Week 2 Blog Response

Hello, this post was written by Albert. Social movements are incredibly powerful and often the most effective way for change to be made at scale. For marginalized communities, these changes are exceptionally pressing and important - art-making practices come into play in these situations as a form of expression to support such social movements. In fact, social movements often move individuals strong enough such that they pursue art-making to communicate their complex emotions and messages. In Alice Bag's Violence Girl, Bag recounts when she attended a Chicano social movement and discovered she did not previously realize that she was part of a minority group, but "felt good about being part of something as powerful as the Chicano Movement." (Bag 2). This moment in time would prove to be a turning point for Bag, who went on advocate for the feminist and Chicano movements through her artistic work. In Alice Bag's song "White Justice", Bag refers back to that monumental day where she saw action, was inspired by the Brown Berets, and joined a movement. She sings, "Blue skies, brown berets. This march feels like a parade...no one could stay away," where the video includes an inspiring image of the marchers (0:21 - 0:45). Such was the impact of Bag's first attendance at a social movement, where it influenced her music so many years later; social movements inspire and are intertwined with art-making, which can inspire social action, thus creating a cycle.