Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Bad-Ass Folk!: Jessica Yee

April's Bad Ass is" multiracial Indigenous hip-hop feminist reproductive justice freedom fighter!" Jessica Yee!



Jessica impacted me SO much at this year's CLPP conference. My comfort and knowledge were challenged, in a very good way, for the first time in a long time. Yee is the founder and current director of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, and has recently released Feminism FOR REAL: Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Complex of Feminism. I just ordered my copy, I hope you will too if you are able. If not, there are some great excepts available online! Everything Jessica presented at the conference was on point. Yee even put to words what I've never been able to.

I often feel as though when folks, specifically in the classroom or activist settings, say that they're "my ally in my struggles," it's total bullshit. It usually comes from a place of sympathy after reading about "people like me" in one of their sociology classes (I say "people like me" to represent a lot of different oppressed identities I carry: poor, inner-city, person of color, queer, genderqueer...etc.) When was the last time folks ventured into my neighborhood or even spoke to someone "like me" outside of the classroom or conference? I don't want you as an ally if you're afraid of where I come from. Yee brought up this idea of "consensual allyship" that really blew me away. Will definitely change the way I interact with well intentioned, misinformed folks. I personally wanted to say thank you, but I never got the chance to at CLPP. Read more about Jessica here.

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