“Movin’ forward
Pressing onward, strivin’ further
Keep on laughin’
Keep on livin’, keep on lovin’, yeah
Keep on dreamin’
Keep on achievin’, keep on believin’
I keep smilin’ when I come through
And I cry when I need to”
-Jill Scott1
It’s 2022! It has been over a year since the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests (once again, specifying BLM of 2020 because the movement’s message spans way before it hit the mainstream media). In 2020 we saw countless outdoor companies and nonprofits coming forward with statements of solidarity: a random, out of touch promise based on the lack of Black people in these companies. Scroll down on their social media page to see smiling white faces or gear in white hands. The disconnect between the reality they portray and the message they amplified that year was obvious.
How have these companies and nonprofits been amplifying this message years after 2020? Let’s zoom in on a particular entity called No Man’s Land Film Festival (NMLFF) and explore this question…
Read/listen to the rest of this journey on my Substack
A special thanks to Kareemah Batts for resources and guidance.
Works Cited
- “I Keep.” YouTube, uploaded by Jill Scott, 31 Jul 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9RfOuYXgKw
- “Regarding Hip Hop Gone Wild.” http://nomanslandfilmfestival.org/blog/hip-hop-gone-wild, 28 Jan 2022
- “Regarding Hip Hop Gone Wild.” http://nomanslandfilmfestival.org/blog/hip-hop-gone-wild, 28 Jan 2022
- H., CrystalRose. “Hip Hop in Climbing: Part IV.” https://rockrose.blog/2021/04/30/hip-hop-in-climbing-part-iv/, 28 Jan 2022
- “Welcome to No Man’s Land.” http://nomanslandfilmfestival.org/about-home, 28 Jan 2022
- “So You Made a Film About a Woman.” 28 Jan 2022 http://nomanslandfilmfestival.org/filmmakers, 28 Jan 2022
- “So You Made a Film About a Woman.” 28 Jan 2022 http://nomanslandfilmfestival.org/filmmakers, 28 Jan 2022
- “The difference between D/deaf, hard of hearing and hearing-impaired.” https://www.connecthear.org/post/the-difference-between-d-deaf-hard-of-hearing-and-hearing-impaired, 30 Jan 2022
- “A new kind of physical therapy-rock climbing for people with disabilities.” https://www.kareemahbatts.com/videos/a-new-kind-of-physical-therapy-rock-climbing-for-people-with-disabilities, 2 March 2022.
- “Out on a Limb.” http://www.vasusojitra.com/projects/out-on-a-limb, 2 March 2022
- “A Grand Persuit.” https://reelabilities.org/film/a-grand-pursuit/, 2 March 2022
- “FWD-Doc: Documentary Filmmakers With Disabilities.” https://www.fwd-doc.org/, 15 Feb 2022
- “About Us.” https://reelabilities.org/about-us/, 15 February 2022
- “Directory.” https://reelabilities.org/film-directory/, 15 February 2022
- “FWD-Doc: Empowering Filmmakers with Disabilities.” https://www.documentary.org/feature/fwd-doc-empowering-filmmakers-disabilities, 10 February 2022
