ATTENTION!

The Battle for Whiteclay is a documentary film project created to call attention to a tragic situation. The film, appropriately described by Indian activist Frank Lamere, “chronicles a painful odyssey that should give pause to the caring, the oblivious, and those who don’t give a damn.”

It doesn’t take long to drive through Whiteclay. In a blink of an eye, you pass four liquor stores in a town with a population of 14. Then it’s down a two-mile stretch of road to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Hot sun and blue sky overhead. Slow, stale misery on the ground. You get a sense for the centuries of exploitation and abuse. And knowing what’s at work in the community, there really is no way to go there and not be moved to act in some way.

On Saturday, June 11, 2005, at Noon there was a march from the Reservation in South Dakota to Whiteclay, Nebraska to demand that illegal sales of alcohol to Indians be stopped. Some 11,000 cans of beer are consumed every day. There’s crippling poverty. An epidemic of alcohol abuse. On the reservation the unemployment rate is 75% and average life expectancy for men is 48 and 52 for women. It’s been a decade long struggle for justice on the streets of Whiteclay to the halls of Nebraska’s State Capitol. The point of the march was to increase awareness of the situation and, hopefully, begin ending such a bold illegality.

The People March

Known as “skid row on the prairie”, Whiteclay continues to be a source of much sadness. The liquor establishments sell their beer.The law is left with too few resources to be enforced. And the people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are forgotten. It’s contemporary conflict pitting American Indian rights against state and local governments in the United States.

DVD Packaging

Activist and filmmaker Mark Vasina completed the documentary in 2008 and began screening it around the state of Nebraska. It’s been a very effective tool helping tell this complicated, often misunderstood issue. It’s really a whirlwind of a situation. There’s protests and marches both in Whiteclay and in the state capital of Lincoln. There’s hearings and testimony. News reports, editorials and opinions. At times, the basic facts can get overlooked. Realizing that four stores in the tiny village sell about four million cans of beer a year to a clientele who has no legal place to drink the beer tells you just about all you need to know.

Images from the struggle | A cycle of despair

I became involved with the project around the time I saw the James Victore video made by Hillman Curtis. The social-political “stuff” was more and more the type of work I was drawn to. It sucked me in like no other visual work could. It was persuasion and, as I saw it, extremely important content. It was message with meaning. It was design that gave a damn. It was graphic design behaving as it should, performing the function of the “big fucking club with spikes”. You can draw a line from Victore’s Columbus Day poster aimed at correcting the legacy of a history of genocide directly to the aesthetic driving the work here.

Working with community organizers and political activists, the visuals were meant to be harsh with ruthless urgency, because that’s what the situation called for. Steeped in local politics, working for justice in a conservative red state, with a long history of nothing happening. The mediums were activist in nature, but the message was one of practicality. I remember one exchange very well. One of the main organizers said to me, “hell, we can’t have a sign that reads ‘you’ve taken our land now you’re taking our lives.’ It’s just not practical. And it turns most people off right away. But ‘bring law enforcement to Whiteclay,’ someone sees that flipping through the newspaper on a Sunday morning, and they’re more likely to say, ‘well why the hell not.’” At least that’s how we saw things happening.

Stop Alcohol Sales in Whiteclay

For myself, the project has always been about taking on a wrong and trying to get people to help make it right. It’s not an overnight endeavor. It’s slow, arduous politics. The grit of the campaign takes the gravel of that two-mile stretch of road and gives it some kind of context. But once that context is established, nothing will change without a sustained effort. It is poison that’s being sold up there, and it’s crippling an entire population in the name of “it’s just business.” We tend to put emphasis on the economic over the social in America, and you can see that play out in Whiteclay.

A simple WordPress blog keeping people up-to-date on the situation

On the road: the film has been shown in Denver, New York, Iowa, South Dakota and across Nebraska

When there is an injustice, how the facts are communicated matter. How people perceive the situation is crucial. The messages we confront every day through various forms of media tell us where to shop and what to buy, but also what we choose to care about at every level; personal, professional, institutional and governmental. Our world view is shaped and reinforced by the messages we encounter day in and day out. The swirling mass of information and entertainment, opinion and fact, that exists in our culture didn’t just happen. It was all designed to one degree or another. Design as activism sits right in the middle of everything else that’s made to influence people, trying to motivate the caring, turn on the oblivious and battle those who just don’t give a damn.

There are many reasons the situation is as bad as it is in Whiteclay. But one remains clear: an injustice is allowed to go on because not enough people are paying attention. And not enough people have been moved to act, yet.

– Justin Kemerling, Designer. justinkemerling.com

Court Rejects Same-Sex Marriage Ban in California

SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge in San Francisco struck down California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage on Wednesday, handing a temporary victory to gay rights advocates in a legal battle that seems all but certain to be settled by the Supreme Court.

Fight the Fremont Law! Bright Eyes, Desaparecidos, Cursive, Lullaby for the Working Class and more will perform at an ACLU Benefit Concert in Omaha, Nebraska. On Saturday July 31st people will gather together to fight for equality. The show benefits ACLU Nebraska.

At the intersection of art and politics in an effort to make change: “This way of thinking and legislating is so dangerous, and such a threat to our basic ideals as Americans and humans, that we cannot stand by and do nothing. We cannot play on as if nothing is wrong.“

Always one to recognize the importance of not remaining neutral on a moving train, Conor Oberst is also part of the The Sound Strike, an artists call to boycott Arizona. You can read his thoughts in an open letter on the Arizona law and watch the video below.

This is about a just and humane immigration system. This is about holding true to the idea of America. In Nebraska this about “the Good Life” for everybody. And it’s about beautiful music performed to galvanize a movement for equality to make all of this possible.

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by DAILY DUJOUR

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by DAILY DUJOUR

Manifest Equality. In Los Angeles. March 2010. The event wrapped up on the 7th. I didn’t make it out to the gallery but found some great photos of the event by NOTCOT and DAILY DUJOUR. As a visual spectacle, it was a powerful statement for equality in America. It was our culture creating momentum for change. And the work to make our place we call home a little more equal and just, goes on. 

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by NOTCOT

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by NOTCOT

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by NOTCOT

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by NOTCOT

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by NOTCOT

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by NOTCOT

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by DAILY DUJOUR

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by DAILY DUJOUR

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by DAILY DUJOUR

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by DAILY DUJOUR

Manifest Equality Gallery: Photo by NOTCOT

“We are gay and straight together, we are fighting for LGBT equality – but we stand as part of a broader, deeper, larger struggle across this planet…for all of us.” -Cleve Jones, human rights activist

See more gallery photos by NOTCOT and DAILY DUJOUR.

One Half

I’m in the process of making my piece for the Manifest Equality gallery in LA coming up this March. I answered these questions for the “meet the artist” blog on their site:

Why have you chosen to participate in Manifest Equality?

Being part of the push for a better, more equal place to live with such an inspiring group of culture creators is one of those things you just have to do.

Manifest Equality? Yes, of course. I’m in.

Describe a bit about your submission to the gallery or the creative process you are putting into it.

I’d say the artwork is bold and light-hearted. It’s called “HALFSIES or Dear Lovers Keep Loving”. At the most basic level, two halves make a whole, no matter what. So just keep lovin’. The art and design work I do always simplifies, is rather direct, and looks at the use of the piece. In this case, my wife and I have 2 other pieces I made hanging above our bed that say “always love.” She said to me the other day, that I’m her half. I totally love that. When it’s about love, that’s how it is. All else collides in a mishmash of politics, religion, prejudice, stereotypes, taboos, and whatever else is used to callously deny the expression of love between people. The process I went through ended on wanting to assure all of us that the issue is so simple we’ll get it sorted out. Until then, just keep loving each other.

Also, I like big type.

What else would you like to manifest?

Things that America doesn’t like to talk about. A couple of examples: A Department of Peace, a humane immigration system, and economic justice. Really, I see the momentum building from Manifest Hope to Manifest Equality as only the beginning. What this can be is a movement of culture creation so powerful it continues to break down walls and helps make the dream of a more fair and just society for ALL increasingly inevitable.

A diverse array of hundreds of the nation’s most talented visual artists under one roof to celebrate that role and join with our gay (LGBT) friends, family members and co-workers to demand full and equal rights for all Americans.

We believe in FULL & EQUAL RIGHTS for ALL Americans with no exceptions.

Art plays a pivotal role in creating cultural momentum, and this is your chance to get involved. 

HERE: ManifestEquality.com