Black Lives Matter

Like most people who make things, I tend to be self-deprecating about my work. At times, I think that being black and worrying about your alternative self-expression is an exercise in privilege. Like, on the long list of things black people have to worry about, that's number 2,000,000. But at other times, I see how my zines were feeble but conviction-filled attempts to change mainstream conceptions of blackness. 

We have to say "Black Lives Matter" because our humanity is stripped of us whenever we are treated as worthless walking stereotypes. 

Black people like me see that these stereotypes are alive and well when non-black people express their surprise at how different we are from what they expected. In this society, having black skin is a burden because our skin color is infused with socially constructed meaning. I have to remind myself that absolutely every single thing we do to redefine ourselves as black people is indeed an act of resistance.
 

Please support efforts toward black empowerment and social justice this holiday season!  

When you buy Shotgun Seamstress zine collection from Mend My Dress Press between now and December 25, 2014 all profits will be donated to Black Youth Project 100, who have been organizing protests and sit-ins all over the country in response to recent black deaths at the hands of law enforcement and the lack of accountability for those injustices.  Support the movement and maybe turn a young person in your life on to the world of black punk rock.