Ep. 11 - Chi DNA: Intersectionality, #NoCopAcademy, Activist Art, & Organizing the Newly Radicalized ft. Ruby Pinto

This is the second Chicago Drill and Activism (AKA "Chi DNA")
installment of Bourbon ’n BrownTown. Chi DNA is an ongoing
documentary and multimedia project, which also features
interviews, micro-documentaries, and editorial pieces on drill
rap and the activist resurgence in Chicago.


GUEST
Ruby Pinto, is an artist and activist based in Chicago. She’s a
member of For the People Artist Collective (FTP), a group that
integrates art and activism to amplify struggles and uplift
marginalized voices. She also makes jewelry out of copper and
other scrap metal, inspired by the cityscape and human ingenuity.
Ruby is a prison and police abolitionist, and is committed to
building alternatives to the current system to keep us safe so
that we no longer need to rely on the violent, exploitative
police state. FTP’s organizing work and art was pivotal in the
#ByeAnita campaign to unseat then-Cook County State’s Attorney
Anita Alvarez in 2016.


OVERVIEW
Fast forward two years after Alvarez's ousting, #NoCopAcademy, a
new youth-led coalition, has formed to fight back against the
City of Chicago’s plan to build a $95 million cop academy in West
Garfield Park. Apart from specific activist campaigns, Ruby and
BrownTown take a step back to analyze intersectionality within
organizing circles, online and offline “call out culture” and
everything in between. The gang discusses how systems of
oppression—racism, capitalism, sexism—intertsect to further a
legacy of white supremacy and ultimately make a Trump presidency
possible, rather than vice versa. Furthermore, Ruby and BrownTown
unpack the resistance to such systems in the #MeToo movement,
organizing for state funding of social services, and challenging
everyday white privilege. How do newly radicalized people get
involved in social movements without being ostracized for their
previous ignorance? How do we “call in” those who cause us and
our allies harm while remaining vulnerable to the blind spots in
our analyses? Here’s BrownTown's take.


CHI DNA
The Chicago Drill and Activism project explores the creation,
meaning, perspectives, and connections between drill rap and the
resurgence of grassroots activism since the early 2010s through
the eyes of the people involved. It focuses on contemporary
Chicago as an intentional place for the resurgence of these two
formations of cultural and political resistance during relatively
the same time period. It examines how authenticity, community,
and other important values to the subjects are impacted and
promoted via technology, social media, and a rejection of
traditional means of movement politics and corporate structures.
As told by activists and drill rappers alike, the project
situates the the subjects’ experiences and actions into a broader
theoretical and empirical history of systemic inequality and
resistance in Chicago. Follow the ongoing project at Chi-DNA.com
for more.


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Find Ruby’s jewelry on her Instagram, Facebook, or Etsy pages.


Follow her on Twitter and For the People Artist Collective on
Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.


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CREDITS: Intro/outro music by Fiendsh. Intro
soundbite from Ruby Pinto's speech at a December 2014
#DecarcerateCHI protest outside of the then-Cook County State’s
Attorney Anita Alvarez's office. Audio engineered by Genta
Tamashiro.


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