers that the criminal legal system poses and try their best to protect themselves. HEARD has ASL information about wrongful convictions of deaf/disabled people on all of our social media accounts. We also plan to host more online roundtable conversations on deaf wrongful conviction cases in ASL. (transition) RESOURCES HEARD infographic on wrongful convictions of deaf/disabled people: ASL: bit.ly/deafwrongfulconvictionASL English: bit.ly/deafwrongfulconvictionEnglish (transition) #DeafWrongfulConviction #WrongfulConviction #DisabilitySolidarity #BlackLivesMatter #BlackDisabledLivesMatter (transition) **End Credits** Facebook.com/hearddc Twitter: @behearddc www.behearddc.org Images L to R: Ryan Hinton, Rodney Hinton, Jr's child, in his football jersey on the field post-game; Sandra Bland, Geneva Reed-Veal's child, at a fancy function all glammed up; Ahmaud Arbery, Wanda Cooper-Jones' child, in his high school graduation photo wearing his his football jersey on a Georgia beach. Content Warning: Black death and genocide, enslavement, incarceration, police/vigilante violence, and various other forms of violence discussed. Please exercise discretion. Access Information: Click here [link forthcoming] to watch/listen to the reading of this piece; Access the accompanying playlist here: bit.ly/captureblackfreedomplaylist Public executions of Black people and viral spectacles of Black anguish, death and mourning continue to take a heavy toll on the souls of Black folk. The violent tradition of white supremacist extraction, exploitation and dispossession continues unabated, leaving Black people fighting to belong to ourselves during our shortened lives and after our premature deaths. The terror, stress and trauma of this violence extend well beyond the individual executions and deaths. We are surrounded by reminders of the danger we are in, of the unmattering of our lives—wholly aware that our fates are predetermined in ways that others’ are not. Generations of violence and injustice rob us of the quiet enjoyment of our lives, our freedom and innocence, our loved ones, our peace of mind, and of our mental, emotional and physical health. Black racial memory is infinite and complex—crossing peoples, oceans, time and space. As our bodies pile up so too does the death-hastening toll of the burden of knowing that our humanity means nothing to those who have the power to spill our life and spell our death.  A graphite drawing of a boy in a hoodie, based on George Stinney Jr. Contained within the outline of his body are portraits of those who have fallen to racial violence. From left to right: Renisha McBride, Philando Castile, Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, and Ahmaud Arbery. Behind the boy is a line-up of armed police officers and vigilantes. Art by Frank Gallimore. TRUTH We are experiencing centuries of criminalization and diagnosing of a whole peoples’ rational responses to violence and terror as criminal, insane, problematic. We have been expertly gaslit for generations. The genesis of our [re]actions are clear. We are human. We are Black. Survival is in our spirit, rebellion in our blood. What is not clear is how after centuries of Black folks holding, living and surviving through the same terrors over and over again, white supremacists are still telling us to teach our children how to try not to get killed instead of teaching theirs how not to kill. Their provocation has been intentionally skewed for generations. Where they should be asking “why’d we hunt, shoot, noose, kill?”, they instead ask “why’d they run, retaliate and resist?” We run because we see justified Black people stand their ground and die on it too. We resist because we see what happens to those who don't. We run because we have a strong suspicion and sufficient evidence to prove that either way, white supremacy’ll kill us. We resist because of generations of white supremacist harassment, violence, and terror. We run in hopes that, after centuries of running, they will be reminded of our humanity--that we feel, love, and want to live. We resist because we know they cannot and possibly never will be able to see our humanity. Our [e]motions are understandable and justified, and our [re]actions are righteous attempts to unwrite our fates and secure some semblance of freedom--to circumvent their unique brand of life threatening and death dealing “justice.” There is no justice in their “justice.” Of this we have been assured. How do I know it’s safe to have a son in this America, in this America? How do I know it’s safe to have my son in this America, in this America? Always wanted a son, but now I’m afraid. How will you see my baby? How will you treat my baby? How will I protect him from you? Protect him from your fears After all these years Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. I don’t want to be like those other mothers cryin in the streets. No. No. No! Their pain radiates Their pain radiates I don’t want that to be my fate. No. No! What if I raise him right? will that save his life? Tell me. Tell me. Tell me. I just want him to grow old. I just want him to come home. - Melody Angel, 2015 BLACK GENOCIDE To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a state of rage almost all of the time — and in one's work. And part of the rage is this: It isn't only what is happening to you. But it's what's happening all around you and all of the time in the face of the most extraordinary and criminal indifference, indifference of most white people in this country, and their ignorance. . . - James Baldwin, 1961  Black square with a definition written in white and tan words: Noircraticide noir·crat·i·cide /nwärˌˈkra(t)əˌsīd/ noun; verb the systematic destruction and erasure of Black peoples and cultures by the state, those acting in service of the state, and those educated or empowered by the state. Etymology: noir, of or relating to Black peoples, cultures; -crat, of, by, through or relating to the state; -cide, denoting a person, substance, action, thing that kills. Similar: genocide, extermination a working word and definition for continued dialogue by Talila "TL" Lewis, July 2020 This piece is an acknowledgement of our collective complex traumas—a naming of that which occurs after centuries of stolen, swinging, swollen Black bodies is followed by erasure of white supremacist violence and criminalization, pathologization, and monetization of Black people’s fights, runs and pleas for our lives. This is a reframing and contextualization of the genesis of our [re]actions and a naming and affirmation of the [e]motions that Black people hold and release. This is a chronicle of centuries of failed attempts to repress Black existence-resistance. This is a revelation for some and a reclamation for others of Black humanity and an unapologetic celebration of Black existence, resistance, rebellion and liberation. ANCESTORS. LIFE. “Please don’t kill me, officers.” “Sir, what I do?” “I’m walking to my house. Why you harrassin me…I’m pregnant!” “What are you following me for?” “I can just go home. I have my daughters there right now.” “All this for a failure to signal?!” “Officer, I need help.” “Ma, they gon kill me.” “Officers, why do you have your guns out?” “Why are you always harassin me?” “Why did you shoot me?” “I can’t breathe. I can’t breathe.” “I’m an introvert. I’m just different… I have no gun… I don’t do any fighting. Why are you attacking me? I don’t even kill flies! . . . “ “Please don’t let me die.” “You shot me! You shot me!” “I dint even do nothing.” “I don’t have a gun! Stop shooting!” “Momma. . . they gon kill me . . . Please, sir. . . please, I can’t breathe. . . I’m about to die. Please. . . ” “Sir, I’m not resisting. Sir, I can’t breathe. . . Please save me.” ”You promised you wouldn't kill me.” “One of y’all, please come get me!” “. . . I see my actions as a necessary evil that I do not wish to partake in, nor do I enjoy partaking in, but must partake in, in order to create substantial change within America's police force and judicial system.” “. . . I see mothers bury their sons. I want my mom to never feel that pain.” HUMANITY. FEELING. I just got off of work officer I grew up in church officer Loosen the cuffs for me, that shit kind of hurt officer No question at all, you put my face in the dirt officer Why it feel like death and like I'm 'bout to get murked officer? I ain't packin' nothin', told that shit to the first officer You stoppin' me 'cause you enjoyin' the perks officer? Please let me go, my baby 'bout to give birth officer Now you got yo' foot on my back and yo' heat on my head Spit in my face, that's worse than puttin' feet on my bed All for a quota, look how yo' people treat me for bread Innocent man, so you shoot me and leave me for dead . . . That's how you gon' act boy? Wish I had my strap boy! Wish I knew that y'all be blackin' out 'cause I'm a Black boy Black skin rappin' for the Blacks, you callin' that noise? Point the gun at my head and then you tell me, act poised . . . Yo' gun out, and you shootin' 'cause I scared you? Well if you get to shoot 'cause you scared, nigga I'm scared too! Why we can't be equal homie? Why my movie can't be long enough to see the sequel homie? . . . Damn, it's like how I'm s'posed to love y'all? When all you do is act like no one is above y'all And now I'm feelin' like how much do that love cost? Instead of real love, it really feel like love lost I'll die for my freedom, let's get real for it It's what it's like when you Black, and you get killed for it - JAG, 2018 There is a feeling. It is a feeling that has yet to be named. If you are Black in the united states, you likely know this feeling all too well. This feeling is our unconsented to companion. It is the feeling that comes from knowing that our lives are limited and our deaths assured by factors wholly outside of our control. There is a specific variant of this feeling related to police/vigilantes. For some, it is a full body pause, heart palpitations and brain revs when we see a police officer or police cruiser lights behind us. It’s the release-of-terror breath we take when cops pass us by coupled with dis-ease we feel for whoever will actually have to encounter them. For many, it is a momentary terror when we hear police sirens on the radio and relief tinged with annoyance that a Black artist would be so insensitive as to invoke such a nerve-racking sound. For others, it is knots in our stomach when our teen gets into the car to head to school—part fear of car accidents but a large part fear of cop "incidents." For others it is an uncontainable panicked upset when our curious little children touch anything at a store. For others still, it is seething anger and a rage-filled resignation to the end--a preparation for inevitable dehumanizing and deadly encounters with police and all their attendant systems. We internalize very early on that any and every encounter with a cop/vigilante could be our last, so we do everything and anything to increase our odds of survival by decreasing all opportunities for them to find reason to interrupt our lives. We are very clear that our conduct is not the determining factor of our survival. In the face of white supremacist terror we can’t show strength or vulnerability, fear or calm, confidence or desperation, humor and wit, or confusion, even. What remains of us then? The mythical hulking horror white supremacist imaginations dream us to be. Figments of their imaginations paint us as black devils and them as saviors of whitekind. We are not human in the wild imaginations of the “law” and nothing can change this. Not age, circumstance, response, upbringing, degrees earned, “talks” had, respect ingrained or offered. Nothing. It is a vicious cycle. They execute us so often that we can’t keep pace. We witness our murders for generations—each generation enduring its own unique brand of Black death as sport and spectacle. We educate our children about the high probability of being murdered for behaving normally, responding normally, being themselves. We teach our children to dissociate just to get home safely—to fight their rational and reasonable responses to white supremacist abuse, terror and violence. Their and our anxiety and hypervigilance increase. Our ability to put our natural responses aside decreases as the terror of knowing that our fate is in ruthless blood-stained hands increases. If somehow our lifelong training is overhauled by our natural instincts, we get blamed for the gruesome, bloody aftermath. If we are able to heed our lifelong trainings and still end up dead, we are blamed for our deaths still. We can’t win and every part of us knows it. There is something perverse, pathological and unspeakably inhumane about a society that requires an entire group of people to dissociate just to survive. White supremacy, anti-Black racism, and racial terror—which includes but is not limited to police/vigilante violence and terror—has led to generations of unnamed racism-based stress and trauma. This racism-based stress and trauma leads to and exacerbates anxiety, depression, heart conditions, and countless other disabilities. This feeling, if felt by people cloaked in whiteness, would be validated, named a “disability,” and accommodated. But this feeling has no name precisely because we live in a society where Black humanity is denied, Black emotions dismissed, Black pain and terror discredited. This feeling kills us slow while white ships, whips, nooses, chains, displacement, extraction, exploitation, experiments, hospitals, neglect, ego, rage and triggers kill us fast. Meanwhile, society continues to question those of us who run or “resist” while ignoring the mental, emotional, physical and social burden Black people carry due to unyielding state violence against Black peoples. It is exceedingly rare to find a Black person in the united states who does not have this experience, these feelings. Black people in the united states have always experienced Perpetual Traumatic Racism Based Stress. This is not a disorder. It is the ordered, legitimate and objectively reasonable response to centuries of virulent anti-Black racism. The state uses our rational response to generations of its terror to justify our deaths and executions. In the context of modern police/vigilante violence, viral lynching videos also help enshrine the disregard and disrespect shown to our loved ones in their final moments. Murderer always made victim. Victim always made menace. Murderers always excused. Victims always condemned. Terror rises. Executions ensue. Terror-rising. Our legitimate chronic fear of deprivation of life and freedom leads to near-constant vigilance, stress and anxiety. Our psychological, emotional, spiritual and physical selves can’t help but be adversely affected as they work triple over time to save us. FEAR Mommas been cryin' and they gon' keep cryin' Black folk been dyin' and they gon' keep dyin' Police been firin' and they gon' keep firin' The government been lyin' and they gon' keep lyin' Propaganda news channels, that shit is all for show Camera phone videos is like all we know Diluting what an eye witness might really say Because the whole world saw a murder yesterday Now your account ain't what it used to be According to them your eyes can't adjust to the violence you ain't used to seein Police brutality is all in your mind And the tactics that they use only look worse in rewind And people die everyday, you should get used to it Hands behind yo' back, face down, and still say you shootin' Can't breathe! Knee where your neck be like why you movin'? Kids in your car, headed home, like what you doin'? Like why you chillin'? Fuck yo' feelin's! Why you smilin' when I'm so serious? I hate patrollin your space, like why you livin'? Stop asking questions! why you filmin'? You look suspicious! I think you dealin'! Step out the car! fit the description! Someone I fear! I need to kill it! Blood on the curb, I need to spill it! Nother civilian, 'nother not guilty! Nother T-shirt, 'nother rap lyric! Nother life gone, I can't forgive it! - Big K.R.I.T., 2016 Police/vigilantes are encouraged, empowered and armed and licensed to kill us. They have no composure, discernment, empathy, decency or humanity; and we always “fit the description”—especially since they can’t tell us apart and Black people are apparently always guilty—but we are expected to be submissive and docile just to be murdered and blamed still. They pull the “feared for my life” card from the white supremacist playbook after every ambush, every lynching, every “police involved incident.” Illegitimate white fear and unprovoked white violence generate legitimate black terror. Still, objectively unreasonable fears asserted by cops/vigilantes are always deemed adequate justification for our executions while Black people’s objectively reasonable terror is mocked or not even noticed or named. The state encourages, sanctions and participates in our murders, gives us directives on how we should respond to this violence and punishes us when we supposedly “step out of line.” This, while the “law” criminalizes legitimate Black terror and invites contrived white supremacist “fears” to operate as justification for Black executions. We fear their guns, tasers, batons, cruisers, rough rides, knees. We fear their immunity, impunity and insolence. We fear our lives becoming marginally important only in the spectacle of our horrific deaths. We fear this “incident” being caught on camera and also fear it not. We fear their imagination which creates a version of ourselves we have never known. We fear joining our ancestors who were stolen from their loved ones much too often and much too soon. We fear exploitation of our communities’ righteous rage and our families’ interminable grief. We fear our parents, partners, siblings, children dying of broken hearts. We fear the conundrum they create: We stay, we die. We comply, we die. We run, we die. We fight, we die. We breathe, we die. We Black, we die. Our loved ones’ survival depends entirely on the whim of people indoctrinated and empowered by a system and society steeped in violent anti-Blackness—and our skin is Black. Our breath depends not on what we do or say, or whether we “comply” even. Generations of unrepentant racial violence, deprivation and terror. 400 years and we still cannot freely exist, move or breathe. How many generations of “the talk” before the world accepts that white supremacist terror and its attendant systems have sufficiently terrorized us? Some things are so violent that they trigger physiological responses for Black people who have experienced, learned of, or witnessed their terror. Police are chief among these for many Black people in this era. Because of their past and present terror, their mere presence and existence is a form of violence. A few other examples:
Each of these affects some Black people in ways that they do not affect others based on myriad factors. When encountering these violent systems/symbols, some experience mind fogs and are unable to process information or move, while others’ bodies disconnect from our minds making the lifelong lessons from our elders feel like a far off fairy tale. Some become even more hyper vigilant and do not do anything more or less than they perceive they are being asked while others engage in nervous banter. Others spring into action to fight to the death for life. For others still, before we can do anything about it, our legs have carried our body one place while our mind is still with the police. Whatever our response, the immediate anxious awareness of danger that Black people feel during interactions with “law enforcement” is perfectly reasonable regardless of the officers’ behavior with whom we are interacting. Our responses are an amalgamation of over 400 years of memories, stories, postcards and videos of terror. But when cloaked in Black skin, the most common/human fear, stress, anxiety and trauma responses seem only to engender execution even when they are wholly rational. White supremacy continues its long and violent tradition of dispossession—stealing not only our lives and ability to live freely, but also stealing the history, trauma, feelings and disabilities that abused and traumatized Black people should be able to use to explain our [e]motions. HISTORY. ERASURE. Oppression makes a wise man mad. . . . What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim . . . - Frederick Douglass, 1852 White supremacy removes the context of the conditions in which we live and survive while hyper contextualizing—often dramatizing—experiences of white power holders. To add insult to our injuries, this white supremacist hyper-contextualization/dramaturgy often occurs by theft of the legitimate emotions of maimed and murdered Black/Indigenous peoples. Those legitimate emotions are denied or stolen by power holders to then be used to justify the murder of marginalized people. They “feared for their lives” but they had the nooses, hounds, horses, trucks, guns, tanks and power. The united states has a sordid and storied history of criminalizing and deeming “insane” Black people’s natural and rational responses to the violence and terror wrought upon us by its power holders—white colonial imperialists with a particular penchant for unspeakable violence. Black self defense and resistance to white supremacist terror has been and continues to be labeled “violence,” “crime” and “insanity,” among other made up things. Here are some examples:
Erasure of the genesis of trauma responses and disabilities in Black minds, bodies, and communities perpetuate inequities and exacerbate and justify violence as seen in the examples above. Pointed critiques of white supremacy never surface. Instead Black people are gaslit and our rational responses to white supremacist terror are criminalized and pathologized. Black people’s insatiable longings for life and freedom have always been problematized, diagnosed, shamed, criminalized and brutally punished. Meanwhile, the cyclical and diabolical white supremacist violence we endure has not only been normalized, but has been hailed for “our benefit” and monetized—see enslavement, lynchings, black codes, jim crow, eugenics, human experimentation and zoos, institutionalization, incarceration, labor exploitation, and so on, and so forth. White supremacy has gained and maintained its foothold by and through enacting violence then strategically classifying exploited and harmed people into categories of deviant/delinquent, defective/disabled, and dependent. White supremacist systems maintain economic, political, social power by pitting exploited groups against one another and by convincing the public that each exploited group is deserving of continued violence because they belong to these constructed categories. Consider the following examples and note that the treatment/cure/punishment for each of these is yet more violence not a remedying of material conditions that would make the actions taken by Black people to love, find, free and protect our own unnecessary:
The united states government has always used ideas about disability, delinquency and dependency, intertwined with constructed ideas about race to classify, criminalize, cage and disappear its “undesirables.” While the disability labels society attaches to Black people often are constructed or inaccurate, Black people do have disabilities in our minds, bodies and communities that have gone unnamed, uncounted, and unsupported for generations. This must change. DISABILITY “All my life I been sick and tired. Now I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired. . . . there's so much hypocrisy in this society and if we want America to be a free society we have to stop telling lies, that's all. Because we're not free and you know we're not free. . . . And you can always hear this long sob story: ‘You know it takes time.’ For three hundred years, we've given them time. . . and we want a change. . . . But this is something we going to have to learn to do and quit saying that we are free in America when I know we are not free. You are not free in Harlem. The people are not free in Chicago, because I've been there, too. They are not free in Philadelphia, because I've been there, too. And when you get it over with all the way around, some of the places is a Mississippi in disguise. And we want a change. . . . ” - Fannie Lou Hamer, 1964 Disability is commonly understood through a white and wealth privileged lens. This perspective does not do justice to the complex reasons or ways that disability exists, arises in and is expressed through Black peoples’ bodies and minds. White mainstream disability rights communities operate within a rigid definition and understanding of disability—often refusing to acknowledge and honor Black disabled people due to racism, classism and ableism, among other things. This, while Black communities often hold internalized ableism due to generations of anti-black disability labels being imposed upon us that make us much more vulnerable to violence once identified as disabled. The institutions, systems and structures we have been surviving and resisting through and that we still are up against are disabling by design (see noircraticide and Perpetual Traumatic Racism Based Stress above). Our disabilities and our disability responses have held, kept and saved us for generations. Our individual and collective experiences have led to interdependence, innovation and a quiet ultra-endurance that is at once a blessing and a curse. A deep study of our histories reveal critically important connections—real and constructed—between ableism, racism, classism, and every other form of systemic oppression. Here are some truths that can serve as a starting place to learning more about race and disability, racism and ableism:
If we want to understand, hold, heal and save Black communities, we must understand the inextricable links between disability and other marginalized identities and uproot ableism from our communities. As it turns out, the “cure” for drapetomania was freedom--abolition of enslavement. The prescription for running and “resisting”, etc., is necessarily the same--abolition of the entire carceral system--with large doses of reparations for Black people. JUSTICE White supremacists created a legal system under the guise of justice that has served as cover for white supremacist greed and bloodlust. Their system has never criminalized or pathologized white supremacist violence but has always punished perpetually oppressed people’s efforts to survive. Their system has monetized and validated institutions that benefit from our suffering and destruction. By now we know that we cannot arrest, indict, or convict our way out of white supremacist violence--not even the white supremacist violence their legal system inflicts. Indeed, justice and this “country” owes Black people a great deal more than the moldy morsels this legal system has to offer. Punitive, retributive, carceral "justice" is not healing, loving, holistic, reparative. It leaves our communities in ruin--our loved ones still disappeared, our hearts still in shambles, our people still in chains. This legal system invites white terror to rage on. We must demand what we deserve. We deserve reparations. We deserve to live and thrive. We deserve relief from all manner of violence and insecurities thrust upon us by this nation. We deserve the quiet enjoyment of our lives. We deserve boring deaths of natural causes. We deserve all of this and so much more. Yet these are things that we have never collectively had. They must tell the truth about the grotesque and irredeemable past and present of this “nation” if oppressed peoples are to ever achieve any semblance of justice. Justice for each of us is different. For now, I would venture that we all would like some very basic things in the immediate, like:
FREEDOM. All we wanna do is take the chains off. All we wanna do is break the chains off. yeah. All we wanna do is be free. All we wanna do is be free. All we wanna do is take these chains off. yeah. All we wanna do is break these chains off. yeah. All we wanna do is be free. All we wanna do is be free. - J. Cole, 2014 Many people in america are celebrating “freedom” today, July 4, 2020. For many Black people, however, today is a cruel reminder that despite our ancestors having paid debts they never owed for freedom, we are paying on those unowed dues still. Our freedom has still not materialized and we must continue this difficult but necessary struggle.
We are not yet fully free, but we believe--as our ancestors did--that freedom is on the horizon. We must keep freedom alive in our hearts--just as our ancestors did for us. We will find and hold on to hope and be bold in our demands for a new world order. As we dream and fight for a world that is worthy of our children and theirs, remember: Love is our relentless pursuit of real-life dreams and outer limits exist only if we accept them as real. Freedom first takes root in our visions for a radically just space-time continuum; and triumph is earned when others slip into our envisioned realm of justice and stay awhile—at least until time, space, or both catch up. Liberation is conceived by our imagination, carried in our hearts, and birthed through Black revolutionary madness. This is an ode to the runners, a requiem for the fighters. We see you and we feel your humanity still. We love and honor you. We will keep running toward and fighting for freedom. We will continue the struggle so we can all find rest. Thank you for showing us the way. As my and our collective understanding of ableism is ever-evolving, I hope to offer periodic edits to the working definition of ableism I released in 2019. You can review the 2021 updated definition here. This year's definition, I edited for length and clarity. It also names colonialism as central to the construction, conception and application of ableism, and also more explicitly acknowledges reproductive in/justice and productivity. Finally, the image explicitly names my work and conversations with Black and other negatively racialized Disabled people as having been important to my understanding of ableism and development of this working definition. My study and discussion of imperialism and its relationship to ableism is ongoing. . . All previously posted slides and this definition's full lineage can be found here (May/June 2024).  Image Description: Brown square with the following words in white and yellow: ABLEISM a·ble·ism \ ˈābə-ˌli-zəm \ noun A system that places value on people’s bodies and minds based on societally constructed ideas of normalcy, intelligence, excellence and productivity. These constructed ideas are deeply rooted in anti-Blackness, eugenics, colonialism and capitalism. This form of systemic oppression leads to people and society determining who is valuable and worthy based on a person’s appearance and/or their ability to satisfactorily [re]produce, excel and "behave." You do not have to be disabled to experience ableism. a working definition by Talila "TL" Lewis in conversation with Disabled Black and other negatively racialized folk; updated January 2020 |
AuthorI dream incessantly of justice. Hoping to calm my mind & stir yours through this freedom space. Archives
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