Protest and Celebration in Our Shared Spaces
As footage of the 2017 Women’s March played on screen nearly two years later at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, the audience laughed, snapped their fingers, and cheered. They were celebrating the women profiled by Women’s March Film, among them a Muslim refugee, a scientist, and an 88 year-old lifelong activist. They were celebrating the creative signs and costumes, and the moments of connection between strangers. “This is not a parade,” a speaker at the San Francisco march shouted, reflecting the crowd’s righteous anger. But there was so much joy too. SF Urban Film Fest’s opening night was about the revolutionary power of protest that celebrates where we come from, who we are, and the public spaces we share.
In Shantré Pinkney’s short film The Headwearshop: Black Lives Matter, a young woman gets ready for a BLM protest, juxtaposed with archival footage of black protestors from the 60s and 70s. In Women’s March Film, signs bear the names of mothers and fathers, sons and daughters. There’s something powerful in recognizing, even celebrating, that one protest isn’t the beginning and it isn’t the end. Velo Visionaries: Chris Carlsson, by Kristin Tieche, profiles the activist and writer who founded Critical Mass; he’s now teaching “history from below, history as always happening” through Shaping SF, which maintains a digital archive and leads free history tours of the city. Carlsson, who joined the evening’s panel discussion, believes that when people learn about the specific, local decisions that have shaped history, they’re more likely to feel capable of enacting change. Angela Washington, a talk show host and journalist who was featured in Women’s March Film and also joined the panel, is particularly interested in educating young people about the 60s. “They knew one protest wasn’t going to be enough…they knew it was going to be a hard long road.”
In Urban Art Demands Justice: A Drive Through Ciudad Juárez, directed by Daniela Martin, activists protest with murals “because it’s something that will stay there for a long time.” Depicting the lives of women who have disappeared in bright, joyful colors, they make citizens of Juárez feel less hopeless and alone. Marches may be more ephemeral, but they too can transform participants and observers by celebrating the individual. Panelist Jeffrey Hou, a professor of Landscape Architecture at the University of Washington and co-editor of City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance and Public Space in the Age of Shrinking Democracy, observed that “how you dress and express yourself is a form of resistance.” In Women’s March Film, a sea of pink becomes a mix of unique costumes and signs up close, announcing “I am [x],” or “This is what [x] looks like.” Angela Washington spoke about how powerful the Women’s March would have been for “a young kid, trying to decide if they have support in being gay.”
“It’s a people movement.” — Angela Washington
To create positive change, it’s important to celebrate what we all have in common. Political and corporate interests can co-opt identity-based messages and drive rifts between groups, and focusing on differences can distract from shared goals (there were several Women’s Marches, organized by groups that felt excluded by the march’s leadership). Describing her brand of activism, Washington said, “It’s a people movement.” Carlsson thinks that the movement of people, from the private sphere into the public, is the way we unlock social change. Public life has mostly disappeared, and we need spaces (real, non-digital ones) to meet, discuss issues, and realize that together we can improve life in the cities we share. Indeed, for concerned citizens worldwide, the turnout for the Women’s March came as a shock — one participant said she didn’t realize so many people even lived in her city — and a massive relief. For Angela Washington and many others, the feeling that “we’re all in it together” was so igniting, they’ve made activism part of their daily lives.
“People have to realize that public space is in the Constitution,” Hou said, to applause. And when people gather in public, they’re often coming together to demonstrate their justifiable outrage. But celebration is also key. In many cities, the predominant mood is cynical and pessimistic, and the panelists stressed that to get more people involved in public life, it’s important to be positive and welcoming. As Carlsson put it, “This is the balm that melts the antagonism: an option for a better life, a better time.”
Dive into the panel discussion:
This event took place on November 11, 2018 at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco, and was co-presented by Shaping SF. For more information about SF Urban Film Fest, visit their website.
