I’ve developed a love affair with the far reaching juju of Internet technology. And so have a community of activists, feminists, speakers and writers. Enter the “cyber-quilters.” The Cyber-Quilting Experiment grew from an effort to bring attention to how violence against women of color is very much alive and unwell.
Take for example the fact that:
- One in three women around the world will be coerced into sex or be physically/sexually abused.
- In the United States, the Asian and Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence found that 41-60% of API respondents reported experiencing domestic violence.
- An estimated 29.1% of African American females are victimized by intimate partner violence, defined as rape, physical assault or stalking.
- The National Violence Against Women Survey found 23.4% of Hispanic/Latina females are victimized by intimate partner violence. Native American and Native Alaskan women and men report the highest rates of intimate partner violence.
The project examines how the Internet can be used for social justice work and movement building activities. Cyber-quilters help communities that struggle with utilizing technology for movement building by providing access to technology, education and networking resources.
“Cyber-quilters are the thread, the middle person for areas that are marginalized or simply unsure about how to use technology,” explained Adele Nieves, a journalist, activist, writer and cyber-quilter.
Cyber-quilters assess the needs of the community and connect them to resources, either directly or via an online resource center. Resources include computers, education on using available technologies, translation and editing services, studio time, utilizing workshops and seminars – and more.
“It’s kind of a pay it forward mentality,” said Nieves. “For example, if a cyber-quilter puts on a self-care workshop, she might offer [the workshop itself] to the community, teach the community so that its members can bring it to other people.”
This all feeds into the larger issue of the Internet’s influence on activism and social justice work.
Nieves continued, “For people who’ve been isolated in rural communities or other places where their ideas aren’t able to flourish, access to the Internet provides instant community and a way to develop your own activism that doesn’t necessarily need to be constrained to your own back yard.”
The idea emerged around the time of the racially charged Jena Six trial. While still supporting the Jena Six, activist Fallon Wilson and a small group of women organized the now annual Be Bold Be Red campaign to ensure that injustices against women of color wouldn’t fall to the backburner.
During the month of October 2007, the campaign’s site received over 70,000 hits as women shared their stories, held gatherings, wore red and rallied. Out of this grew the seeds of the Cyber-quilting Experiment, which was rolled out at the Allied Media Conference.
“One of our focuses is on marginalized women of color, women who don’t have access to technology, who don’t have the resources or time to connect with each other,” explains Nieves. “This doesn’t mean that cyber-quilting is only for women of color. We can’t do it alone.”
It might be tempting to say something cliché like it’s “not your grandmother’s quilting.” But here’s the twist. Cyber-quilting emphasizes history and those who came before. Cyber-quilters value the “stitching” together of stories to build an intergenerational movement. There’s active outreach to both older and younger generations.
Which works beautifully when considering that violence is an intergenerational process. Personal and societal narratives reflect the power of the intergenerational transmission of trauma, oppression and victimization.
Cyber-quilting is active in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, Durham, and Washington D.C., with projects getting off the ground in Fayetteville, NC, Portland, and New York City. Looking forward, the Cyber-quilting Experiment has a goal to be in all 50 states and of eventually going international.
Interested in creating a cyber-quilting patch in your own community? Contact cyberquilting at googlemail dot com for more information.
Cyber-quilters at work:
Moya Bailey – Atlanta: Moya works with Spelman's Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, Quirky Black Girl and SPARK Reproductive Justice Now.
Zachari Curtis - Washington D.C.: Zachari works with a performance/activism group, a coalition of youth organizing against state violence and with a coalition to end violence against sex workers.
Alexis Pauline Gumbs - Durham, NC: Alexis works with SpiritHouse, Youth Noise Network, Solidarity and UBUNTU.
Stacey Milbern – Fayetteville, NC: The project’s newest cyber-quilter.
Adele Nieves, - Detroit (and the Detroit Metro Area): Adele works with Detroit Summer, Allied Media Projects, Planned Parenthood, Until the Violence Stops Detroit, Critical Moment Magazine and Think Girl.
Fallon Wilson – Chicago: Fallon works with Ella's Daughters, among others.
Image via BP2