Week 2 Blog Response - Emily Eckey

The numerous interconnections between social movements and art-making practices can be demonstrated by both Maylei Blackwell’s Chicana Power about how Chicanas organized the Chicano Movement, and Alice Bag’s writing, song lyrics, and music video visuals. Alice Bag describes her experience of the movement in the chapter “Chicano Power” in Violence Girl: East L.A. Rage to Hollywood Stage, a Chicana Punk Story and gives background context to her lyrics in “White Justice'' through discussing prominent events in her childhood. In this chapter, Alice Bag writes, “I will never forget that day, August 29, 1970, for two reasons: One was that I had never before realized that I was part of a minority group, and felt good about being part of something as powerful as the Chicano Movement; the other was the understanding that this group had enemies who weren’t afraid to throw bottles at or shoot us” (Bag 70). This claim stood out to me because it reveals the experiences and realizations that shaped Alice Bag. It helps us to understand the meaning behind her lyrics in “White Justice'' and the greater institutional violence that influences her community. In the “White Justice'' music video, clips of original footage captured on August 29, 1970 by a film student, further allows the viewer to process the event and lyrics. Her lyrics reference this historical event and the struggle today describing, “Gray smoke in '70 / I still choke when I stop to think / Our struggle then was here at home / And it's still going on'' (Bag 2:25). These lyrics convey her response to the constant violence against her community and her connection to the continuous struggle within the Chicano Movement. These art-making practices of lyrics and visuals express the link to social movement efforts.