triumphsofcolor-blog

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If you follow any social activist on Twitter, you probably will have seen them interacting with Deray McKesson -- famous for his blue puffy vest and being one of the 10 people Beyonce follows on Twitter. But aside from those things we all want to be famous for, he is also well known for constructing protests in Baltimore, Maryland and is a huge supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement. He recently announced his candidacy to run for Mayor of Baltimore and you can see all of the accomplishments he want to achieve and the issues he wants to address on his website linked here. 

Aside from his campaign, he still keeps up to date with the current political debates and shares his opinions with his 335.5k Twitter followers about current social justice battles that are being fought and the social injustice there is in the country we’re living in.

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Sylvia Rivera was a trans women of color who is famous for her activism, which started during the Civil Rights Movement. Orphaned at a young age, she was raised by her Venezuelan grandmother who did not approve of her feminine gender expression, leaving her homeless. Even while battling substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, murders of loved ones, and shitty cops, Sylvia still managed to continue her fight and is today seen as a Stonewall hero and a mother of homeless LGBT individuals. Although she only dabbed in the entertainment business a little during her lifetime (starred in a PBS series), she has had films, artworks, and successful musicals dedicated to her life. 

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Women of color are often the subjects instead of the participants in art. The Balti Gurls’ aim is to show women of color exist in the art-sphere, and to confront the inequalities in place.  

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With the controversy of the Oscars being extremely white washed and International Women’s Day being last Tuesday, March 8th, it is important to highlight Hattie McDaniel who is the first African American (man or woman) to win an Oscar for her performance as Mammy in “Gone With the Wind.”

She has started off the Oscar wins and paved a way for women such as Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg and Halle Berry.

Here’s hoping next year’s Oscars recognize the talent in not only the African American community, but just an inclusion of any talented person of color, race or gender.

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It’s hard to give a shout-out for every pro-black moment in Hamilton, but here is just one song from the soundtrack that’s so eerily relevant to the Black Lives Matter movement, and other movements with similar goals. So many connections to be made in that second verse. Also it’s an amazing song. 

[triumphsofcolor-blog]

Broadway is notoriously known to be a “white space,” one of the reasons Hamilton blowing up in the mainstream public is so amazing. Viewers here are being asked to accept a black George Washington, a Puerto Rican Hamilton (Miranda, the creator himself), and non-white founding fathers and women in general. But people did not just accept it, they love it. 

Miranda knew he wanted a predominately non-white cast. Miranda is also well aware how the lyrics in his songs, the lyrics calling for people to rise up to the injustices of the time, mirror the injustices going on today regarding communities of color. 

The soundtrack is excellent. The feminist themes and constant racial awareness put the soundtrack on a whole different level. With controversy surrounding immigrants as well, Miranda doesn’t hesitate to remind everyone the person who built our financial system was an immigrant himself.