Working to Dismantle Systems of Oppression

Abstract

Each year, in publishing Visual Culture & Gender, the editorial reflects on the past year and its impact on our lives and connects the issues of the year to the essays selected for the volume. Amidst the tragedies in 2018, such as separation of children from parents by the current U.S. administration, there are many people, coalitions, and organizations working toward social justice. For example, Torn Apart gathered the digital dust (i.e., “any publicly available data—government immigration records, tax forms, job listings, Facebook pages”) to locate the detention centers that were holding more than 2000 children separated from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border in May 2018 (Dreyfus, 2018). The gathering of the digital dust is the data for an interactive web site” (Dreyfus, 2018). Torn Apart maps the ripping of the social fabric of humanity. Masses of people must speak out to elected officials and elect those who will change this dire downward spiral into a despotic nation. See Figures 2 and 3.