[For this
year’s MLK week series, I’ve highlighted under-remembered figures,
histories, and stories that can expand our collective memories of the Civil
Rights Movement. Leading up to this special weekend post on 21st
century voices!]
On five figures
helping carry the legacies and conversations forward.
1)
Alicia
Garza: I said much of what I’d want to say here in that hyperlinked post,
but will add that of course the #BlackLivesMatter
movement is not just about individuals or leaders, no more than the Civil
Rights Movement was. Yet individual figures can nonetheless serve as inspirational
models, for the best of what a movement represents and for the kinds of activism,
leadership, and thinking that embody the best of American identity and
community. To my mind Garza does and is all those things, and then some.
2)
Tressie
McMillan Cottom: I don’t imagine it’ll be a surprise that I think writers and
public scholars can also be civil rights leaders. But they really can, more
than ever in this era of social media and multimedia conversations and
communities, and an inspiring case in point is Cottom: for her black feminist podcast (co-hosted
with Roxane Gay, who could certainly
occupy this spot as well) and her Twitter
account just as much as for her
acclaimed and groundbreaking autoethnographic and sociological books. In all those
ways, Cottom’s voice and words offer vital guidance, on civil rights and so
many other issues, through our 21st century maze.
3)
Ava
Duvernay: Not just because she made (to my mind) the
best film yet about the Civil Rights Movement; nor just because she made
(to my mind) the
best TV show yet about race, justice and community in late 20th
and early 21st century America. Each of those cultural works would
certainly merit Duvernay a spot on this list, but I would argue that it is
really her
amazing support for fellow artists, filmmakers, and cultural voices that makes
Duvernay not just a civil rights artist but an activist and leader as well. Pop
culture and mass media are, now more than ever, key battlegrounds in the fight
for civil rights, and I’d follow Duvernay into any such conflict.
4)
Jennifer
Gunter: Before these last two figures, a disclaimer: I would never argue
that the movements for other civil rights are identical, or even necessarily parallel,
to the ongoing one for African American civil rights. But as figures from this
week’s series like Bayard Rustin and Lillian Smith (among so many others)
remind us, the fights for justice and equity around issues of sexuality,
gender, and so many others are at the very least deeply interconnected with
those of race, and are in any case vital civil rights fights on their own
terms. In recent months, Gunter has emerged (on Twitter and beyond) as one of the
most vocal and vital voices on issues of gender, sexuality, and sex. I can’t
wait to read her book The
Vagina Bible and continue learning from her expertise and activism.
5)
José
Antonio Vargas: That’s just one of many
posts in which I’ve highlighted Vargas’
inspiring and courageous voice, writing,
and activism. To be honest, it feels a bit as if his voice had receded a
bit in recent years (I could be totally wrong on that and welcome other
perspectives as always!), which is doubly frustrating as I can’t imagine a
moment where he and all he does and supports are more needed. Again, every
issue and movement is distinct, but to me the fight for undocumented immigrants
is one of the central civil rights battles of the 21st century. In
that, as in so many other conversations, Vargas remains an essential voice and
leader.
Next series
starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What do you
think? Other contemporary voices you’d highlight?
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