- Los Angeles Chicano art group ASCO, most active in the 1970s, has recently been getting renewed attention; an April pop-up even explored its impact on present-day Chicano artistry. But as Carolina Miranda writes in the LA Times, internal disputes about who gets to tell the collective’s story have cast a shadow over its revival:
To get to the root of the conflict, consider a single image from the mid-1970s: “Limitations Beyond My Control,” which shows Valdez striking a balletic pose in a downtown tunnel with dancer Billy Starr and which is currently on view in a permanent collection exhibition at the Hammer Museum. The photo first surfaced there in the 2017 show “Radical Women: Latin American Art: 1960-85,” after which the museum acquired it. It appears under Valdez’s name, which Gamboa says violates his copyright, since he is the owner of the image. Valdez counters that Asco members historically shared their imagery and that he is credited as photographer. “Mail art, business cards — there was never an issue,” she says, “because it’s our work.”
Moreover, Valdez notes that the piece is an archival poster from the ’70s that she previously exhibited under her name. Gamboa counters that it was not presented under her name alone. As a result of the conflict, the Hammer withdrew it from advertisements, although a large wall vinyl of “Limitations” still greets visitors to the show.
- Arlington National Cemetery just announced the removal of its Confederate memorial, and the trolls are already striking back. For the Nation, Erin L. Thompson writes about a lawsuit filed by a group of “Confederate heritage supporters” to “defend” the racist monument:
Showing that neo-Confederates have learned from protests in recent years, the lawsuit tries to co-opt rhetoric used by racial justice activists: We can’t tear down a monument that offers us a chance to “better understand the complex history of the United States,” can we? The response is that we have a surplus of object lessons about our complex history on view. A walk through D.C. neighborhoods, shaped by long histories of segregation, provides many such lessons. We are in no danger of forgetting when there are legacies much more difficult to change than a single monument.
- Though published in 2021, this guide by Denise-Marie Ordway outlines key components of Native tribal sovereignty with resources and further readings that are always relevant for journalists:
Although the concept might seem relatively straightforward, there has been considerable disagreement between Indigenous groups and American government agencies over what tribal sovereignty actually entails, its implications and how tribes and states can or should work together to serve their constituents.
States and tribes continue to battle over land and jurisdiction in areas such as law enforcement. Government officials still are trying to understand all the ramifications of last summer’s U.S. Supreme Court decision in the landmark tribal sovereignty case McGirt v. Oklahoma.
- After realizing that she’s one of many Asian-American women named after news anchor Connie Chung, journalist Connie Wang decided to do some research into this phenomenon for the New York Times:
The story of Generation Connie is a small slice of the story of Asian immigration to the United States, much of which is not unique to us. Changes to immigration law in 1965 brought a wave of ambitious and relatively fortunate families to this country who then had to find new footholds, often in majority-white communities. Their American-born children were all raised with the dreams, worries and aspirations that form out of profound culture shock.
But the names these parents gave their children represented so many different approaches to handling this shock: holding on, letting go, diving in, reaching out for a lifeline. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all the Connies I spoke to describe their mothers in similar terms: as leaders, brave, athletic, creative, successful, idealistic, capable. These moms were architects, editors and medical professionals, who’d often had to abandon their careers and reinvent themselves upon moving to a new country, who looked at the television and saw how things might be different for their daughters.
- Gillian Brockwell reported in the Washington Post that a Martin Luther King Jr. quote often cited to drive a wedge between him and Malcolm X was, in fact, completely fabricated by interviewer Alex Haley. Brockwell spoke with writer Jonathan Eig about how he figured it out and the consequences of this falsification:
Eig has shared his discovery with a number of King scholars, and the changes “jumped out” to them as “a real fraud,” he said. “They’re like, ‘Oh my God, I’ve been teaching that to my students for years,’ and now they have to rethink it,” Eig said.
One of these scholars is Peniel E. Joseph, director of the Center for Race and Democracy at the University of Texas at Austin and the author of a number of books about the civil rights and Black power movements. He told The Post he would change how he teaches now that Eig’s “terrific” research was “setting the historical record straight.”
Given Haley’s other scandals, “this is not really surprising or shocking, but it’s bad,” Joseph said.
“We know on other occasions King is talking about Malcolm X without mentioning him at all,” Joseph said. “In this specific case, we have more clarification about how certain media wanted to pit them against each other and use Dr. King as a cudgel against Malcolm.”
- Arielle Isack penned a lucid, moving essay in n+1 on attending a heavily policed vigil for Jordan Neely. A number of mourners were arrested by officers of the NYPD, who have yet to do the same to Neely’s killer:
The vigil took place at the end of the platform, between the station wall and a white support beam. Police had gathered behind and around the beam, keeping us penned into an area no more than thirty feet long. Commuters stepping out of F trains maneuvered expertly through our incipient crowd, eager not to be slowed down by what must have seemed like extraneous subway chaos. As more people arrived, the crowd shifted itself a few feet at a time to make room for whoever or whatever commanded the moment. There were no megaphones, no mics. Fifteen minutes in, the crowd had swollen almost to capacity, and in order to move around at all I found myself treading the beveled yellow platform edge, a part of the city my commitment to not being hate-crimed had prohibited me from approaching since January 2022. More and more officers were gathering behind the white beam—I counted at least twelve cops equipped with guns, handcuffs, and eyes that remained vacant except to focus every once in a while to produce sneers of superiority.
- How convenient! News outlets, you know who you are:
- Slay or nay, coronation edition:
- High-level sleuthing from TikToker @notkahnjunior, equal parts impressive and terrifying:
- As worries over AI continue bubbling up, a ray of hope for programmers everywhere shines through, courtesy of perennially indecisive clientele:
- Exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage of Banksy’s creative process:
- Thanos definitely read this week’s New York Times profile soft-launching Elizabeth Holmes’s new personality — but can he rock a turtle neck?
Required Reading is published every Thursday afternoon, and it is comprised of a short list of art-related links to long-form articles, videos, blog posts, or photo essays worth a second look.
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