Posted by lamamitamala 
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One of the first spaces I wa in in Detroit was at the Women’s Equity Media Summit. To say that it was an uncomfortable space would be too simple. There was a sense among many of the women of color I was with that we HAD to be there, since many of has had been given some money to help defray our travel costs. We would have been in Detroit anyway for the Allied Media Conference and truth be told we weren’t sure why we had been invited into the WEMS space? What was the mission and what was expected of us radical women of color media makers.
We all conglomerated in one corner of the room, close to the door, forming a protective circle of love and support around each other as other women spilled their female creds on the table, leaving many of us feeling marginalized. What of us who didn’t claim the word woman or the word feminist? What made one a “woman” in that space? Was it being born with a white vagina? Did bringing up these issues make us automatic enemies of the space of chairs and tables that wound around the conference room? What of us who had no interest or desire to be part of a non-profit structure? What of us who didn’t want their money?
What did come out of that space however and many other spaces in the days that followed at the AMC and after, were the gathering of mamis. That’s right, mamis not mommies. I even had to correct the spelling as it was written on butcher paper at the front of the room because for the last almost 12 years (carajo I feel vieja) it has been made clear to me that my experiences are not the ones being blogged about or written about in books. After all it was my mami’hood, with all the sex/gender/race/class/language issues you can pull from that word, that started me seeking others like me through blogging and organizing on the ground.
One of the first exercises I did in my small caucus of three, that included bfp and Noemi, was what do we need in order to do our work, which we translated as what do mami movement’s need. Here is a list of what I came up with:
mami’hood
justicia
not speaking for people
comunidad
multi-lengua’ed
access
accountibility
amor
apoyo
collective
seguridad
multiple points/ways of entry
poesia
arte
sexo
child-inclusive
childcare
sustainability
flexibility
What does your list look like?
Tags: mamihood —
July 25th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
[...] Cross Posted from la Mamita Mala [...]
July 27th, 2009 at 5:58 am
[...] is a continuation of this post, based on conversations had at the Women’s Equity Media Summit with Noemi and [...]
July 27th, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Mine has many of the same things:
Child care that’s actually FOR children (especially children who don’t fit the “normal” box)
Space for adults to be without their children
Space for adults to be with their children
Choice in how to spend my time
Choice in how to spend my money
Uh, that means I first have to HAVE some money…
Deep, meaningful relationships with other people who feel me–people who understand when I don’t have the words–words for feeling isolated, silence, shut down, bullied, belittled, placated, paraded as proof of how “down” an institution or a person or a program is and how helpful and awesome they are for just knowing me
Deep meaningful relationships that have room not only for sharing those experiences of marginalization and tokenism, but for believing in our and my abilities to survive and thrive and to do so creatively, with strength, and with purpose
Opportunities for meaningful work
Support in doing 243,385 different things and pulling them together into one livable life
Give and take without counting favors on fingers, you did 3 things for me, I still owe you 2…
Not being obligated to do X because some organization gave me 20 bucks to get my ass somewhere I needed to be (when it cost $880 more that was NOT part of the “grant” or “scholarship”)
Ways of building community and organizing that are in line with my values of respectful collaboration, liberation, curiosity instead of preconceived “knowing”–especially about things and situations unfamiliar or unexperienced by the “knower”, multigenerational decision-making, table settings for me to bring ALL of myself to the table and for everyone else do to the same
A big metaphorical bomb to explode the white, heterocentric, patriarchal, class privileged standards to which we’re all supposed to measure up to and that we, ourselves, carry within us
August 1st, 2009 at 7:38 am
[...] When the two other mamis and I came up with lists, words, stanzas and lyrics about who/what we were (cuz we have a long ass history that Ms. China Martens is gonna help me document by coming to casa mala so I can write ::wink wink::), the people in the room of that Women’s Equity Media Summit fucking cheered. These were some of the ideas that came out of the mami conversations. [...]