MelaNation issue 1: agitate the administration

agitate the administration issue 1

an art zine by BYP100 DC and local Black artists and writers

© 2017 BYP100 All Rights Reserved byp100dczine@gmail.com Cover art by Jordan DeLoach MelaNation​ was designed by Jordan DeLoach using illustration and collage

to the Black artists and writers who contributed their artwork to the ​MelaNation

to the BYP100 members who helped pave the way to MelaNation

to all who have supported and affirmed ​MelaNation

to those who fight for Black liberation

to the readers

to our families and

to our ancestors

Thank you.

Contents ●

The MelaNation Manifesto........................................................​1

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Artists..............................................................................................​3

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“Fight Back/Challenge” by Toni Lane...................................​7

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“On revolution” by Nicole Newman.......................................​9

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BYP100 DC Contributions from Eric Burkley.....................​11

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BYP100 DC Contribution from Arielle Newton.................​13

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“Power” and “F@#K RACISM” by Gary Leaks.................​15

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“Strong” by Hure Leon White.................................................​18

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“Break Those Chains With Love” by Raven Best................​19

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BYP100 DC Contribution from Maya Jefferson..................​22

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“on solidarity” and “remembering requires looking forward” by Jamila Zahra Felton......................................​23

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“Our World” by BuddahDesmond.........................................​27

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BYP100 DC Contributions from Darya Nicol.....................​28

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“When Freedom Called (The Fallout)”

by BuddahDesmond............................................................​30

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BYP100 DC’s ​We Keep Us Safe DC ​Campaign..................​31

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Community Activism Glossary................................................​34

The ​MelaNation​ Manifesto Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) is a diverse collective of young Black activists who engage in nonviolent direct action, advocate in local and national spheres, and learn through radical pro-Black political education. We work through a Black queer feminist lens and fight for justice for all Black people. ​The DC chapter of BYP100, BYP100 DC, invites you into a creative world where Black folks in the DC/Maryland/Virginia area use art to explore what resistance means to us and what justice and liberation could look like in our communities​. This creative world is MelaNation​.

MelaNation aims to be a well of reflection that uplifts the legacy of Black creativity and storytelling to agitate mainstream agendas and advocate for Black liberation. This fight is particularly relevant given the nation’s current political landscape. The Trump Administration has steadily threatened the freedom that we, as Black people, already have and the freedom that we seek. But as residents living so close to one of the most destructive U.S. administrations in modern history, we continue to demand control of our Black streets, our Black communities, and our Black lives.

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Thusly, for M ​ elaNation’s first issue, BYP100 DC put out a call for submissions to Black artists and writers in the DC area to address the following prompt:

What does Black resistance look like to you, especially as we enter an era of increased hostility as white nationalists gain political power?

The submissions that BYP100 DC received to this prompt were reflective, hopeful, angry, somber, energizing, inquisitive, loving, and unapologetic. The contributors engage their radical imagination to explore their activism using poetry, illustration, screenprinting, and more. ​We hope that MelaNation readers will also engage their radical imagination and join the fight.

Welcome to ​MelaNation​.

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Jordan DeLoach, Maya Jefferson, Eric Burkley, Havana Seoul, Arielle Newton, Darya Nicol, Jonathan Butler, Kandyce Jackson, Kolenge Fonge, and Ruth Tyson are creators from BYP100 DC who contributed their skills in writing, illustration, design, and editing to the zine.

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MelaNation issue 1

agitate the administration

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BYP100 DC's WE KEEP Us SAFE DCCAMPAICN

We Keep Us Safe DC is a coalition-driven BYProo DC campaign that will interrogate the DC and federal government to prioritize a vision for Black people beyond cages and punishment. At its core, BYProo DC is

demanding

that

and

DC

federal

government

representatives invest in our communities and not in institutions that hurt, harm, and kill our people. To BYProo DC, the foundations of true community and safety are deeply rooted in access to basic needs: safe, dignified, and permanent shelter; preventative and responsive health care; non-exploitative financial security¡ and food security; and equitable, culturally responsive education. These are the goals of our campaign

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To facilitate content, build power with, and agitate Black communities around the roots of policing in DC. Through this process, we will collectively draw links between racist policing and intra -community violence and offer alternatives to police investment as a solution to community violence.

To demand Mayor Bowser and DC City Council to:

• DIVEST funds from policing across all sectors and invest deeply in community based solutions to violence. This includes but is not limited to accessible affordable housing, living wage jobs, healthcare, and violence interruption programs.

• REDIRECT all federal funding that resources programs that promote the surveillance of Black, Muslim, and undocumented people and all programs that further imbed and militarize police in our communities.

• DECRIMINALIZE sex work in Washington, DC and provide reparations for harm perpetrated by criminalization.

• DECOUPLE policing from emergency response programs this includes but is no.t limited to mental health, domestic violence, and sexual violence crisis.

• Provide true COMMUNITY CONTROL over Metropolitan Police Department and auxiliary law enforcement agencies that patrol and surveil Washington DC residents. This includes but is not limited to hiring and firing power and budget control.

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to learn more about BYP100, please visit www.byp100.org to learn more about BYP100 DC's work, please email BYP100 DC at dc.chapter@byp100.org to learn more about BYP100 DC's MelaNation, please email byp1oodczine@gmail.com

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MelaNation’s​ Community Activism Glossary a short, incomplete list of social justice terms

This glossary is not comprehensive and is meant to grow and evolve over time.

Please email ​byp100dczine@gmail.com​ if you’re interested in contributing to the development of MelaNation’s Community Activism Glossary.

● The Black Queer Feminist Lens - ​A B ​ lack Queer Feminist Lens allows us to

understand that our identities make us vulnerable to multiple types of oppression. Therefore, liberation for all Black people can only be realized by lifting up the voices and experiences of historically silenced and vulnerable groups within Black communities. Specifically, queer, trans*, femme, poor, disabled and undocumented bodies are the ones most vulnerable because they are traditionally marginalized groups within already marginalized communities. It is in taking a Black Queer Feminist lens that one recognizes and humanizes Black bodies that have been made inferior.

● Intersectionality - ​Taking into account every aspect of a person’s identity

when we consider how oppression, power, and privilege affect their day-to-day life. (For example, please do not just think of a Black queer woman as just Black, or just a woman, or just queer - all of these identities shape her experience.)

● Activism ​- Actions or involvement as a way to achieve political goals, sometimes by demonstrations, protests, and/or other actions.

● Oppression ​- The denial or limiting of a group’s power and ability to

participate fully in society because of their perceived inferiority by the privileged group. Oppression manifests in social ideologies, institutions, and interpersonal interactions.

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● Implicit Bias ​- Basically, these are the prejudices that you have about other

people or things that you didn’t even know were there. I​ mplicit biases often favor our own social group and disfavor other social groups. And even if you aren’t aware of them, you could still act on them ALL THE TIME. (for example, when a White person reflexively clutches their bag when a Black person walks by, they’re acting on their racist, implicit bias.)

● Race ​- A sociopolitical construction that gives White people most of the

power over people of color. o Racial and Ethnic Identity - The race that someone describes themselves as based on their biological heritage, culture, appearance, and personal experience.

● Ableism ​- When people are treated poorly, excluded, and/or denied goods, services, and resources because they have disabilities.

● Gender Identity ​-​ ​Whatever gender you feel that you are, whether you feel

that you are a man, a woman, both, or neither. There are infinite gender identities that someone can feel that they are, and these identities can evolve over a lifetime. This identity is ​real​, regardless of what sex is listed on someone’s birth certificate.

● Trans - An abbreviation of transgender; a denotation of trans identity that recognizes that transgender people are not limited to a male/female binary.

● Cisgender ​- When a person’s gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth.

● Gender Queer/ Gender Nonconforming/ Gender Nonbinary - A gender identity that articulates itself as existing outside of the male/female gender binary. Those who identify as g ​ ender queer​, ​gender nonconforming​, or nonbinary​ may or may not also identify under the transgender umbrella.

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● Queer

- An umbrella term for individuals who do not identify as heterosexual. ​Queer ​includes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, omnisexual, and sexual identities that do not fall under the dominant heterosexual sexuality.

● Patriarchy - A type of group, society, or government in which men are given power over other genders.

● Misogynoir - A combination of the words ​misogyny​, which describes

prejudice against women, and n ​ oir​, which is a French word for black.

Misogynoir i​ s prejudice and oppression against Black women, and it considers the unique experiences that Black women face because of their racial and gender identities (​remember intersectionality?​)

● Police Brutality ​- When police do too much and abuse the power they have (for example, excessive tear gas, sexual abuse, racial profiling, physical intimidation). This violence disproportionately targets Black and Latinx folks.

● Ally/Accomplice - A person who is a part of a privileged group who actively and consistently engages in dismantling their privileged status, supporting the interests of an oppressed group that they do not belong to, and facilitates the redistribution of power equitably.

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Thank you.