FACT CHECKING FOR OUR FUTURE GENERATION.

Found a video of our movement in Atlanta in front of Tyler Perry's studios. (Sorry, not captioned.)

“Social media hashtags are not real activism”

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED: When Jade Bryan, the first Black Deaf Filmmaker, started the #BlackDeafTalent and #POCDeafTalent movement in 2012, then white deaf people co-opted that movement by creating #DeatTalent in 2015 to spotlight white deaf talent. It’s 2019, they want us to forget. They want to push us aside, like our voices don’t matter. They want to erase us. They want to silence us. They prefer to glorify #whiteness. And that, my friends, is not ok. 🎭

When white deaf people, the wannabe armchair activists, especially the younger generation, hijacked another POC/Black person’s movement, what they failed to understand, it’s more about the REAL WORK than the hashtags on social media. This is not some armchair warrior activism. When we started the movement in 2012, where were the white deaf talents? They hardly paid much attention to what we were doing throughout the years. Still today. Where is the support for Deaf Talent who identified as POC or Black under the #POCDeafTalent and #BlackDeafTalent movement?

In 2015, white deaf people co-opted our movement! When Convo elevated Jules, the community start to pay attention to her. That’s the definition of white privilege; the elevation of white supremacists to further their own cause. How dare they erase the identifications of ‘POC and Black’ talents and then claim they started the movement off someone’s work?

What kind of real work have they been doing to effect change? Have they been attending film festivals, film screenings or workshops so that their voices can be heard? Have they been hitting the streets with their groups carrying placards? Have they been marching up and down in the streets and protesting in front of major networks and studios? Have they gotten any media coverage for their causes? Have they called or written letters to the networks/studios? What are their plans to create or effect change other than creating hashtags, getting exposures through these predominantly white owned VRS providers on social media? What kind of real work have they done that give them the privilege to claim ownership for someone else’s work? White deaf people gained popularity that way for someone else’s hard work who started the movement. In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t stopped campaigning for my movements since we started in 2012.

“Even though many online social media movements fail to translate to effective legislation, hashtag activism has provided a sense of comfort in being an ineffective advocate. Above all else, using social media teaches future advocates that activism revolves around feeling good about oneself despite not actually doing any work.”

Read the article by the Deaf Reporter.
Reunite the Community in The Fight Against Hollywood
Link

Can we really do this? It’s 2019, in my 25 years of producing experience, why is that taking white deaf people so long to realize that? Do you have the answers? If so, don’t just tell us, ACT! Effect change!

#armchairwarrior #activism #pocdeaftalent #blackdeaftalent #ethnicityofdeaftalent #activists #ourvoicesmatter #effectchange #socialchange #representationmatters

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   6 years ago

   ReplyTo:   queenjade