What I’m Listening to This Week:
AWARENESS FOR MISSING & MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN & FEMMES (MMIW)
Single: This is Not Ameria (2022)
By: Residente ft. Ibeyi
Si quiere mi machete te muerde
Aquí estamo, siempre estamo
No nos fuimo, no nos vamo
Aquí estamo pa que te recuerde
Beginning with Childish Gambino’s prompt, Residente employs my favorite writing technique: write the sequel you want to read. The result is another anthem for the Gobal South, in the spirit of
Los de Atras Vienen Conmigo (2008)
Querido FBI (2005)
Latinoamerica (2011)
Afilando Los Cuchillos (2019)
Carried by twin sisters Ibeyi, due for their own album release on May 6, 2022, the song rises against white supremacy, systemic violence, and imperialist histories, reciting the crimes visited upon the Americas,
“Los paramilitares, las guerrillas
Los hijos del conflicto, las pandillas
Las listas negras, los falsos positivos
Los periodistas asesinados, los desaparecidos
Los narco-gobiernos, todo lo que robaron
Los que se manifiestan y los que se olvidaron”
And continues
“Las persecuciones, los golpes de estado
El país en quiebra, los exiliados, el peso devaluado
El tráfico de drogas, los carteles
Las invasiones, los emigrantes sin papeles”
The song uplifts Indigenous and African legacies of resistance, touring us through 300 years of political education, reminding us “2Pac se llama 2Pac por Túpac Amaru del Perú”.
I emphasize that I’m not sure Residente or this song are feminist — but I recognize that feminism uplifts justified rage. The song animates in its conjuring of violence against the twin tentacles of patriarchy and exploitation. My feminism rests upon nonviolence — but likewise uplifts other feminisms that fight literally against white supremacy and patriarchy.
I think it’s important that Ibeyi siren the chorus — their feminism echoes the threat of biting back.
To conclude, the artists curse white supremacy in its most profound sense with every essence of their being. That is how we renounce violence against Indigenous women.
I share these impressions today when we recall our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Femmes —
And recall that Afro-Indigenous women meet at an intersection of oppression, similar to our Queer and Non-Binary Indigenous.
I implore you to reflect on what violence against these communities entails:
I come from a white supremacist background — from a Colombian diaspora that espouses European principles and rejects any indigenous practice.
While today the Red Dress depicts absence, remember that somebody didn’t just disappear — that person was taken.
Years ago, it might have been frontiersman. Today, it’s a colonizer in a pick-up truck.
Recall that Indigenous women aren’t more vulnerable — they are targeted. Further, that they are the fundamental target of white supremacy.
Feminism teaches us how women and the other disempowered are burdened with the unseen labor that maintains society. Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s Day of Awareness demands that we reckon with and dismantle patriarchy, colonialism, and white supremacy.
Earlier this week, I shared news of Indigenous farmworkers on strike in the Santa Maria Valley.
Uplifting the community of Indigenous Women and Femmes requires addressing the material consequence of capitalism: exploitation.
Most of the produce from California passed through Indigenous hands. So I hope the next time a strike comes around, we are ready to support in material ways.
Check out Residente & Ibeyi’s single here.
Connect with the Lakota People’s Law Project.
Follow Colectivo Ce’eni on Instagram for more Indigenous farmworker news.
And keep an eye out for Ibeyi’s album, Spell 31, due to release May 6, 2022
