WE'RE HAVING A PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is super exciting and hopefully the first of a couple and also super small so if you haev ever dreamed of meeting me ( BLINK * BLINK*)
EMail EMail EMail go go go!
A CD BY RADICAL
WOMEN OF COLOR
It Is Better To SPEAK! Listening Party
Live readings by contributors Mamita Mala and Black Amazon
Saturday, May 16, 2009 - 7:00pm – 9:00pm
This party will take place in Brooklyn. For the address, please RSVP to katie@alliedmediaconference.org
All are welcome. Bring a friend and spread the word!
SPEAK! is a group of women of color media makers. In the summer and fall of 2008,
they created this CD compilation of spoken word, poetry, and song.
With contributors from all over the U.S., these recordings are testimonials of struggle, hope, and love.
Proceeds of this album will go towards funding single mothers of SPEAK! in coming to the 2009 Allied Media Conference in Detroit, MI.
CD/Zine/Curriculum = $16 CD only = $10
Donations always welcome at www.speakmediacollective.com
7 comments:
Lucky NYers!
Okay, I expect the shit to rain down on my head, but I have to ask:
Why is everyone on the CD so young? Don't any older women have anything to say? What is the average age of participants? Was any outreach done to older WOC, or was there a conscious effort to exclude them?
I haven't purchased the CD for this reason. Just going on record, that I think it is pretty exclusionary.
NOTE: I have wrestled with myself for weeks before mustering up the courage to say something, so this comment was not entered in haste or in anger.
Cross-posted at Little Light's.
Please don't expect shit to rian down on your head but to be honest I am not comfortable answering this on my own
ANSWERING ONLY FORMYSELF
Everyone on the CD is everyone who was there and availabble tor ecord it who shared in our experiences with us. We say as much , it is not and we take great pains to say so teh be all end all of WOC COMMUNICATING NOW REPRESENTINGE REBODY ALL OVER THIS LAND.
One of our amazing members donated her time and work and love and we took what he had and did what we ould. It's our first step it's not the final and it's not designed marketed or pt out as such. It's what we have to say.
I won't answer the average age question, becaus efrankly I think it's baiting. We speak to OUR OWN experiences and the age we are whnen we have em is when we have em.
It started as a small communal thing that was base dout of our shared experiences.
And teh Don't aolder women have anything to sya is really the only thing that REALLy pisses me off becuase you knwo they do.
ANd I would point you to any number of my WOC elders Alice Walker, Cheryl Clarke, Grace Lee Boggs, etc.
WHO ARE SAYING it , and i frankly refuse to speak for them nor posit that not being on this cd , means tehy aren't speaking.
And if you do not wish to buy this cd for that reason I respect yor decision.
It wasn't exclusionary, it was insular , it was group of women who had essentially been through teh fuckingr inger putting out ONE PIECE in teh world that represented them as a first step. It made no cliams to uiniversality handling all isms or grooups and knowing these women and rpoud of them. I knwo they are more than willinga nd able to hear andwork on it
but yeah this one was for us we are who we are
BA, thank you for your kind reply. I am always honest, and I needed to register my opinion. The use of an older woman's image to advertise the CD (Audre Lorde), when that particular woman's generation is not included on the actual CD, is what made me finally say something. Leaving any demographic out of any group, will always be very obvious to members of the excluded group.
Again, thank you for a comprehensive and honest answer.
I love Cheryl Clarke, and met her many years ago when she edited Conditions. Also, if you have never heard of wonderful Glenis Redmond, she is quite fabulous.
"The use of an older woman's image to advertise the CD (Audre Lorde), when that particular woman's generation is not included on the actual CD"
you don't KNOW who was included on the CD, and you don't know who is part of SPEAK that declined being on the CD. you are jumping to too many conclusions, as i already said on Little Lights blog... and frankly i find your condescending attitude absolutely ridiculous. you aren't asking real questions or wanting real answers, you just want to castigate when you don't know what you are talking about.
is this me "raining shit on your head"? no, it's me telling you that you should come with something that is true, valid, and knowledgeable. it's not your place to ask what the average age of participants is. it's not your place to ask what our outreach is or imply we intentionally leave out older women. the fact that you don't know that "everyone on the CD so young" - when we're not but you post it like it's fact, says that you are not sincere. we don't owe you any answers, as BA said this is from a particular group of women who have been maliciously ignored/misquoted/pushed aside. But you can't muster up to support that if you don't think there's an "older" woman on it? You can't muster up to support some of these women to make it to the AMC because you aren't sure of the demographics? Really? This isn't shit, this is truth, and truth is power. You just made yourself look like a complete ass. Whatever respect i used to have for you for raising age-related issues is draining away because you just don't know what you are talking about and used your white privilege to try to step to younger women of color and put them in their place about something that they didn't even do and don't owe you answers about.
my question is:
dont young women of color have anything worth saying?
how often do we hear from young women of color speaking their truth and envisioning their freedom?
not very often.
no young women of color can be whores and welfare queens but we rarely get to be ourselves.
and speaking for myself. it has been my experience that the center, the hegemonic white powers that be, would frankly rather hear from an older woman of color than a younger (angrier, feeling she is more entitled, doesnt know how bad it used to be before the civil rights movement) one. i have been aged out of a job more than once to an older woman or man of color. and im not saying that to make this olympics of oppression. i am saying that there is a specificity to oppression. that young women of color, specifically mamas of color, are a target by the powers that be for the very fact (as i am learning more and more) that our jobs is to make sure that another generation of color survives. and the very act of mothering the next generation is a threat to the existance of the hegemonic powers that be.
audre lorde understood that.
maybe you as an older white lady could as well. cause i respect your blog. and hope you can respect that there are things that speak! and audre understood intrinsically that you are still coming to understand.
one of the few times i'm sorry not to be in NY anymore. will buy CD finally tho'. congrats and have a wonderful time...
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