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Indigenous Solidarity

11/24/2020

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This Native American Heritage Month, it's time to destroy the harmful Thanksgiving myth. The common story that our white supremacist education system (at least in the US) teaches us is that the Pilgrims who came to Plymouth hosted a celebratory dinner alongside the Indigenous Mashpee Wampanoag peoples on Thanksgiving in 1621. However, the truth is that Thanksgiving marked a massacre of Indigenous people (specifically the Pequot community) and part of the beginning of the violent settler colonialism that is the foundation of today's United States (source: @dineaesthetics on Instagram).

​To properly honor this National Day of Mourning, there are some important things that non-Native people (everywhere, but especially in the US) should do. Below is a non-exhaustive list of resources and action items.

We Are Matching Donations!

One of the most substantial and concrete things that you should do if you have the means is to financially repay the Indigenous peoples whose land you stand on. This falls under the broader concept of land acknowledgement, a process in which you identify and acknowledge the tribes whose land you reside on and build authentically supportive relationships with those communities.

To that end, LingHacks has held physical events on Chochenyo, Ohlone, Ramaytush, and Tamyen land, and we are committing to match up to $1500 in donations to these communities as well as other Indigenous mutual aid funds. This amount is approximately equal to the venue fees we have paid to hold our events on these lands. To get your donation matched, make a donation to one of the organizations/funds below, and send your receipt to info@linghacks.tech. Make sure the receipt clearly indicates the name of the organization that you donated to. Below are the organizations that we will match donations for (thanks in part to Harvard's Institute of Politics and the American Library Association for some of these links):
  • Indigenous Mutual Aid
  • Any organization or fund in the Indigenous Mutual Aid directory
  • First Nations Development Institute COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund
  • NDN Collective COVID-19 Response Project
  • Flicker Fund
  • Seeding Sovereignty
  • Sogorea Te' Land Trust
  • Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund
  • Native American Rights Fund
  • National Indian Child Welfare Association
  • California Indian Legal Services
  • National Indigenous Women's Resource Center
  • Native American Food Sovereignty Alliance
  • Meskwaki Food Sovereignty Initiative
  • Navajo Water Project
  • Sovereign Bodies Institute
  • Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness
  • Piscataway Conoy Tribe
  • A mutual aid fund serving the tribes in your local community, subject to our discretion. Send us the name of the city/state/country you live in, the website of the tribe(s) whose land you live on, and the link to the mutual aid fund supporting the tribe(s) along with your receipt. Make sure the organization/fund is Native-led (i.e. no white-led "philanthropic" nonprofits) and explicitly supports Indigenous communities (we do encourage you to practice mutual aid in your general community, but we will be focusing on matching donations to Indigenous peoples at this time).
Though we will keep this match open until we reach the cap, we encourage you to make your donations within the next ~20 days, as many of these funds are emergency COVID-19 relief funds that Indigenous communities need quite urgently. With that being said, we do still encourage you to make these donations a recurring habit if able, as decolonization is a long-term effort, and these communities need long-term support.

If you run an organization (e.g. a hackathon, nonprofit, conference, club, etc), especially one that has held physical events, we encourage you to (1) run a similar donation match, (2) factor compensation for Indigenous lands into your venue fees going forward, and (3) use your social media platforms to amplify Indigenous creators, organizers, and mutual aid funds.

Other Ways to Help

We recognize that not everyone has the means to donate at this time. If you are not able to financially contribute right now (or even if you are), here are some other ways you can help Indigenous communities:
  • Amplify. Share this blog post and use your social media accounts to boost Native creators, organizers, and advocates. For example, follow @dineaesthetics, @ndncollective, @seedingsovereignty, and @indigenousaction on Instagram. To truly engage and support these creators, make sure to like, comment on, and reshare their posts as well.
  • Stay put for Thanksgiving. There is still a deadly pandemic raging through the US right now, and staying home saves lives.
  • Educate (yourself and others). Advocate for anti-racist education and Indigenous studies at your school, read from Native-owned news sources like the Navajo Times, research Native history (an example: the DC Native History Project), and read books/watch movies that center Native people. Check out our "Indigenous" story highlight for some starter educational resources.
That's all for this post. As always, please email us at info@linghacks.tech with questions, concerns, comments, suggestions, and/or corrections.
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Transgender Awareness

11/22/2020

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This past week was Transgender Awareness Week, and November 20th was Transgender Day of Remembrance. Transgender people have been systemically oppressed in the United States and abroad - from being killed by police at higher rates than cisgender people to being misgendered to not being legally protected (among many other forms of transphobia). Below are some resources that you can utilize to take action to fight for trans rights. Once again, we are posting this after the formal day and week for recognition have passed because trans rights cannot be reduced to a week per year. This year (and going forward), we are also paying particular attention to the intersections of marginalized identities by highlighting Black trans creators and resources serving Black trans people.

Everyday Actions to Be a Better Ally

  • Put your pronouns in your bio on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, GitHub, personal website, Canvas, Zoom, and any other online platform you use! Misgendering is violent to trans people, and as cis allies, we should display our gender pronouns in our bios so that trans people are not targeted for being the odd ones out. For example, the author of this post uses she/her/hers pronouns. In addition, be sure to spell out she/her/hers, he/him/his, they/them/theirs, etc instead of just saying "she series" or "he series." See this article for more on why you should do this. Note: this bullet point speaks specifically to cisgender people.
  • Ask for people's pronouns by offering yours first, and correct yourself and others quickly if you or someone else misgender another person. If someone corrects you, just say "thank you" - an apology centers yourself and puts the burden on the misgendered person to console you.
  • If you are an educator, ask for students' pronouns privately, and ask if you have consent to use these pronouns in front of the class, in front of the student's parents, and in front of other teachers/administrators.
  • Update your vocabulary. A non-exhaustive list (source: @pinkmantaray on Instagram): say transgender, not transgendered. Say trans man/trans woman with a space, not transman/transwoman. Say cis man/cis woman, not biological man/woman. Say nonbinary and use the singular they. Say transitioned, not "changed genders" or "became a _." Say assigned male/female at birth, not "born a girl/boy" or "used to be a girl/boy."
  • What not to do: make jokes about trans people or have (academic or other) debates about trans rights. Both of these are forms of transphobia because they legitimize the harmful notion that trans people do not deserve to live their full truths without being questioned or dehumanized.
  • What not to do: out a trans person to anyone without their permission. Transphobia is alive and well, and the last thing you want to do is to inadvertently tell someone's transphobic friends/family that they are trans.
  • What not to do: confuse gender with sexual orientation. Trans people can have the same sexual orientations as cis people - these two are not linked.
  • What not to do: ask a trans person about their body (e.g. how they use the bathroom, what genitals they have) if you are not their romantic or sexual partner. This is invasive - as a rule of thumb, think about whether you would ask a cis person such a question before you ask it to a trans person.

Books by Trans Authors

Instead of supporting the transphobic J.K. R*wling, reflect on how you probably didn't read many books that represented or centered trans people in school, and begin to change that with these books! Source: @theconsciouskid on Instagram.
  • When Aidan Became a Brother by Kyle Lukoff
  • Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
  • Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
  • Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas

Trans Creators to Support

Follow these awesome people on social media and support their work monetarily if you're able! As a standard disclaimer, this list is not exhaustive.
  • Li Benedetti (@libenedetti on Instagram)
  • Shay's Corner (@notsosecretlyshay on Instagram)
  • Munroe Bergdorf (@munroebergdorf on Instagram)
  • Cole J Daniel (@ltscole on Instagram)
  • Ashton Attzs (@attzs on Instagram)
  • Azekel (@queeraxtivist on Instagram)
  • Kenny Ethan Jones (@kennyethanjones on Instagram)
  • Indya Moore (@indyamoore on Instagram)
  • Alok Menon (@alokvmenon on Instagram)
  • Qween Andy Jean (@qween_jean on Instagram)
  • Charlie / Amayá (@dineaesthetics on Instagram)
  • ​Schuyler Bailar (@pinkmantaray on Instagram)
  • ​Chella Man (@chellaman on Instagram)

Trans Rights Organizations to Support

These organizations are doing critical work - from fighting for legal protection for trans people to providing mental health support to freeing trans people from prison to creating safe spaces in schools. Make recurring donations if able, and follow them on social media!
  • GLSEN: a nonprofit working to create safe and inclusive K-12 schools for LGBTQ youth (@glsen on Instagram)
  • Transgender Law Center: trans-led civil rights organization (@translawcenter on Instagram)
  • National Center for Transgender Equality: social justice advocacy organization for trans people (@transequalitynow on Instagram)
  • Trevor Project: crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth (@trevorproject on Instagram)
  • Human Rights Campaign: LGBTQ advocacy group (@humanrightscampaign on Instagram)
  • Black Trans Foundation: nonprofit organization working for the well-being of Black trans and gender-nonconforming people in the UK, currently gathering a therapy fund (@blacktransfoundation on Instagram)
  • Marsha P. Johnson Institute: defending Black trans people's lives and providing COVID-relief for Black trans people (@mpjinstitute on Instagram)
  • The Okra Project: home cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources for Black trans people (@theokraproject on Instagram)
That's all for this week. As always, please reach out at info@linghacks.tech with any corrections or additions to this post or others. Thanks for reading, and keep fighting!
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  • Home
  • Programs
    • Clubs
    • LingHacks III
    • Workshops
    • Chapters
  • Blog
  • Past Events
    • LingHacks II
    • LingHacks I
    • LingCon 2017