HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lens - November 202111/23/2021 The Lens - November 2021
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IAIOWA/bulletins/2fd0890 1/3
The Lens - November 2021
City of Iowa City sent this bulletin at 11/22/2021 01:54 PM CST
Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.
November 2021 |
The Lens, a newsletter to expand conversations on equity, justice, and human rights.
Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
November is National Native American Heritage Month. The theme
for 2021 is “Gifts of our Ancestors: Celebrating Indigenous
Knowledge and Cultures.” Yet Indigenous women do not feel
celebrated in a society that allows them to vanish at alarming rates
without investigation. While white women like Gabby Petito
typically receive extensive news coverage when they go missing and are found murdered, Indigenous
women experience the opposite.
Between 2011 and 2020, Indigenous people made up 21 percent of the state’s homicide victims, while
they are only 3 percent of its population. One Northern Arapaho woman, Nicole Wagon, lost two of her
daughters within two years: 30-year-old Jocelyn was shot in her home in 2019, and 23-year-old Jade
was found dead in a field in 2020, weeks after her mother reported her missing. Jocelyn’s murder has
not been solved. Authorities say Jade died from hypothermia, but her mother is certain she was
murdered. There was very little public attention paid to either Jocelyn or Jade’s deaths.
The advocacy group Native Hope explains there are reasons for this. First, 78 percent of Indigenous
persons live off the tribal lands, with 60 percent of those living in urban areas. Those who live on the
tribal lands benefit from a coordinated community response when they go missing. Indigenous
persons living off the tribal lands do not have access to this level of support. Second, when an
Indigenous woman goes missing off the tribal lands, stereotypes hinder the search. There is often little
reporting, and when there is publicity, it tends to focus on any negative facts about the victim, placing
blame on her. Stunningly, the murder rate for Indigenous women in some areas is ten times that of the
national average. Murder is the third leading cause of death for Indigenous women, according to the
Urban Indian Health Institute.
Deb Haaland, member of the Pueblo of Laguna and the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet
Secretary, provides hope to Indigenous communities. As Secretary of the Interior, she created the
Missing & Murdered Unit within the Bureau of Indian Affairs office of justice just two weeks after being
sworn in in early 2021. The unit now has seven offices nationwide.
(Image source: Urban Indian Health Institute)
The History of Thanksgiving
Just as we are increasingly acknowledging the need to recognize
Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day, the history of
Thanksgiving needs to be examined. For Indigenous people of the
United States, Thanksgiving can be a painful reminder of all they
have suffered and lost under colonization. Smithsonian Magazine
reported Professor David Silverman’s 2019 book, This Land is
Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the
Troubled History of Thanksgiving is a comprehensive corrective to
the false narrative taught for so many years in our schools. Another
resource is Rethinking Columbus: The next 500 Years, Resources
for Teaching about the Impact of the Arrival of Columbus in the
Americas authored by Bill Bigelow. There are also other ways to
learn about the history of Indigenous Peoples.
Subscribe to updates from City of Iowa City
Email Address e.g. name@exam
Subscribe
Share Bulletin
11/23/2021 The Lens - November 2021
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IAIOWA/bulletins/2fd0890 2/3
Many independent films explore issues often ignored by mainstream press. A few of them are
highlighted below. Find more, as well as expanded descriptions of those below, here.
When this country was being colonized by Europeans, the US Army held forced marches to
remove Indigenous Peoples from their homes. Choctaws, Creeks, Cherokees, and many others
were forced to walk hundreds of miles, suffering disease, deprivation, and death on the way.
The Long Walk: Tears of the Navajo is the brutal story of one such removal. Order it here or
watch parts on YouTube.
In its misguided quest to “civilize” Indigenous Peoples, the US Government forcibly removed
children from their homes and compelled them to attend boarding schools where they were
made to adopt European culture and abandon their own. Staff at these schools were often
physically and sexually abusive and remains of children who died at them have recently been
discovered. Unspoken: America’s Native American Boarding Schools documents this
painful story in two parts and can be found here.
Indigenous women go missing and are murdered at a rate far higher than others, their cases
often receive little media attention, and remain unsolved. Our Sisters in Spirit focuses on this
crisis and is available on YouTube here.
During the 1950s and ‘60s, the US Government’s nuclear program needed testing sites.
Project Chariot is the story of an Alaska Native community fighting to stop the government
from detonating nuclear bombs near their town. Even as they believe they have won, they
discover they have already been betrayed. It is free on Vimeo here.
Corporate Transition
For those who wonder if we’ve moved beyond blatant sexism,
Natalie Egan has the answer: we haven’t.
Egan offers a unique perspective on the problem. As an
entrepreneur, she has founded, raised venture capital for, and headed successful companies, both as
a man and a woman. Born male, Egan transitioned to female in 2015. As a man, she says, she was
treated completely differently, often by the same people. For example, she went to buy a new car from
a dealership she had bought from several times as a man. She was expecting the same treatment she
had received while male, but the salesman over-explained as if she could not understand what he was
talking about, did not shake her hand, did not up-sell as he had before, and treated her with
disrespect.
It was the same when she tried to raise capital. Having secured $7 million to launch her first business,
Egan anticipated the same level of commitment to her new venture. People who had backed her first
company now “didn’t take me seriously at all,” she says. Of about 20 investors she contacted, many
because they had invested in her first company, only two agreed to invest after her transition. Egan
quickly became aware of “the incredible challenges that any marginalized person faces in an industry
that’s dominated by white men, investing in white men.” If this was the treatment she was receiving as
a white, Ivy-league educated, experienced entrepreneur with years of networked relationships to draw
upon, she wondered what women without those advantages must face.
Joseph Schneier experienced the other side of the same coin; he transitioned from female to male in
2016. A health-care and education tech entrepreneur, he had delivered a talk regarding why patients
behave in counter-productive ways, like skipping pills, dozens of times. Speaking as a woman, he had
received “polite but noncommittal” responses. As a man, he gave the exact same talk to a group of
investors and “they gave me a standing ovation.”
Egan now heads Translator, a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion company that uses technology to drive
its findings and guide its individually-tailored results for clients. She secured initial funding from friends,
“angel investors” in the LGBTQ+ community, and the two people who had invested in her first
company. Read more about Egan and her story here.
Transgender Day of Remembrance
Transgender Day of Remembrance, November 20, commemorates
all transgender people lost to violence and helps raise visibility of
the issues transgender people face daily. One way to participate is
to watch a film celebrating transgender persons’ lives and
experiences. Here are some recommended films and TV shows
featuring transgender characters:
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
This 1994 Australian movie is a cult classic with a 96% “certified
fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes. A road-trip comedy, the story is
also tender and thoughtful. The plot follows two drag queens and a
transgender woman who travel across the Outback from Sydney to
remote Alice Springs in a tour bus they’ve named “Priscilla” to
perform at a resort. A worldwide hit, the film received an Academy
Award for Best Costume Design and is renowned for its positive
portrayal of LGBTQ+ people and for helping introduce LGBTQ+
11/23/2021 The Lens - November 2021
https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/IAIOWA/bulletins/2fd0890 3/3
themes to mainstream audiences in a time when LGBTQ+ characters were scarce.
Paris is Burning
Released in 1990, this film inspires strong emotion: critic bell hooks famously panned it as turning the
Black drag ball scene into a “spectacle of entertainment” for voyeurs. However, the film was one of the
first to feature transgender characters on the big screen and introduced mainstream viewers to the
Manhattan Black and Latinx drag bell subculture of the 1970’s that continues today. A remake was
released in 2019.
Tokyo Godfathers
This animated Japanese film from 2003 follows Hana, a homeless bar performer, and two also-
homeless friends who shelter an abandoned baby on Christmas Eve. It treats Hana’s trans identity as
just one facet of her existence, while also acknowledging common issues—other characters often
dismiss or misgender her. The story portrays its cast of “drunks, runaways, criminals and assorted
layabouts” compassionately.
Tangerine
Shot entirely on an iPhone 5, Tangerine portrays the friendship of two Black, transgender sex workers
in Hollywood. Released from jail on Christmas Eve, Sin-dee hears her boyfriend and pimp has been
unfaithful. She and her friend Alexandra set off on a journey to find the other woman and confront the
cheating boyfriend.
Happy Birthday, Marsha!
Although only 13 minutes long, this short 2018 film paints a portrait of Marsha P. Johnson, the Black
transgender activist who was first to fight back against police at the Stonewall Inn, and offers “an
exquisite historical corrective” of the narrative surrounding Stonewall. The film features Mya Taylor,
who also starred in Tangerine.
Pose
Airing for three seasons before concluding in June 2021, this TV show depicts the New York City Black
and Latino drag ball culture of the late 1980s and 1990s. Characters both compete with and support
each other while dealing with issues of the time such as AIDS. Billy Porter became the first openly gay
Black man to win an Emmy in a lead acting category for his role in the show as Pray Tell, a fashion
designer, ball emcee, and mentor to community members. Porter won the award for Outstanding Lead
Actor in a Drama Series in 2019 and the show was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series the same
year.
Stay Connected to Equity and Human Rights News
Follow us on Instagram @ichumanrights
Subscribe to the Office of Equity and Human Rights
at icgov.org/subscribe. Thanks, and welcome!
Questions? Contact Us
STAY CONNECTED:
SUBSCRIBER SERVICES: Manage Preferences | Unsubscribe | Help
Powered by
Privacy Policy | Cookie Statement | Help