The Hip Hop Generation Fights Back

The Hip Hop Generation Fights Back Sydney Tarrow suggests that protest movements and activism are grounded in the history of society, becoming part of our permanent “repertoires of contention.”25 Embedded in these models of what it means to be an activist are shared understandings of social change. These repertoires determine the types of activism the media pays attention to, how and which types of activism are portrayed in history books, and how activists construct their own identities.

Marita Sturken refers to such shared understanding as cultural memory or, memory that is a shared blend of history, culture, popular culture, and political meaning.

It is difficult to imagine or understand what it means to be African American, Chicano/a, or gay without taking into account the social movements organized around those identities.

I volunteered as a mentor and research evaluator for TJ from October 2000 to June 2001. In August 2001, I began working as a program coordinator at MA, where I assisted in training youth to lead anti-oppression or, popular education, workshops for other youth.

Although his Black teacher noticed the error, he also reinforced the tracking system by identifying him as “too smart” for the class. Neither was able to address the structural inequalities that set up the different experiences of Black students in their school

Ethnography foregrounding experience: (Merleau-Ponty) Now when I go in a situation and I’m like terrified and I don’t want to be there I just do what’s natural. I think I’m more scared of myself and what I do, then actually the people that uh, instead of what I make the people do to me if I don’t be quiet or if I don’t, what I do. Its crazy, but uh I’m not in it as much as I used to [be]. So, that’s like when I was new to Multicultural Alliance everything just happens, no responsibilities more having people look at me different and its like, dang c’mon Te you can do this its, you know, so [it] takes a little time or a lot of time to get myself in trouble.

FROM COMBAHEE

Black feminists often talk about their feelings of craziness before becoming conscious of the concepts of sexual politics, patriarchal rule, and most importantly, feminism, the political analysis and practice that we women use to struggle against our oppression. The fact that racial politics and indeed racism are pervasive factors in our lives did not allow us, and still does not allow most Black women, to look more deeply into our own experiences and, from that sharing and growing consciousness, to build a politics that will change our lives and inevitably end our oppression. Our development must also be tied to the contemporary economic and political position of Black people. The post World War II generation of Black youth was the first to be able to minimally partake of certain educational and employment options, previously closed completely to Black people. Although our economic position is still at the very bottom of the American capitalistic economy, a handful of us have been able to gain certain tools as a result of tokenism in education and employment which potentially enable us to more effectively fight our oppression.

Ecomonies of Abandonment Povinelli, E. A. (2011). Economies of abandonment: Social belonging and endurance in late liberalism. Duke University Press.

the ones who walk away from omalas

Ethnographic possibility would be not just writing what happened, but what could have happened. —> Interactive fiction.