The Cove

Aichan, a friend from taiko, lent me the DVD for this film. It was kind of out of nowhere, and I had never heard of the film before she mentioned it. I approached it with some caution, but without much consideration.

As a very basic synopsis, a group of oceanic preservation activists discover that a fishing village in Japan called Taiji is killing over 20,000 dolphins a year. Some are sold to the multi-billion dollar "Sea World"-type industry, and the rest are slaughtered for meat. A particular group of activists actually breached the high security "Cove" where dolphins are grouped together, trapped, and killed, got it all on HD film, and created this movie with the purpose of stopping this cruel and gratuitous act.

So I thought, alright, a "save the dolphins!" kind of a movie. Big deal. I mean, sure, Hayden Panettiere took on this cause some months back and nobody took her OR the cause seriously then either. It just sounded like a whole bunch of ocean hippies trying to save the "intelligent beings" that are dolphins, because they're cute and happy and blah blah blah.

But I watched the film and I was, I have to say, completely overcome and shocked at the issue itself. There's a lot of cover-up by the Japanese government, the fishermen (and politicians!) who are making millions off of these dolphins couldn't be any shadier, and the whole situation is absolutely ridiculous. Basically Taiji fishermen are the bad guys, and even the folks in neighboring Tokyo have no idea that dolphins are being sold or killed. To make matters worse, dolphin meat is being slipped into "whale meat" packaging and people are unknowingly consuming the mercury-filled, toxic product.

After a day of thought, this film became blog-worthy because there's so much to think about. Too much to cover completely -- you'll have to see for yourself -- but I'm going to take a shot at a few points.

First off, the color lens. At first look, this totally looks like White ocean preservation activists vs. Japanese fishermen. It's totally a West vs. East thing, because the group that is trying to stop the dolphin killing is entirely comprised of white scientists, divers, surfers, technicians and so on. And of course, they're taking on the folks of Taiji who are trying to stop intruders from entering their village.

But okay, that's only at first look. The film could have included some people of color sure, to speak for their cause, but it also did a good job of making sure the issue at hand stood out more than the issue of race (at least for me; I would concede that this is an arguable point). So it didn't become a "all Japanese are bad" kind of thing, but rather, the fishermen who are committing this crime and the higher-ups who are condoning this action are to blame. This category is always complicated, so I won't go any further into that.

Secondly, there is a cultural issue at hand here. The Cove also mentions that the Japanese have become increasingly resistant to the West trying to tell them what to do -- it all started with the prohibition of whaling back in 1986, and Japan was very unhappy when they had to stop killing whales. Dolphins have now taken their place, and Japan doesn't want to listen to anyone about that either. If things went their way, Japan would be able to continue whaling, but almost just because they're being told by other countries, namely the West, that they can't do it anymore. It's this "Empire" state of mind, and not the Jay-Z kind. The Empire of Japan and its indignant attitude is misplaced on this particular issue, and dolphins are needlessly being killed off for it. Just a casualty, if you will, of that complicated facet of Japanese culture.

Thirdly, more bureaucratic bullshit from the International Whaling Committee, which gathers representatives from all over the world and is supposed to hold countries accountable for this kind of a thing. Of course, Japan representatives are trying to justify their dolphin slaughtering practices with faulty scientific evidence about fish preservation, but it's obvious that fish are disappearing from the oceans because of people, not because of an overabundance of dolphins. And then all the rest of the representatives do is sit around in a large conference room and talk about how Japan is wrong, but nobody really does anything about ANYTHING. To make matters worse, Japan pays off other, poorer countries, like Laos, Cambodia, and Dominica, to support their cause on the Committee, making it difficult for the rest of the committee to pressure Japan to stop their practices.

Every rich, developed country has its dirty secrets. Just one more exposed in this film.

With the Academy Award nomination, I hope this film gets the kind of coverage it deserves. I also hope that more younger generation Japanese are able to jump on this cause. I never thought I'd be writing about an issue like this, but I think this film is done so well that it needs to be put out there.

Go rent the DVD and see if for yourself. Then visit the website here for more information.

I wouldn't have taken the time to blog about this if I didn't think it worthy. Hope I can convince folks to just take a look. The footage is incredibly disturbing and, as Aichan said, "brutal," but I think it's a must see. With any issue, awareness is a first step. So this is my first action. We'll see where it goes from there.

Can't Let You Go, Even If I Die

Okay. Now I'm in love.

Ruth Wilson Gilmore

When the capacities resulting from purposeful action are combined toward ends greater than mission statements or other provisional limits, powerful alignments begin to shake the ground. In other words, movement happens.

-- Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Golden Gulag

I am so proud of myself for finally finishing the book. I had bought this (and blogged about it) MONTHS ago, but only this week had the time to dedicate to complete it. Totally worth it. I now have a better understanding of the rise of prisons in California, and the movements to stop the "cages" and dehumanization of poor people of color.

I also just bought Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals so that was good incentive to get through this one before starting that one.

Started to look for job possibilities in the nonprofit sector yesterday, and although there are definitely options in LA, trying to find the right fit is the key. When it comes down to it, of course I'm not going to be picky, but something part-time will do, since summertime will be dedicated to LSATs and applications.

Reading GG made me recall though, that these folks organize because they have to. These are issues and happenings that directly affect them and their communities - it's action out of necessity. Gilmore sums it up perfectly:

Most of those fighting in the trenches have little time for activism motivated solely by abstract political or ethical rhetoric. Rather, they are fighting for their lives, their families, and their communities. The remedy for cumulative negative impacts must be bigger and more compelling than a simple technocratic fix. A principled sense of mortal urgency gets grassroots activists to go to meetings, makes them board buses, and inspires hope.

So who am I, with my privileged, activist self? What do I have to fight for in my own community? To be honest, I can't think of much. My issues with the Japanese American community stem from a lack of connection in general; for a long time I've felt like I've had trouble relating, whether it's because of generational or life experiential differences.

Instead I've found my calling with other communities in need of other types of help, but it can often be difficult to truly be a part of those efforts because I am not directly affected by some of the grievances being addressed.

In any case, there will always be a million questions about the world, society, and the world of grassroots activism and organizing. Speaking of my shero, I guess it really will be nice to be in LA and talk to those who give me the inspiration to continue.

Bittersweet though, leaving Hawaii, and I can't believe how much time has passed. But I know what needs to be done, and I have to admit, am excited for the possibilities of the next chapter the year will bring.

On to Alinsky!

Helpful.

"As an organizer I start from where the world is, as it as, not as I would like it to be. That we accept the world as it is does not in any sense weaken our desire to change it into what we believe it should be--it is necessary to begin where the world is if we are going to change it to what we think it should be. That means working in the system." Alinsky, Saul D. Rules for Radicals

Thanks to Alex for the reads. Quote from here

whoa whoa whoa, say what?

Armed with my secret weapon to go into law school and kick ass, or so I thought.

Reading something that will remain unnamed, and I have to admit, I'm not even in law school and I'm already caught up in the need for prestige, for high pay, for status.

All of the things that my personal politics have been resisting for years now.

It's a bad idea to tell everyone you want to go to law school. Right now it's more like, "I've thought about it, but I haven't decided yet." But of course the ones who want to hear it as a final decision (mom and dad and andy) will tell everyone you're law school bound and they can't wait until you've become a prestigious lawyer at a great law firm.

Whatever that means.

All of my just and socially conscious reasons for wanting to entering the field of Law have just been stomped on. Directly and explicitly, by this source.

And okay, I won't and shouldn't take it THAT seriously, because there are great attorneys out there doing great work. If I do well in law school, then sure, I'll have options, but maybe that won't be as necessary because the law school student demand for entering Public Interest Law is so low. To quote the book, "This usually involves working for a non-profit corporation, at relatively low pay. In general, it doesn't get much respect...because of the low pay. Usually, those who graduated at the top of the class don't bother to apply for such jobs."

That, and on the part about the types of law to enter, of course PIL has the shortest description at a whopping 1/5 of a page paragraph. What a stressful read.

I understand my impending dilemma a little more clearly now. So what to do?

Hell if I know.

Frankly, my confidence is a little shaken, in entering law school, but at the same time, maybe having read this secret weapon is exactly what I need to be able to succeed where necessary.

Deep down, I'm conflicted, sure, but I think I really need to do this. For myself now, first and foremost.

Let's just hope the year and a half or so I have before law school presumably starts will be just what I need to survive - academically, socially, mentally, politically, and spiritually.

I have a headache and now it is definitely time for bed. (Oh yeah, and happy new year to you, bloggy blog)

THE SYSTEM? WORKING!? no way....

This happened about a week before I flew back home to LA, but it was probably the best moment in my whole year of working for Hawaii Human Development Corporation. Yes...it's a nonprofit, and it has the word "corporation" in its name.

But that's besides the point.

So HHDC is the nonprofit that employs me to work with the kids out at the Hawaii Youth Correctional Facility, or HYCF. Up to that day a week ago it was an interesting job to say the least, and it gave me some insights on the issues that lower income Hawaii youth face. The rampant drug problems on multiple islands, namely Big Island and Maui, particularly in the way of weed and more seriously, ice (aka meth); the robberies, burglaries, car hijackings, battery, and sometimes the occasional sexual assault or murder. This job gave me the last push I needed to really decide that I want to go to law school. Yes, to tackle community issues, but most of all to help kids like this who were thought to "never stand a chance" in regular society. Because when they make those same mistakes after they turn 18, it's longer, harder, and more dangerous time in the adult prisons. Once they end up there, it's considered the end.

Only to be truthful, the job that I do -- teaching the kids job readiness when they're getting ready to reemerge into the real world -- is not that serious, and awfully short-sighted. Ideally, we would stay in close contact with the kids we work with to make sure that they're able to acquire and maintain a job that will help them start a living, and stay out of trouble. But really what happens is that we rush through the curriculum, make sure they know the basics, and eject them from HHDC altogether. Well, not really "eject." But really, we lose touch. And so I decided this whole prison system thing, it doesn't really work. It's just BS.

Anyway. I work mostly with boys of high school age. I have also worked with the girls, mostly because my supervisor, a male, doesn't feel comfortable working closely with some of the female residents so I take care of all of them. I hear stories here and there about these kids' lives, how they ended up there, how things are, etc. etc. But I didnt realize til a week ago how little we really knew some of them.

To get to the point, I happened to have to drive out to the prison on my own one day, without my supervisor because he was occupied with other work. So I met with a new client, a 17 year old boy who is expecting to be released in February. I don't know why or how, but we got along wonderfully.

And because we did, somehow he felt it was safe to talk to me about what he had been through in not just prison, but his life before being in the facility. He was a repeat offender - many of the kids are - meaning that he's been in and out of the facility for the past 3-5 years or so. Yes, he started early.

Now, we always try to create a safe space for the kids, to make them see that we are really on their side, but for some reason or another I've never had this kind of a connection or conversation with any other boy or girl.

This boy had come across a lot of different epiphanies and revelations about his life, and how he was determined, but nervous, to be out and on his own. It's the anticipation of gaining freedom, but with it comes the realization that he could make another mistake, and it'd be over. Off to adult prison and never heard from again.

He was motivated, having survived the experience of youth prison, to stay goal oriented and not "do anything stupid." (His words, not mine) He was regretful of his actions but at the same time, so incredibly grateful for having been given a second chance. The youth facility was his second chance.

But the biggest question I had for him was: did the system work? Do you think the youth prison system works to help kids change their lives around? Because so many others had failed and are either making those same mistakes now, or are already doing time for it as adults.

What he told me might sound cliched to some, but coming from someone his age, it was profound.

Every kid has the choice to turn his life around, and time in the youth facility gives him that chance. It's like a hotel resort compared to adult prison. It's all about whether he takes responsibility for his actions, and if he does, that's it, it's easy to make decisions from there to start over and stop that kind of life. Everybody has that chance.

He had tried talking some sense into his peers, but to no avail. I told him it's because they haven't come as far as he had, thinking about his actions and his experiences and finding a way to turn it around into something positive for himself.

Anyhow. It's difficult to relay here in words but I was blown away.

There's no way for me to understand any of what he went through, but it just made me want to be a part of the whole thing - this kind of work. But of course, on another, more involved, level. I shared with him my ambitions toward lawyer-dom, and he said, I hope that you continue to help kids like me.

After that talk, that was it, that was enough! Planet Law, here I come.

As for the system, I still don't think it "works," but folks like him make the rest of us think there's a chance to change things for the better.

Late night rantings

It's almost 2 am and I should be sleeping because I have to get up for some early last-minute holiday shopping but...it's been a while and I think this has been in the works (in my head) for a while.

Lots of talk about Avatar and how great the movie is, mostly for its graphics and so on and so forth. But then with every so-called "great" movie comes the blogger articles about how really "racially" or "socially" groundbreaking certain plots or stories are in the media and Hollywood today. And of course, fancying myself a Progressive activist (although I'm in a sort of hibernation at the moment), I am subscribed to many of these blogs and read many of these articles or are linked by other friends.

Lately I've felt like reading those articles can be a great thing, sure -- it provides a radical perspective on the type of movie white people and the ignorants or otherwise unassuming public would take at face value and love -- but where do we draw the line when it starts to shade everything in such a negative light?

I've heard recently and all throughout the past few years, complaints about folks who enter the Progressive sphere, whether through undergrad, grad, the nonprofit sector, or whatever other outlets there are, and end up jaded and, let's face it, no longer fun to hang out with. I've experienced this once or twice with folks I don't care to name, and with the new assault of articles about why society STILL sucks, I kind of wonder when being a "progressive" just means you hate life. And white people.

Other movies that fall into this Avatar category, just to name a few, are District 9, the Blind Side, the Last Samurai, and essentially any other movie where a leading protagonist (white, of course) is involved somehow in protecting people of color and ending up the hero. The white guilt movies. Okay, I get it. And I totally agree that movies these days are really not all that great in challenging racial stereotypes or making any sort of huge statement about how much colonization sucks. Like, stop starring the white people already, we don't need them to save us. Even Disney's The Princess and the Frog is called totally wrong for it's altogether stereotypical portrayal of the black community. But frankly, all that is tiresome. Calling out every single movie or what have you on it's non-progressiveness just gets to be too much already. As if Progressivism is now all about shooting down every single thing that becomes popular and calling it out because from a social justice standpoint it totally blows. (Except, to be real, I really loved the Last Samurai. I didn't think it was all about Tom Cruise's character at all. So I disagree with criticisms regarding that movie, probably because I can appreciate the Japanese history that served as the inspiration for that story.)

And yet, of course I don't believe in "taking things are they are" either. It pisses me off when people say "it was just a movie, have fun with it," or "it's no big deal, calm down." It all still is what it is - a movie that status quo critics would call "amazing" and "poignant" because it's about race relation or gender or sexuality issues that we've all known about for years already. So can't there be some balance between the two?

How do we think about these things constructively? In a way where it feels like something can be done about it, or there's some effective way to make a change?

And yep, I completely and absolutely understand that the dialoguing and the discourse can be the first step. Putting it out there for folks the reasons why this or that thing is not correct or as politically earth shattering as some might think is a great thing to do. I'm just talking about when your interactions with these outlets - whether via internet, publications, or interpersonal relations - meld into one giant ball of pessimism about the world. And of course there are groups and great people taking steps to do the kind of work that may one day change the face of Hollywood when it comes to this type of thing. Or maybe not.

But the point is, how do we keep thinking about things and carrying out actions in a way that will help us fix the problem? Find a solution?

I of course don't have an answer to that yet, but I'm determined not to fall into this trap of becoming "jaded." Because thinking about it now, when folks call themselves "jaded," it's almost this lame excuse to then proceed to complain about every aspect of society that sucks. Complain, and then do jack shit about it. Ya dig?

Anyway. Glad my peers and the folks I hang out with aren't like this (so don't think it's about you because it isn't) but I think it's something to think about and consider. I think I went through a quick little "oh I'm so jaded and I hate being Progressive" whine session, a few posts ago, but snap back to reality and that's just what it is. A trap and an excuse.

A real thoughtful post was way overdue anyway, but I think I just had to let the right emotion build up before churning out anything useful. Ahh. Sleeptime foreal. So on a happier note:

Happy Holidays to the world!