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Melanie Cervantes and Jesus Barraza (Los Barraza Cervantes)
20" x 26" 1 color Handprinted, Screen Print , New Leaf Archival Paper, Printed in San Leandro, CA 2009 and 3 Color Digital Graphic
Early New Year's Day in the Fruitvale District of Oakland, BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police murdered unarmed, 22 -year old, Oscar Grant III by pushing him face down to the ground and shooting him in the back. After he was shot he was handcuffed. The shooting was fatal.
Having come of age in Los Angeles during the uprisings that followed the Rodney King verdict- this incidence of violence enacted by the State rings eerily familiar.
For me this is a crystal clear example of how racism is alive and well in the United States. People would like to think that because Barack Obama has been elected president that some how we, as a nation, are "post-race". What really irritates me about this line of thinking it the conflation of race and racism. One is a category another is an active force that impacts real people's lives.
The fact that racism probably had a huge role in Oscar Grant's death chills my bones.
The practices of the police continue to demonstrate this: the way they are trained, the way stereotypes and profiling are reinforced institutionally and how little-to-no accountability the police have with communities of color. These communities are instead terrorized by the police.
Jesus Barraza and I (Melanie Cervantes) collaboratively developed this poster and drew a connection between the violence enacted domestically by transit police in Oakland and Israeli occupying forces (and their attacks which have kiiled hundreds of Gazans including many women and children.)
We created hundres of 1-color posters that we gave out at the protests and community actions as picket signs and gifts to Oscar Grant's family. We also helped tell Oscar Grant's story to people all over the world by using social networking venues like Facebook and Myspace to circulate the digital image.
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Melanie
Cervantes
Jesus
Barraza