As a teen-ager, Lee studied the photo with a magnifying glass. “I couldn’t find a single Chinese . . . That was a seed that got planted.”
FOMO on Being Seen
In 2014 photographer Corky Lee recreated an iconic photo for the 145th anniversary of the first Transcontinental Railroad's completion, at Promontory Summit, Utah. This time, he featured descendants of Chinese railroad workers in the shot.
(Credit: Corky Lee)
It’s AAPI Heritage Month. How should we mark it, in view of the continued explosion of hate crimes against this community? For starters, understand its context.
Just as there is often a spark to mark the modern celebration of, say, Black History Month (in a previous FOMO, I linked to United States of Anxiety’s podcast on its origins) Heritage Month was to commemorate the ‘Golden Spike’ at Promontory Point, Utah, the culmination of the toiling hard work to make the Transcontinental Railroad happen. The photo above - as you can tell, does not mark that moment, which is now 152 years ago. Instead, it endeavors to do what the photographer called, “photographic justice.” In May of 2014 Corky Lee assembled the descendants of the Chinese railroad workers to sit for this portrait. Why? In the original photo these workers were ERASED. Corky Lee -- a self-described “first generation media activist” spent his many decades on earth recording, and participating in, protest and the birth of the AAPI civil rights movement. Sadly, he passed on January 2021, due to complications from Covid. Please have a look at this portfolio of his work.
Corky’s work, to make and reclaim histories, reminds me of other recent initiatives, most prominently Nikole Hannah-Jones’ 1619 Project. It’s no surprise that this incarnation of the Grand Old Party, programmatically led by Senator Mitch McConnell, would send this letter to Education Secretary Migue Cardona, objecting with poutrage to the histories that we’ve managed to memory hole until recently. Read the letter, and understand what we’re up against, whether you’re AAPI, Black or brown, LGBTQ, disabled, or indigenous. And support these efforts vocally -- both nationally and hyperlocally.
This week’s FOMO gleans from Anthea Butler that “racism is a feature, not a bug” for American Evangelism; attempts to make sense of the debates around a global vaccine waiver; pays homage to the author of the definitive oral history of ACT UP and AIDS; and is rooting for the slate of progressive D.A.’s across America -- especially those in Philly and NYC -- who are standing for office. (Not gonna be coy.)
Up until last week it appeared that Republicans, even Democrats like Delaware Senator, Biden bestie, and Big Pharma beneficiary Chris Coons would stand in the way of a WTO waiver for coronavirus vaccines -- but last Wednesday U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai tweeted that the U.S. would support this 180 degree pivot. All eyes are now on Germany’s P.M. Angela Merkel, who stated Friday that she opposes the waiver. Ugh. If you’re as confused as I am about the ecosystem of the vaccine rollout, I recommend the Vaccine Wars podcast, which provides the context and the drama. While the narrator is too ‘broadcast anchor’ for my taste, the content is A++. Warning, your head might explode when you eavesdrop into the negotiations between drug reps and the countries they put through endless and mile-high hoops, as they were literally dying to buy quantities of vaxxes. I know mine did.
I’ve often asked myself, how is it that the Evangelical movement hangs on every word of this (let me be generous) hedonist Donald J. Trump? Prof. Anthea Butler has dis-abused me of my surprise with her scholarship, and especially her recently published book, White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America which she wrote over her recovery from Covid-19. While she has appeared on many podcasts, I especially loved this dialogue between Prof. Butler and Marc Lamont Hill on his Coffee & Books podcast. Lamont Hill is himself a professor, author, and the owner of Uncle Bobbie’s Coffee & Books. While Butler might be published by a university press, (I stan UNC Press; I myself had an imprint at The M.I.T. Press!) it is accessible to all readers. Don’t believe me? Here she’s deconstructing that moment when L’il Nas X had Satan sing backup, trolling the pious like a bedazzled King. Want a quick fix? Here is the column she wrote for NBC Think which got her the book contract -- calling out the Rev. Billy Graham, who first married religion to the modern Republican Party. Still unrepentant? This new podcast, In God We Lust, on the unfolding kerfuffle that fils Falwell has been facing, is a hoot and a half: Imagine if Matt Gaetz ran Liberty University. And, scene.
Sarah Schulman -- is in the same cosmic category as photographer Corky Lee -- she’s been an activist in her art her entire life. In addition to being ridiculously prolific -- she’s published well over a dozen novels, non-fictions books, as well as plays and screenplays -- she was long-time member of ACT UP and founder of the Lesbian Avengers. Let The Record Show, her just-published history of ACT UP! New York is the product of twenty years of interviews and centers those Black, brown, and trans members of the queer community who -- see above -- are frequently erased by journalists, filmmakers, and playwrights. While Schulman is celebrated in the community (well, too many white male gays are ignorant of her contributions) the mainstream press has rarely acknowledged just how good her work is.
This week, something happened -- the opposite of erasure -- visibility. When Parul Sehgal, a much-admired book critic at the New York Times tweeted, “Awestruck by this book,” not only did I beam, but Schulman responded: “It is a profound experience to be seen. Thank you so much for doing whatever you had to do to be the woman at the gate. What a change. It is very deep for me at age 62 to experience this kind of response. Thank you.” And, I just learned, that copies of her dozen+ books, including Rat Bohemia which I reviewed for Publishers Weekly when it first came out (and which did garner a front page Times Book Review in 1995!) are on backorder at indie bookstores throughout the tri-state area.
To Be Seen.
I have a theory. The reason change is so elusive is because those who support the status quo will beg, borrow, and steal --- and did I mention, LIE -- to maintain their grip on power. While I could be talking about “The Big Lie” and the 2020 election -- and the subsequent laws in 47 states which are designed to make voting more difficult -- I want to focus more narrowly on a key driver of what we see in that second half of every Law & Order rerun: the courts. Over the past few years, there is an emerging movement where “progressive” District Attorney’s -- who frequently don’t come from the D.A.’s office but are instead civil rights attorneys and public defenders -- are tenaciously standing for office, and sometimes even winning. I’ve previously written about L.A. County’s George Garcon, who has been under fire for doing what he promised to do: Eliminate cash bail on Day One, the charging of juveniles as adults, and prosecuting most nonviolent misdemeanors. Garcon is literally under daily siege from police unions and a subservient press. If you want to consider what the future of criminal justice reform looks like, I can’t recommend Philly D.A. on PBS enough. The docuseries is like The Wire meets Frederick Weisman. It follows D.A. Larry Krasner from the final stretch of an outsider run, to his unlikely win, through the beginning of his tenure. The docuseries is not a vanity project; it’s warts and all. Krasner is up for re-election this cycle, and is facing off against Democrat Carlos Vegas -- a rival whom the D.A. fired when he cleaned house -- who holds that Krasner’s reforms have “gone too far.” The election is next week, May 17th.
In NYC, the Manhattan D.A.’s office has been guided by Cy Vance Jr., its retiring officeholder, for the past 12 years. Vance followed Robert Morgenthau, who served for 35 years. That’s just shy of half a century between them. It is a “jungle primary,” complete with the well-funded spouse of a hedge fund billionaire (Tali Farhadian Weinstein -- no relation) and, to be transparent, my fav, Eliza Orlins, a public defender, who apparently competed on Survivor. Last week’s D.A. forum: Justice & Communities of Color was an opportunity to see how the various candidates might reform their massive offices. Here’s a video of the event.
Related: I can’t recommend the documentary “Do Not Resist” (rent for $4.99 here) enough -- on the over-militarization of local police forces to the tune of BILLIONS. So for me, it’s De-Militarize the Police, as well as, per Dr. Jason Johnson, Decertify The Police, as you would with any doctor or lawyer who is unable to make the grade.
Some cultural offerings to inspire and/or infuriate:
•According to The Public Theater, Shadow/Land is “the first installment of a 10-play cycle traversing the Katrina diaspora.” It is available as an audio play, and the experience is enriched by a companion podcast, The Clearing, a three-part discussion series which looks more deeply at New Orleans and its history of man-made disasters. Listen here. (Free!)
•Please excuse the late notice, but NewFest’s current film series just extended its streaming one more day. The LGBTQ+ Film Fest -- which brilliantly organized a drive-through festival in Queens last year at this time, and I LOVED it -- offers Queering The Canon: BIPOC NY! -- ending at 11:59pm sharp, tonight. It features five films, including the classic, Brother To Brother; the political satire Chocolate Babies, including a Q/A between director Stephen Winter and Jeremy O. Harris -- the author of “Slave Play”; Chutney Popcorn; Fresh Kill; and Gun Hill Road (represent, The Bronx!). A pass for the entire festival -- which you could binge in a single day, if you were, say, recovering from your second vaxx -- is $18; a single film is $10. Get your tickets here. Yes, hurry.
Before I wrap, I want... need... to circle back to a story I missed. Its telling broke me. Kawaski Trawick had a history of mental health problems. One day he locked himself out of his Bronx apartment and someone called in that he was brandishing a bread knife. The New York Fire Department made it first to the scene and pried the door open. He was inside his apartment when the NYPD came calling, entering without his permission. Less than two minutes later, he was shot to death. Eric Umansky’s tick tock of the case - What Police Impunity Looks Like -- and how NYPD Commissioner Shea cleared his own men and refused to share footage to the civilian complaint board for MONTHS -- is a microcosm of everything wrong in modern policing. I hope you’ll read the piece, and stand for change. (H/T to Matthew Davis, informing me that it was the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, whom I’m told, did the grueling legal work which made Umansky’s reporting possible.)