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On The Issues Magazine launched its Fall 2009 edition, “Race, Feminism, Our Future.” Writers and artists address the two provocative topics — race and feminism — by presenting visionary ideas.
What do postfeminism and postracialism have to do with liberation and freedom? “Nothing, not a single thing,” write the editors.
Rinku Sen tackles postracialism and argues that racial equality has not been achieved. Racism, she writes, is “system enabled by rules and structures” that need to be dismantled.
In “Birthers and Birchers: Hiding Behind Stars and Stripes,“ Loretta J. Ross links the language of those who deny Obama’s citizenship to John Birch Society followers. The National Coordinator at SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective, Ross, along with Serena Garcia, Communications Coordinator, is a Consulting Editor.
Garcia discusses the distortions of attacks on Justice Sonia Sotomayor in “Wise Words Cause Fearful Notions.“
Artist Faith Ringgold narrates a slideshow, “How The People Became Color Blind and We Came to America.” Ringgold is known for her extensive work combining painting, quilted fabric and storytelling.
Other featured artists are Taryn Wells, Natalie Frank, Gwyneth Leech, Emma Amos, Helene Ruiz and Janet Goldner.
In “To Stop the Gender Violence, Start Changing the Tune,” Andrea Smith describes new ideas on a simmering subject that affects women across racial and cultural boundaries.
Betsy Hartmann in “The ‘New’ Population Control Craze: Retro, Racist, Wrong Way to Go,” questions using climate change as a ruse for population control.
“Beginning with the Children: To Teach Peace,” by Eleanor J. Bader, shines light on The Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, which uses social and emotional learning. With No Child Left Behind, programs like this suffer.
A review describes the exuberance of Staceyann Chin’s memoir, “The Other Side of Paradise,” and is accompanied by a video of Chin’s Def Poetry performance.
Graciela Sanchez writes about an arts program that uses photography to help women break free from isolation and become activists. Eesha Pandit articulates the necessity of incorporating a reproductive justice perspective in national healthcare, while Suzanne Pharr and Jacqui Patterson look at unifying themes for progressives in economic stimulus and global warming policy.
ABOUT US
On The Issues Magazine (www.ontheissuesmagazine.com) is a progressive, feminist, quarterly online magazine. Read more at the site — free and with archives from 1983. Merle Hoffman is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief.