News & Events
DVSV Training Announcement
[description and transcript in youtube]
If you are traveling from out of town, we recommend flying into the Oakland Airport and staying at the Downtown Oakland Courtyard Marriott hotel. It is near public transportation and only a short driving distance to our office. Click here for their website.
Dare to Utter Call for Actors!
[transcript on youtube link]
Dare to Utter Call for Stories
Leala Holcomb, Dare to Utter Producer and Aracelia Aguilar, DeafHope’s Empowerment Director explains how survivors of domestic and sexual violence can share their stories to be part of Dare to Utter.
Transcript in YouTube Link.
Glimmer of Hope 2015 VIP Waiter Winners!
Tara Holcomb and Brian Berry-Berlinski announce which VIP Waiters collected the most tips at Glimmer of Hope 2015!
[description and transcript in YouTube]
DeafHope’s Aracelia Aguilar at Bay Area Day of Mourning
[image: Aracelia Aguilar, DeafHope’s Empowerment Director, a Latina with dark hair pulled back in a ponytail wearing a black shirt and jeans, standing on a stage signing]
DeafHope was invited to the National Day of Mourning vigil to honor the disabled people murdered. Aracelia went and presented on the behalf of DeafHope about how Domestic/Sexual Violence Survivors also suffer abuse by hearing privilege by the abuser and from the system. The main problem is getting access to communication with agencies when reporting their experience. Police would ask a family member or the batterer to interpret for the Survivor. Abusers with hearing privilege gain power that way and manipulate survivors. Survivors often deal with the police, courts, hospitals, shelters fighting for access rather than focusing on healing themselves. Aracelia explained the concept of Community Accountability and how we have to protect our community by having healthy dialogues and go through an unlayering process and own our actions. We are approaching transformative justice which allows the perpetrator to have their space to own up to their abusive behavior and change for the better. We know that the system is not reliable when seeking justice so we invite all communities to join together to end violence and oppression amongst us.
Parking for Glimmer of Hope
Thank you for coming to Glimmer of Hope and supporting services to Deaf survivors! We COULD NOT do this work without you!
We are looking forward to enjoying our evening together this Saturday. You may park at the City Center West Garage, located directly across the street from Preservation Park (click for a link to google maps):
1239 Jefferson Street
Oakland, CA
When you enter the garage, you will be given a token. It is important to save this token, it is required to leave the garage. You will not have to pay anything unless you lose the token!
Please email us if you have any questions deafhope@deaf-hope.org. Again thank you for coming to Glimmer of Hope!
Rossana Reis Poem Accepted for 29th Solo Mujeres Show
We are thrilled to recognize our former intern and advocate Rossana Reis for her poetry being accepted in the 29th Solo Mujeres Show, “Intersectionality,” at the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts Gallery @ 2868 Mission Street, 2nd Floor in San Francisco. Opening reception March 26th-May 2nd. For more of Rossana Reis’ work, go to www.rossanareis.com.
What It’s Like to Be Me: DeafBlind Disabled Queer Latina
Ping ponging between moving chatters
Gestures, gists, do I really matter
Protactile, captions, transcripts are grand
My whole consciousness and vision expand
A cobra, canary, cougar or cow
Making guesses out of cumulus clouds
Unless I am given a useful clue
Not sure what value and respect it’s due
Image, video descriptions solve codes
Synapses fire, messages uploads
A restful night of sleep is a blessing
Awake with aches, I will not be dressing
Overwhelmed, sometimes to myself, I’m unkind
My muscles reeling behind my ambitious mind
Smiling, laughing, sun shining on my soul
Depth and meaning, I crave to fill my hole
Misread assumptions based on preconceived notions
Presuming I’ve not yet chosen or been chosen
I breathe, share space with much love and delight
Queer is a way of being, a birthright
During family festas, I feel unease
I studied English, Spanish, and Portuguese
Can they learn ASL, LSM, or LIBRAS
So we can have more bate-papos com vida?
Whitewashing Culture by Leang Ngov
image description: long haired Leang, wearing beige t-shirt with long necklace, sitting in front of a fireplace with mantle which holds four Cambodian statues and glide chair next to the fireplace]
Titled “Whitewashing Culture”
[transcription: When I posted a while ago about whitewashing culture, I noticed that people had difficult time accepting that. As the first generation here in America, which means I was born here and my family were not, I have experienced a lot of cultural clashes. Using my own life experiences, I can tell you that we do indeed live in whitewashing culture.
Let me give you several examples from my experience:
When I was a kid, let me say first I grew up eating homemade food from my culture, anyway once I wanted to bring a lunch from home to school because I was tired of eating lunch at school and we were on a field trip. I actually made my own lunch and I was only 7 years old because my family didn’t know how to make American lunch. Ironically, what I packed wasn’t your typical American lunch like PB + jelly sandwich lunch. I thought the food I packed were normal and I was so excited. When it was lunchtime, we were eating our lunch. I’d get comments, like “Umm…what is that?” and disgusted looks from my peers and even my teachers, too.
If I were to dress “strangely” or behave differently, I’d get labeled “FOB” which stands for fresh off boat. That term is a racial slur.
The only times I’d get compliments for wearing my traditional cultural clothes is when we celebrate Cultural Appreciation Day at school, or for photo op. However, if I were to wear them on street on everyday thing, I’d get called “gook” or “FOB,” or comments like “Aren’t you proud to be American?” “You’re not patriotic!” “Go back to where you came from!” Even though I could’ve said the same thing to them because if you look far back in their family history, they were originated from Europe or elsewhere. I personally have seen many white people wearing clothes from other cultures and they would be praised for being well-rounded people, or for being open-minded or for being enlightened. I have personally seen white folks wearing loose yoga pants with tank top, having already traveled from India and they’d get praised that they looked like they’ve had such awakening journey. Can the same thing be said about Indians for wearing the clothes from their own culture here? I’m not talking about wedding but in general. On a side note, I wanted to add my recent epiphany: my firstborn was wanting to wear a sarong from my family’s culture to school, and I protested against this and caught myself before telling them to not wear such clothing because it would look strange. This was the result of me being whitewashed for so long and I nearly passed that onto my children, who are the 2nd generation.
Those were just few examples of what I went through every day growing up and it taught me to judge other races if they were not being whitewashed enough to blend in.
As I continue to unpack, the more disgusted I get at the concerning social injustice issues. I admit, at first I didn’t understand why Native Americans were upset that people were wearing their cultural clothes and accessories, and I didn’t understand the concept of cultural appropriation. Now, I understand that my identity as an minority….as the first generation here in America…was being taken away, yet white people are profiting from my culture. It is upsetting because after unpacking and recognizing this problem, I’m noticing that this is happening in my family’s country. I recently visited Cambodia and I see organization and business being run in Cambodia by white people. We’re being made fun of for our culture…for our cultural clothing…for our language…for our physical appearance. As our identity are being stripped away by this whitewashing culture, people who have not experienced racism and oppression on the same level as us get to move in and profit from all these things that were stolen from us? Hearing people are not the only cultural appropriation offenders…I see this happening in my own Deaf community. I’m calling for the community accountability. People don’t realize that by swooping in my country and run their business using MY people…using MY culture…using MY country…to profit for themselves, they’re taking the opportunities away from Deaf Khmers. They…no, I mean, we, as Deaf Khmers, do not need saviors. Why not partner up or set up workshops to show us how to run our own businesses or start our own organizations? Think of Deaf President Now…who’s better suited to run the world’s 1st Deaf university than a Deaf member of our community? Or what about Baby Signs? Who’s better suited to teach hearing babies AND Deaf babies than a Deaf member of our community whose primary language is sign language? Now, the question is, who is better suited to run the organizations and businesses that have to do with my culture…with my country in Cambodia than those who were born and raised in my culture? It is not something that people can “study” for a few years and be qualified as an expert.
Ending this vlog with this thought: if you wanted to purchase items or obtain the services, please consider doing so from authentic sources.]
Update from DeafHope
Aracelia Aguilar, Empowerment Director, shares an update from DeafHope. She is a Deaf Latina wearing a black shirt, sitting on a chair against a white background.
“There has been fraudulent activity using our board chair, Julie Rems-Smario’s name. She is not staff at DeafHope and isn’t looking for employees. If you come across anything suspicious using her or DeafHope’s names, please contact us at deafhope@deaf-hope.org.”
DHN interviews DV advocates
Last week DHN reported about survivors of domestic violence, but what about the people helping them along the way? This week, DHN sits down with two advocates to discuss the barriers survivors face when searching for help: