My reaction to the leaked document was honestly disgust and fear for the future. My mind went to the long term, and then to the present state of the world we are living in. I think about all of the homeless and mentally unstable people as well as the deranged people who already have nowhere to go, then I think about all of the children who will be birthed into the world and suffer hardships/ feeling unwanted or unloved and being thrown away in the trash etc. because they are forcing a person to have undesired children. The documentary “Abortion Helpline, This is Lisa” sheds light on how the Hyde amendment serves as a barrier for allocating government  funds to abortion services many of the women were unemployed and already struggling you can hear the distress in the callers voices. I would never call a child a mistake but mishaps happen and situations change there could be so many reasons for an abortion some are even health based.  I think many of these laws are selfish and profit based Rebecca Gomperts, says exactly what I was thinking in a sense in her interview about being an online abortion provider” she says “If you can prevent abortion you can keep people poor, if you can keep people poor you can control them”. She is absolutely right you make abortion illegal you can arrest the person who tries to get rid of the baby in whatever way they choose now its beneficial because the prison gets paid from having another inmate. On the other hand, they keep the baby and now they are struggling and needing government assistance and remain stagnant in life it is outrageous!! The most insightful thing I learned is abortion was illegal in the 1860’s  to benefit slave owners and allowing them to monopolize off of their slaves by raising their babies into slavery and I have no doubt this overturn of the law is to target minorities more than anything else and continue the cycle of inequity. Now don’t get me wrong all women will suffer but the loop holes and ways around the law are far more accessible or obtainable outside the urban community 9 times out of 10. 

  What was also interesting to me was the drug being used for the at home abortions (Mifepristone). It helps with fibroids and endometriosis among other things and yet it is banned in many countries. Probably because the profit is greater to treat it in longevity rather then immediately. It makes me feel like we are pawn pieces being monopolized off of and because not enough of us realize to make a change it will continue to be a domino effect of regression and capitalist/ the government will continue to benefit off of our suffrage!!

The art I have chosen is by Ricardo Levins Morales this piece of art represents activism perfectly by displaying many of the ongoing societal and environmental issues and behaviors that threaten to keep us stagnant in our growth as a society. I have chosen this based on all of the information we have received in this class and the change we desperately need in the world we can say no and stand against the false narratives and information they try to force upon us we do not have to fall into a forced normality that is not our own.

The two readings “A birth story and “12 reasons it should be illegal for doctors not to treat a trans person”, are not a shock to me but upsetting to read and think about. These are the scenarios in urban and Trans communities everything I read and watched although not fair is not out of the ordinary, but because it is not something I am faced with on the daily they are not things I think about until I read things like this and it honestly makes me sad and angry. While I have never first hand experienced medical oppression (to my knowledge) it does not make it unfathomable for me with the world we are living in. I was actually fortunate enough to have a doctor who refused to give me a C-section after I was begging for one after being in labor for hours I was told I would have one if I did not dilate, because it is a last resort however, I did start to dilate and she was adamant that I did not want to take that route so reading they were insisting on giving LeConte one brought my experience to mind and made me sad for her.  In both the readings and film the connection I made is the people being oppressed and deprived of things they need or should have access to without an issue because they are basic human rights and the denial is based on gender, race, identity or (gender preference) like the unfortunate personal experiences recounted by some of the trans and urban community, being denied or finding it difficult to receive proper medical care. I was taken back by the film “Period. End of Sentence”. I feel like things are so accessible to us in the US I don’t really think about how far behind other places are with daily necessities. I appreciated the knowledge I gained from this assignment. The format in which the information was delivered helped me understand the experiences that some of these people go through first hand. We have read and discussed many oppressive situations but here we are walking through their experience with them in a sense.

This week the two readings were both very helpful in bringing me to a clearer understanding of identity politics. In the short reading “Too, Latina to be Black, Too Black to Be Latina” the writer is explaining her race crisis and how she had a hard time figuring out where she truly fit in when struggling with figuring out whom she truly identified with. Her struggle with “Identity Politics” came from coming from a melting pot of cultures to a segregated one. In the reading “The Power of Identity Politics” Garza explains in depth what we would be doing by falling into the narrative of not seeing each other as black or white and just as humans. When in-fact we are not just humans. My take away and understanding from all of this is we cannot get rid of- or down play identity politics, because societies general identity overall is not one that is a shared culture or experience, for minorities of any kind or group outside the white culture experience in life. We all identify differently and connect to different cultures and races our experiences with and in-life are not the same. The playing field is not equal for all of us, and to just say let’s view it as such is exactly why it will continue to be this way, unless we make a change. The notion is black women are making a separate movement for no reason when the belief is we should all be fighting for the same oppressions. However, we have not shared the same oppressions to do such a thing. There have been movements that have liberated black and white men as well as white women but never has anyone advocated for the black woman except the black women. There is a power in the voice of opposition to the societal norms generated by lies and oppression of those in power and ignoring or getting rid of identity politics gets rid of the possible power that can be obtained to gain true equal power amongst everyone. 

I would like to learn more about Capitalism. I want to learn more about the entities involved and just how deep it goes. These are essentially the people in power profiting off of our struggle.

African Americans are an oppressed people although strides have been made this is still a fact even today. Moreover, women are oppressed simply because they are not looked at or viewed equally you add being a black woman to that and it is equivalent to the saying “bottom of the totem pole”   I believe with the quote ““We might use our position at the bottom to make a clear leap into revolutionary action.  If black women were free, it would mean that everyone else would have to be free since our freedom would necessitate the destruction of all the systems of oppression”, she is basically saying if the choice is made to ban together no matter the differences in the issues we find most important- there can be a victory for all in that union, because there is then a chance to attack many different issues. Which could lead to dismantling Multiple different types of oppression attacking the system as a whole is the best choice rather than an individualistic approach allowing the movement to make some real progressive moves.

            I think Combahee is saying “Identity Politics” are issues that we personally identify with and not necessarily the ones of the world which makes the ones outside of personal irrelevant because that is not what we have personally struggled with. I see this in “Paris is Burning”  when they do the ballroom runway there is a sense of importance because they are essentially embodying a role that society would not allow them to peacefully have outside of their community and outside of the ballroom however, that is what they yearn for and feel they can achieve and deserve. Race and gender play a major role in capitalism because there is profit in keeping certain dynamics the same such as the incarceration systems, medications and etc. systems such as these are largely minority based the private investors and owners make their money off of keeping these types of systems in place.