Have you read the LifexCode Fall 2020 Lab Notes yet?
Have you visited José Arturo Ballester’s virtual exhibit “Caribe Fractal/Fractal Caribbean” yet?
“Have we become academic coroners? Have the tools of theory, method, instruction, and social responsibility become so rusted that they can only be used for autopsies? Does our research in any way reflect the experiences, viewpoints, and needs of the residents of these dying communities? On the other hand, is the patient really dead? What role are scholars playing in this social triage?” Clyde Woods, Life After Death (2002)
“"The “Atlantic War of Slavery,” according to Vincent Brown, was the long and sustained period of daily violence against enslaved Africans, interspersed with moments of explosive conflict. Brown’s reframing of slavery as war allows us to better understand enslaved people as soldiers, diplomats, sailors, and community leaders dedicated to Black freedom (both then and now)."
“The death toll of the transatlantic slave trade was already shocking—probably around 2 million enslaved Africans died on the Middle Passage—but Barcia convincingly argues that the number should be even higher.”
both by Julia Gaffield - Atlantic Slavery: An Eternal War | Public Books https://www.publicbooks.org/atlantic-slavery-an-eternal-war/
See also our #slaveryarchive book club events with Vincent Brown and Manuel Barcia (#slaveryarchive book club is hosted by Ana Lucia Araujo, Alex Gil, Vanessa Holden, and myself):
“I remember when the swine flu was going on, there were people who didn’t want to get the swine flu vaccine. But in the end, everything worked out fine. Just today, 300,000 people have died. I know that there are health disparities in the Black and Brown communities, and they are very fearful to take something from someone who’s been oppressing them since slavery. But we need to be at the table. We need to be a part of something that’s bigger than us, and we need to step out on faith. I know that the 623 men in the United States Public Health Syphilis Study at Tuskegee in Macon County stepped out on faith. They believed that they were going to get treatment. I think our father would want us to step out on faith. We have been brought to our knees, and we need to stand together. We need to seek some relief.” - Joyce Christian, daughter of Freddie Lee Tyson, a participant in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, interviewed by Morgan Jerkins
"I am not waiting for reparations from anyone who doesn’t love me. I am reclaiming the love and pleasure due to me every day." - adrienne marie brown, SistaSoul Search Retreat Speech, Dec 12, 2020
New Orleans, Louisiana. Photographs by Leo Touchet (1969) @leo_touchet:
Mind your business:
Lives rent free in my head:
Remember to vote—https://www.rebelwomenlit.com/awards