More pics from Ileto Event
I know I'm hella late with these pics, but I'm busy-busy. I will do my best to post up pics every week and keep these entries updated. First, here are more pics from the Ileto commemoration event in LA, which we did back on Sept. 21.
The event was held at the Japanese American National Museum--what a beautiful space.
And of course I liked it even better when I saw its current exhibit:
Yeah!--100% hapa, baby! Anyway, by the time we got to the space, the event had already started. Folks from the Asian Pacific American Legal Center spoke and the Ileto family addressed those attending the event. These were followed by panel discussions with youth from all around the LA area. Middle school and high school students were bussed in to participate, and I had a chance to take a few pictures. When I was in the audience, the students were talking about racism in their communities--for example, one Chicano youth was talking about prejudiced feelings members of his community have for black people. Most expressed concern that if such feelings of racism weren't dealt with within our own communities when it's directed towards others, then we wouldn't be able to stop racism when it's being directed towards ourselves.
After the panel discussion were the performances. Happily, one of the other artists was Kristina Wong--she's sooo craaazy! If you've never seen her, she's a very funny theatrical artist who does a lot of comedic monologues or sketches. Her work explores edgy or controversial issues by making the audience laugh at things that maybe they wouldn't normally. In a provocative way, Kristina reminds us that we are are complicitous in continuing racism, discrimination, exploitation even if we don't recognize it. For the Ileto event, Kristina wrote a new piece in which she explored the whole concept and so-called practice of racial harmony or unity in the U.S. She did this by donning an 80's type work-out garb and analyzing the song "We are the World"--and if it really represented or initiated inclusiveness and racial harmony. What I like about Kristina's work is that she always manages to flip the message so that, in this case, she asserts that "We are the World" has not only become a parody of itself--a joke unto itself--but also has provided a vehicle for hate to perpetuate. By the time we reach the end of her piece, she has reminded us that the melody from "We are the World" was used for the famously hateful "Tsunami Song." Her work is really deep and if ever have the chance to check her out, you should do so. Here are a couple of pics I took of her performance. Sorry I couldn't get the slide show of the "We are the World" video to come out clearly.
OK, my late-ass has to get to work now, so I'll have more next week.
Michelle
The event was held at the Japanese American National Museum--what a beautiful space.
And of course I liked it even better when I saw its current exhibit:
Yeah!--100% hapa, baby! Anyway, by the time we got to the space, the event had already started. Folks from the Asian Pacific American Legal Center spoke and the Ileto family addressed those attending the event. These were followed by panel discussions with youth from all around the LA area. Middle school and high school students were bussed in to participate, and I had a chance to take a few pictures. When I was in the audience, the students were talking about racism in their communities--for example, one Chicano youth was talking about prejudiced feelings members of his community have for black people. Most expressed concern that if such feelings of racism weren't dealt with within our own communities when it's directed towards others, then we wouldn't be able to stop racism when it's being directed towards ourselves.
After the panel discussion were the performances. Happily, one of the other artists was Kristina Wong--she's sooo craaazy! If you've never seen her, she's a very funny theatrical artist who does a lot of comedic monologues or sketches. Her work explores edgy or controversial issues by making the audience laugh at things that maybe they wouldn't normally. In a provocative way, Kristina reminds us that we are are complicitous in continuing racism, discrimination, exploitation even if we don't recognize it. For the Ileto event, Kristina wrote a new piece in which she explored the whole concept and so-called practice of racial harmony or unity in the U.S. She did this by donning an 80's type work-out garb and analyzing the song "We are the World"--and if it really represented or initiated inclusiveness and racial harmony. What I like about Kristina's work is that she always manages to flip the message so that, in this case, she asserts that "We are the World" has not only become a parody of itself--a joke unto itself--but also has provided a vehicle for hate to perpetuate. By the time we reach the end of her piece, she has reminded us that the melody from "We are the World" was used for the famously hateful "Tsunami Song." Her work is really deep and if ever have the chance to check her out, you should do so. Here are a couple of pics I took of her performance. Sorry I couldn't get the slide show of the "We are the World" video to come out clearly.
OK, my late-ass has to get to work now, so I'll have more next week.
Michelle
posted by Yellow Rage at
10/24/2006 08:12:00 AM
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