Guest Column
by Stacey Milbern (a.k.a. "MissCripChick")
(pictured left)
Remember the huge media explosion that occurred last month over Jena 6, a racially-charged situation in Jena, Louisiana where nooses were hung at a high school and a black student was charged with murder by an all-white jury for getting into a fistfight with a white student? Almost 20,000 activists rallied in Jena, a town with approximately 3,000 citizens. Thousands more joined them in solidarity by holding walk-outs on college campuses, wearing black, and raising awareness about the ongoing, unspoken racism that plagues this country.
Many Americans have said that Jena 6 may be what "sparks" a revival in the civil rights movement. What people don't know is how the activism around Jena 6 actually began. Many credit popular hip-hop artists for jump-starting efforts around Jena, however, this is very inaccurate. Bloggers of color were the one who brought this story to the top. In fact bloggers of color had been intensively covering it four months before the story even hit CNN. [A blogger is someone who has a personal website that is formatted like a journal]. Nothing would have ever changed in Jena if it wasn't for these bloggers who spread word about Jena 6 like wildfire.
So, why is this relevant to the disability community? Transportation and financial accessibility [not having enough money to go somewhere] are often barriers for disabled people to participate in national, state, and local dialogues. With blogs, anyone with internet access can become an instant public commentator [someone who gives their opinion]. The blogosphere is also a community---having a blog is so much more than just putting your ideas on the internet. By serving as a way for people to have a voice in the community, blogs serve as a radical tool for activism, a forum [place to talk] for community discussion, and a method of recording our history and events.
Another barrier our community faces is that society likes to individualize us. If a crime happens to a disabled person, we are told to think "Oh, no worries… It's just a one-time deal." Think about Ashley X. Katie Thorpe. Ruben Navarro. The students at Judge Rotenberg Center. But like Radical Agitator says in her blog, "How many random cases do there have to be before they aren't random anymore? 15? 100? 200? 5,000? 1 million?" Blogs give us a way to record these stories. Blogs give us a way to talk about it with other people. Blogs give us a way to respond.
Blogs can even give us a way to mobilize. This past Labor Day, fellow activists and I held a "blogswarm" against the MDA telethon and the horrible images of disabled people they misuse. [A blog swarm is when a group of people write about one subject and it is highly publicized.] We had over 40 bloggers participate and received thousands of visitors. Visitors ranged from people also against the telethon, Jerry Lewis lovers (the host), and people who compared us to PETA.
I started a blog at the end of August and it receives an average of 150 visitors a day. My blog friends range from fellow disabled people, feminists, radical women of color, and queer/glbt people. As the world becomes more interdependent [everyone needing each other] and communities begin discussing disability issues more and more, it's important that our voice is heard. Blogging does take a good degree of commitment (and access to the Internet, which is still an issue for our community), but next time you are able to get a live feed from an ADAPT action or hear of a story that first broke out online (like Ashley X), I hope you will consider starting your own blog. The blogworld needs you!
MissCripChick lives in Fayetteville, North Carolina and is interested in radical disability pride and community-building. You can find her blog at: www.crip-power.com.
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