The entrenched class and racial divide in Salinas, California reared its ugly head via Instagram, TikTok and Facebook recently, when high schools students abused a Black doll named Shaniqua. Racism is injurious not just to those on the receiving end, but to those who perpetrate the continued exclusion of those not like them.
Author: Nicole Guidotti-Hernández
Nicole M. Guidotti-Hernández is a professor at Emory and Charles Warren Fellow at Harvard. She received her doctorate degree from Cornell University in English, with a graduate minor in Latina/o Studies in 2004. She is the author "Unspeakable Violence: Narratives of Citizenship Mourning and Loss in Chicana/o and U.S. Mexico National Imaginaries."
On the Ground in Georgia: A Much-Needed Message of Change
We have 13 days left, and I hope we can survive it.
We can celebrate Warnock and Ossoff’s victories, at the same time that we hold accountable those who want to destroy the equality feminists and women of color have worked towards for centuries.
The Eight Most “WTF?!” Moments of 2020
2020 was a waking nightmare for feminists. Early on, it teased us with hope of change with the presidential election in November … only to be hit with the biggest pandemic in the last 100 years. And with the death of Supreme Court justice and feminist legend Ruth Bader Ginsburg, it often felt as if all the gains made in women’s, civil and reproductive rights would be taken away.
With the knowledge of a person who has seen their fair share of dumpster fires in the last five decades, I give you my top feminist WTF moments of the past year.
Experiencing Voter Suppression for the First Time
“The poll tax, in this election, is time. The poll tax, in this election, is potentially exposing yourself to COVID-19. The poll tax, in this election, is forgoing traditional methods of voting by mail because you are afraid your rights will be trampled. Now we anxiously await a future that will either be filled with more misogynist anti-Black violence, or a return to the value of difference as the very fabric of our democracy.”
Feminicidio Close to Home: Remembering Dr. Raquel Padilla Ramos
Social class and education could not save her. My colleague and friend, despite all her vigilance, earned el derecho de descansar in her death by feminicidio. She fought for her life and lost.
Sick and Tired: Why Fragrance is a Feminist Issue
I’ve been on eight planes, 10 rideshare cars and two rental cars in the last three weeks—and in 50 percent of them, my head began to thump, the glad in the left side of my throat began to swell, my sinuses filled with mucus and I became hazy within minutes because someone was wearing perfume or cologne.
“Brujos” Brings Latinx Magic Back to the Witch Stories Stealing Our Screen Time
The magic-wielding academic queers are at it again in season three of Brujos—and this time, they’re incorporating even more witchy content about sexually non-conforming people of color.
Making Movidas in the Chicana Movement
Too many subjects of Chicana history have been willfully been written out of the master narrative—until now.
Happy Latina History Day!
Buried in Women’s History Month is a single day, March 9, marked by a single state, California, to celebrate Latina history. As a Latina from California myself, I confess that, until this year, I had no idea that my home state had set this day aside. But now that I know, I plan to urge […]
“Girl in a Coma” Rocks to Its Own Beat (and Causes)
The impact of homegrown, San Antonio-based, all-woman band Girl in a Coma stretches far beyond the borders of Texas. Their fourth album Exits and All the Rest, recently named to NPR’s 50 best of 2011, shows the band’s range of talents.