As a follow up to my post from yesterday, I still have to commit to a social justice project to blog about on traditional blogs as well as social media. Searching through lists of “social issues” online and taking the iSideWith political quiz, I have found three topics I can begin to sink my teeth into that don’t antagonize my radicalism that I can reasonably track in a social media project.
Climate Change and Indigenous Land Politics
As someone who struggles with escapism and frankly territorial imagination when it comes to “untouched” and “uninhabited” land, I’ve been following Indigenous land politics, ecosocialism, and the presence of mainstream politics in our landscapes since 2018 (a sampling). In the current season of wildfires in California, previously outlawed Indigenous practices in controlled burning are now being seen as increasingly relevant as our climate changes for the dangerous.
Acts towards healing destruction due to climate change need to not repeat colonialist practices of claiming the land from its stewards. An investigation and curation of materials on climate justice also means land justice and investing in land back initiatives.
Of all of the projects listed in this post, this one is the most explicit when it comes to the need to dismantle this current government, which is something I want to see happen. I respect and would like to see Indigenous sovereignties take the place of federal and state government.
Immigrant Rights
By “immigrant,” I mean anyone who resides in the US who didn’t originally, whether asylum seeker, refugee, “illegal” immigrant, or any person where the culture of immigration is still relevant and dictates their life (children of immigrants, non-white people who live on the southern border). By extension, I also include those in US territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, and elsewhere that do not have federal (or even any governmental) representation, thus in this limbo of US and non-US members.
From access to voting and healthcare to the inhuman treatment happening at ICE camps, the experiences of immigrants both imprisoned and in greater society are fraught with fear. Borders and nations are bogus, and the policing of citizenship, access to the resources of life, is cruel.
Whenever I visit St. Cloud, I pass by the prison that also functions as an ICE detention center. I think about the role these centers play in the stages of genocide against Latinx people, particularly Mexican, and get upset. I also think of the segregation of Somali immigrants and social life. Of all the topics on this list, the specific St. Cloud and surrounding area ties may be the most appealing to local folks but harder for me to access now that I live in the Cities.
Trans Wellbeing
One may imagine, based on my second post published on this blog on social media, grief, and trans death, that trans life means a great deal to me. 2020 has had the most murders of trans people since the Human Rights Council (HRC) began recording this statistics in 2013, and like every year, the greatest similarities between all victims is being Black and/or Latina trans women. In 2020, the Movement for Black Lives released a statement on protecting Black trans life; Black Lives Matter has had a similar focus for many years now.
The conversation about trans wellness doesn’t only intersect with race. As many worry about the fate of reproductive rights after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the fate of trans medical care is also in jeopardy; if Planned Parenthood and community health initiatives lose funding, all of their services may become harder to access or discontinued, including dysphoria therapy, hormone treatments, and all-options pregnancy care.
Trans wellbeing in the US is at the crossroad of trans-ness, race, and gender and is impacted by healthcare and violence prevention. Of the three topics, while this one seems like a “straight forward” look at LGBTQ issues with a focus on the T, trans life is threatened in specific ways.
Issues I see with claiming trans wellbeing as a social justice media project are (1) curation of relevant and limited resources and (2) the struggle of any groupmates with naming a solution beyond the rule of law. The law is a finicky ally and even now just allows trans people to exist on a state-by-state basis (access to PP and hormone care, ability to self-identify on licenses and in schools). “Make laws” is old hat, and an unreliable one at that, for evoking change.
As I look into everyone else’s ideas for this project, I will keep this list in mind. “Social justice” still rubs me the wrong way as a false premise, but I can still work towards changing the narrative about topics I know about within my group as well as in greater society.