Rally at Capitol Bdg in Austin (flashback to May 6)
Voter ID Bill from jessica quazi on Vimeo.
Um, yeah, yall, here I am with my late ass AGAIN. But I had promised way back when that I would get pics and some info up about this event and so here it is.
Back in April, I was contacted by Senator Zavala who is one of the founders of a new political advocacy organization committed to grass-roots community-organizing called Truejustice. He was interested in having Yellow Rage come down to Austin to protest the Voter ID Bill that was before the Texas legislature. If accepted, the Voter ID bill would have required registered voters to have several forms of identification in order to be able to vote at the polls. The concern was that the bill would adversely affect voter turn-out for the poor, elderly, and immigrants who might not have access to certain documents or wouldn't update their ID cards and would intimidate them from coming out to the polls. Senator also wanted to protest Rep. Betty Brown's racist remarks against Asians, in which she suggested that they/we change our names to something--I'm paraphrasing--that's easier for poll workers to deal with.
Catzie was still recovering from giving birth, so I decided to go down to Austin solo b/c I felt these were extremely important issues, and I was happy for the opportunity to sound my voice about it in-the-thick-of-it-all. B/c I am a trouble-maker, after all :-)
So May 5 I flew down to Austin and was met at the airport (I arrived very very late) by Senator and Sheila who along with Senator is the co-founder of Truejustice (and another spunky Korean hapa sister! We're everywhere, yo! :-P). They had me stay in their apartment while they stayed at the new house they were moving into. While at their apt, I had a chance to become tentative friends with their cat, whose name is Kitty:
Yeah, she really wasn't so friendly, but I completely understand her protecting her territory. Around noon on the 6th, Senator and Sheila picked me up and we headed to the Capitol Bdg:
Did I mention it was a friggin sweltering hot and humid day? Like, no lie, the sweat was pouring--it was rather yucky. Anyway, after trudging down the middle of Austin, we make our approach to the Capitol. And here's some pics of us in front of it. First Sheila and Senator:
Then me and Sheila:
So that's the front of the Capitol. The back of the building was where it was all supposed to go down. Here's the view of the top of the back of the building:
So we passed through the Capitol and unsuspecting tourists, and began to set-up out back.
And, behold, people started to show up for the rally. Who woulda thunk it?
Alas, the mic was hand-held, so some quick thinking and resourcefulness were needed b/c, as I explained to Sheila and Senator, folks would not get the full force of all that is Yellow Rage (even if I'm only half of) if I can't perform with the mic on a stand. Lookee, duct tape! Thank goodness for good ol' duct tape:
Senator and Sheila really wanted this event to be something they could publicize and use to promote future Truejustice events and rallies, and I'm all for helping out grass-roots community organizers, so this particular rally was going to be filmed. Senator called in a friend of his who is a filmmaker and she put together a small camera crew to document the event. They had to have been some of the coolest people I have ever met. Jessica, Candice, and Nariman--who was sooo FUNNY, OMG, he just kept making me laugh the whole afternoon--were consummate professionals. And they work for the TV show CHEATERS--that's pretty cool too! Here they are doing a mock interview with Sheila:
As the time approached for the rally, a pretty good crowd had gathered.
And it was finally time to get this baby rolling. First, there's the camera take, Senator gives some info and then I'm up. Here's some pix (Sheila took lots of pix of me performing, so I'm putting up several from different vantage points so you can get a sense of the crowd, the camera crew and random people walking through):
OK, so, of course, you know that I get pretty . . . energetic when I perform. And even when I have a mic, I'm at the top of my lungs. And I don't believe in censorship, so I'm emphatically cussing up a storm. My set was about 15-20 mins. Well, some folks didn't like it. Someone told me later that a white family came out, stopped on the steps of the Capitol, covered their children's ears and ran back inside. Lawd, I am such a corrupting influence, aren't I? Well, before long, the Texas Rangers came out to find out what I'm hollering about:
It was sooo funny cuz none of the cops came to talk to me directly--they were looking for the "man" in charge it seems. LOL--Some man had to claim responsibility for me, I guess. God, it was hilarious! You have no idea how tickled I was that they were making such a fuss over lil ol' me! It really gets better b/c they kept coming, more and more of them. And they accused me of trying to incite a riot b/c of all my cussing. And they kept asking Senator what I was saying, and he kept telling them, "I don't recall."
Look, some of my Asian peoples came out to see what the ruckus was about. I just kept thinking, "OMG, my peoples didn't blow the whistle on me, did they? Not my peoples--Say it ain't so!"
Look how serious these cops are! they actually left, and then CAME BACK to talk to Senator some more. And then David aka Dee Rail (an MC hailing from I don't really know where--he's monitoring the speaker in some of the earlier photos--who was such a gentleman to me all afternoon) said to the cops, "She wasn't trying to incite a riot; she actually was trying to promote peace," or something like that. And these men are all talking about me, and I'm just laughing and taking pictures and saying, "Are they gonna arrest me or what?" Then one of the cops saw me taking pictures and came over to me and told me, "We don't take pictures." And I said, "What do you mean you don't take pictures? When you wear that uniform, you're a public servant, right? And this is a tourist spot, right? And you get your pictures taken by tourists all the time, right? So don't tell me I can't take pictures b/c we're in public." And then he got pissed and said in that "I'm warning you" voice, "Ma'am, I said we don't take pictures." And I was like, "This IS America, right? As an American citizen, I'm protected under the Constitution through the 1st Amendment to practice freedom of speech and peaceably assemble, right?" And I turned to a Chicano brother standing next to me and asked him, "We ARE in America, right? I mean, Texas is in America, right?" And he was like, "It sure is." And the cop walked away b/c he was getting pissed, but I didn't give a shit. See, this is how I deal with cops: I don't directly challenge them. I do it passive-aggressive by putting my point in the form of a question. They HATE that shit, especially from a woman. And this cop couldn't do anything to me, much as he wanted to. So he had to walk away. And I kept taking pictures, and asking, "Are they gonna arrest me or what?"
Oh!--here's Senator and Dee Rail talking to the cops together:
Finally, the cops regained their senses and decided that it would be foolish of them to do anything to me or to Senator for the event--but they did pretty much say that I'd better be done and to never come back :-) I just make all sorts of friends wherever I go, don't I? And cops make the best friends ever . . .
We wrapped up the event with a group picture. Then as we were leaving, I had to get a shot of the huge monument outside the Capitol commemorating the Confederate dead--a sober reminder that this is Texas and the American South with all its racist legacy right at the surface.
Special thanks to Senator and Sheila for giving me an opportunity to come out and protest such an important issue not only for APIA's but for all under-privileged American citizens of varying backgrounds whose right to vote and participate in the American democratic process is constantly and slowly being corroded by corrupt, elitist, racist politicians. Thanks also to the folks who attended the rally and supported, especially Clarissa who told me my poetry was beautiful. Thank you to the AMAZING camera crew for their work at the rally and for the wonderful videos: Candice Payne, Jessica Quazi, and Nariman Jafari (who made me warm up by reciting "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear" and later sang a country music song he composed about sheep and scapegoats. I so appreciated your sense of humor). Much gratitude and appreciation also to the guys who came to my "rescue" (though I don't need rescuing, dammit! :-P): Senator and David aka Dee Rail. Seriously though, thank you guys for having my back. Finally, big ups to the Texas Rangers at the Capitol Building in Austin for being the best thing that happened to me all spring.
I leave you all with a video of Nariman and Dee Rail beat-boxin' at the close of the rally.
Michelle
Um, yeah, yall, here I am with my late ass AGAIN. But I had promised way back when that I would get pics and some info up about this event and so here it is.
Back in April, I was contacted by Senator Zavala who is one of the founders of a new political advocacy organization committed to grass-roots community-organizing called Truejustice. He was interested in having Yellow Rage come down to Austin to protest the Voter ID Bill that was before the Texas legislature. If accepted, the Voter ID bill would have required registered voters to have several forms of identification in order to be able to vote at the polls. The concern was that the bill would adversely affect voter turn-out for the poor, elderly, and immigrants who might not have access to certain documents or wouldn't update their ID cards and would intimidate them from coming out to the polls. Senator also wanted to protest Rep. Betty Brown's racist remarks against Asians, in which she suggested that they/we change our names to something--I'm paraphrasing--that's easier for poll workers to deal with.
Catzie was still recovering from giving birth, so I decided to go down to Austin solo b/c I felt these were extremely important issues, and I was happy for the opportunity to sound my voice about it in-the-thick-of-it-all. B/c I am a trouble-maker, after all :-)
So May 5 I flew down to Austin and was met at the airport (I arrived very very late) by Senator and Sheila who along with Senator is the co-founder of Truejustice (and another spunky Korean hapa sister! We're everywhere, yo! :-P). They had me stay in their apartment while they stayed at the new house they were moving into. While at their apt, I had a chance to become tentative friends with their cat, whose name is Kitty:
Yeah, she really wasn't so friendly, but I completely understand her protecting her territory. Around noon on the 6th, Senator and Sheila picked me up and we headed to the Capitol Bdg:
Did I mention it was a friggin sweltering hot and humid day? Like, no lie, the sweat was pouring--it was rather yucky. Anyway, after trudging down the middle of Austin, we make our approach to the Capitol. And here's some pics of us in front of it. First Sheila and Senator:
Then me and Sheila:
So that's the front of the Capitol. The back of the building was where it was all supposed to go down. Here's the view of the top of the back of the building:
So we passed through the Capitol and unsuspecting tourists, and began to set-up out back.
And, behold, people started to show up for the rally. Who woulda thunk it?
Alas, the mic was hand-held, so some quick thinking and resourcefulness were needed b/c, as I explained to Sheila and Senator, folks would not get the full force of all that is Yellow Rage (even if I'm only half of) if I can't perform with the mic on a stand. Lookee, duct tape! Thank goodness for good ol' duct tape:
Senator and Sheila really wanted this event to be something they could publicize and use to promote future Truejustice events and rallies, and I'm all for helping out grass-roots community organizers, so this particular rally was going to be filmed. Senator called in a friend of his who is a filmmaker and she put together a small camera crew to document the event. They had to have been some of the coolest people I have ever met. Jessica, Candice, and Nariman--who was sooo FUNNY, OMG, he just kept making me laugh the whole afternoon--were consummate professionals. And they work for the TV show CHEATERS--that's pretty cool too! Here they are doing a mock interview with Sheila:
As the time approached for the rally, a pretty good crowd had gathered.
And it was finally time to get this baby rolling. First, there's the camera take, Senator gives some info and then I'm up. Here's some pix (Sheila took lots of pix of me performing, so I'm putting up several from different vantage points so you can get a sense of the crowd, the camera crew and random people walking through):
OK, so, of course, you know that I get pretty . . . energetic when I perform. And even when I have a mic, I'm at the top of my lungs. And I don't believe in censorship, so I'm emphatically cussing up a storm. My set was about 15-20 mins. Well, some folks didn't like it. Someone told me later that a white family came out, stopped on the steps of the Capitol, covered their children's ears and ran back inside. Lawd, I am such a corrupting influence, aren't I? Well, before long, the Texas Rangers came out to find out what I'm hollering about:
It was sooo funny cuz none of the cops came to talk to me directly--they were looking for the "man" in charge it seems. LOL--Some man had to claim responsibility for me, I guess. God, it was hilarious! You have no idea how tickled I was that they were making such a fuss over lil ol' me! It really gets better b/c they kept coming, more and more of them. And they accused me of trying to incite a riot b/c of all my cussing. And they kept asking Senator what I was saying, and he kept telling them, "I don't recall."
Look, some of my Asian peoples came out to see what the ruckus was about. I just kept thinking, "OMG, my peoples didn't blow the whistle on me, did they? Not my peoples--Say it ain't so!"
Look how serious these cops are! they actually left, and then CAME BACK to talk to Senator some more. And then David aka Dee Rail (an MC hailing from I don't really know where--he's monitoring the speaker in some of the earlier photos--who was such a gentleman to me all afternoon) said to the cops, "She wasn't trying to incite a riot; she actually was trying to promote peace," or something like that. And these men are all talking about me, and I'm just laughing and taking pictures and saying, "Are they gonna arrest me or what?" Then one of the cops saw me taking pictures and came over to me and told me, "We don't take pictures." And I said, "What do you mean you don't take pictures? When you wear that uniform, you're a public servant, right? And this is a tourist spot, right? And you get your pictures taken by tourists all the time, right? So don't tell me I can't take pictures b/c we're in public." And then he got pissed and said in that "I'm warning you" voice, "Ma'am, I said we don't take pictures." And I was like, "This IS America, right? As an American citizen, I'm protected under the Constitution through the 1st Amendment to practice freedom of speech and peaceably assemble, right?" And I turned to a Chicano brother standing next to me and asked him, "We ARE in America, right? I mean, Texas is in America, right?" And he was like, "It sure is." And the cop walked away b/c he was getting pissed, but I didn't give a shit. See, this is how I deal with cops: I don't directly challenge them. I do it passive-aggressive by putting my point in the form of a question. They HATE that shit, especially from a woman. And this cop couldn't do anything to me, much as he wanted to. So he had to walk away. And I kept taking pictures, and asking, "Are they gonna arrest me or what?"
Oh!--here's Senator and Dee Rail talking to the cops together:
Finally, the cops regained their senses and decided that it would be foolish of them to do anything to me or to Senator for the event--but they did pretty much say that I'd better be done and to never come back :-) I just make all sorts of friends wherever I go, don't I? And cops make the best friends ever . . .We wrapped up the event with a group picture. Then as we were leaving, I had to get a shot of the huge monument outside the Capitol commemorating the Confederate dead--a sober reminder that this is Texas and the American South with all its racist legacy right at the surface.
Special thanks to Senator and Sheila for giving me an opportunity to come out and protest such an important issue not only for APIA's but for all under-privileged American citizens of varying backgrounds whose right to vote and participate in the American democratic process is constantly and slowly being corroded by corrupt, elitist, racist politicians. Thanks also to the folks who attended the rally and supported, especially Clarissa who told me my poetry was beautiful. Thank you to the AMAZING camera crew for their work at the rally and for the wonderful videos: Candice Payne, Jessica Quazi, and Nariman Jafari (who made me warm up by reciting "Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear" and later sang a country music song he composed about sheep and scapegoats. I so appreciated your sense of humor). Much gratitude and appreciation also to the guys who came to my "rescue" (though I don't need rescuing, dammit! :-P): Senator and David aka Dee Rail. Seriously though, thank you guys for having my back. Finally, big ups to the Texas Rangers at the Capitol Building in Austin for being the best thing that happened to me all spring.I leave you all with a video of Nariman and Dee Rail beat-boxin' at the close of the rally.
true justice beat box from jessica quazi on Vimeo.
Many blessings and love always,Michelle
posted by Yellow Rage at
9/25/2009 10:00:00 AM
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