{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/x639z92g9q/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["BFF's Get Free: Erica Caines"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/699/original/Georgia_Dusk_Tagline_Primary_2x.png?1750685138","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2023-06"]}},{"label":{"en":["Duration"]},"value":{"en":["00:12:54"]}},{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis oral history was recorded in June 2023 during Black Feminist Future's Get Free: A Black Feminist Reunion. The full transcript and program details can be found at \u003ca href=\"http://www.georgiadusk.com/bffs-get-free/\"\u003ewww.georgiadusk.com/bffs-get-free/\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eThis oral history was recorded in June 2023 during Black Feminist Future's Get Free: A Black Feminist Reunion. The full transcript and program details can be found at \u003ca href=\"http://www.georgiadusk.com/bffs-get-free/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"\u003ewww.georgiadusk.com/bffs-get-free/\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"]},"provider":[{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["Georgia Dusk"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["Georgia Dusk"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/699/original/Georgia_Dusk_Tagline_Primary_2x.png?1750685138","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - open-uri20250626-778-8l7v17.mp4"]},"duration":774.53501,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/public/images/audio-default.png","type":"Image","format":"image/png"}],"items":[{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-georgiadusk.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/278/569/original/open-uri20250626-778-8l7v17.mp4?1750935609","type":"Audio","format":"audio/mp3","duration":774.53501,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["Erica Caines transcript [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Erica Caines - Get Free Oral History\n\nSaturday, June 10, 2023","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=0.0,1.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dartricia Rollins  \n\nAll right. Welcome, Erica. Thanks for joining us. Could you please introduce yourself with your name, your pronouns, age, and the organizing or cultural work you do?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=1.0,11.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Erica Caines\n\nMy name is Erica Caines. My pronouns are she, her, hers. I just realized I'm 37. Had to do the math really quickly. I am vice chair the Coordinating Committee of Black Alliance for Peace. I am also a member of the Maryland Electoral Party. It's a Black workers party called Ujima People's Progress Party. I am one of four editors of Hood Communist blog, and I am the founder of Liberation Through Reading.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=11.0,42.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dartricia Rollins \n\nThank you. And so our first question is what led you to Black feminism?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=42.0,50.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Erica Caines \n\nUm, so yeah, so I was looking at that question. I was thinking through it, primarily, like what led me to it. And I don't think growing up there was ever a disconnect between Black, the Black woman in my life, and feminism or strength or, or how we interpreted feminism to be that. But I think my initial foreground into digging deeper into feminism was Sula. Just reading Sula, and reading that sort of freedom, it made me think about it more and think about that concept of freedom more and what that would mean for a Black woman. And then, you know, \"my lonely is mine\" has stuck with me for years thinking about what that means in terms of, yeah, Black feminism. And then from there, obviously, you know, I always attribute Black women writers, you know, Lucille Clifton and Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, I can go on and on and on, as setting a framework for understanding Black women across all sectors, but they all seem to have that sort of same struggle, right. And just trying to dig deeper into that struggle, I think led me into Black feminism, and Black feminisms I would say.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=50.0,137.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dartricia Rollins  \n\nAnd so what has been a significant moment in your black feminist journey?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=137.0,141.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Erica Caines  \n\num, International organizing. I think, joining BAP, which is a it's an organization, it's anti-imperialist organization, first and foremost. But it's also a Black internationalist organization. Meaning that we understand our ties with other parts of the world as being part and parcel of the Western hegemony, the expansion of Western hegemony, the US EU NATO Axis of domination, you know, obviously, imperialism being the primary contradiction, and how that manifests and what that looks like for the world for Black women. And I think that that being internationalist has caused me or pushed me to stop framing everything from the U.S. Because I think that's just natural to do when you live in a place you understand certain things of that place. But I think, organizing, and then being able to go on delegations and hearing firsthand how these people approached their own struggles, especially in terms of feminism and women's rights, has really pushed me to stop looking at it solely through here, solely through this framework and thinking about what exactly is women's rights, which led me to the concept of a people-centered human rights, right. And I think like, even most recently, with the uprising in Iran, right, I think the use of women in that sort of disallows people to really understand what the fight was. And then sort of place you know, our own thoughts and opinions on that struggle, onward onto their own struggle, which was pushing for regime change, more or less, and convoluting that situation. And I think without having that sort of perspective, that are what we think that we know, like we're not the world's saviors. And what we think that we know and understand through quote unquote, lived experience, needs to needs more investigation, needs more research. And then I would also say my international work has also really honed in what the issues are here. Like I say that Imperialism is a primary contradiction, but I say that as it's not just something that's happening globally, I understand African and Black people in the U.S. through a internal colonization framework, meaning that we are internally colonized. So that comes with what how we understand colonialism, we are colonized socially, politically, economically.  So what does that mean for the Black woman? In an internal colonized situation? What does that mean, in terms of a militarized police presence in our community? It is our children who are getting the brunt of that. So those are the things that cause me to expand on how I understand Black feminism, what I want for Black feminism, and sort of the push away from that the Black feminism that leads us into that sort of representation politics, that's surface level, that really has not done anything significant to enhance or move the needle for where Black people are today.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=141.0,341.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dartricia Rollins  \n\nAnd I'm curious if you could share more about what you what your hopes are for Black feminisms?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=341.0,350.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Erica Caines \n\nYeah, I'm even in terms of oral history, studying the PAIGC, the movement and revolution in Guinea Bissau at the time under Amílcar Cabral. And there was women who were on the frontlines, they were equally as active. But they are on record talking about a concept of two colonialisms, meaning that they didn't see men as a direct enemy. Just the same way they didn't see Portuguese people as the direct enemy. They understood men as a product of what they were dealing with men and the oppression that they were facing from men as a product of patriarchy. And then they understand they understood what they were dealing with firsthand with the Portuguese people not, this is not something that you're doing because you're a Portuguese, you know, you're Portuguese. But this is something that's happening because Portugal, Portugal is an imperialist nation, it's being backed by NATO. So they had clarity on what- who the enemy was. So that's, that's sort of what I want. I want that sort of clarity. I think right now, there's, um, there's a lot of rhetoric around, you know, hyperbolic rhetoric around, you know, men are trash, Black men are this, Black men are that, that really doesn't hone into the actual intercommunal issues. And it really doesn't push to solve that contradiction. It just it makes it a fixed contradiction, like, men are this, and women are that, and that's it. And my hope for Black feminism is that there's more, there's more clarity, being led by Black feminists, on those those concepts of colonialism. Like it's not that men are bad, but it's a system. And it's a system that's backed by, you know, and it's supported by capitalism, imperialism, colonialism. Those things.  My other hope is that, you know, we talk about Black feminism in the framework of socialism. I think people are really shy to speak about socialism. Obviously. We talked about Charisse Burden-Stelly earlier, I think the intervention that her Jodi Dean has made with Organize, Fight, Win is crucially important to how we understand ourselves as organizers. But in terms of socialism, more than the workers owning the means of production. It's a sort of, it's a way that we reorient and organize our every day, including our values, right? I think the pushback against socialism, at least when I speak about it, or in terms of like speaking about socialist nations, what I always hear is that, you know, you just want people to be poor, because the, what it seems or what it appears like, you know, these people are living in foreign nations, but the quality of life is significantly different. And we don't know that quality of life here. We have everything, you know, we're very material, we have a lot of, you know, I mean, even me, I have all my gold and stuff. But the quality of life is significantly different. We don't understand that. We don't know that for our children. And I think what socialism does, especially when we talk about people-centered human rights is that it pushes for an equitable quality of life. And when we look at socialist nations like Nicaragua, or Cuba, women are at the forefront. You know, when they reoriented their Constitutions, they made sure to make sure that women and children had particular rights. Because there's an understanding that making a you know, a whole woman creates a whole child creates a whole society. So that's how they reorient their society based on is the woman taking care of so that she can take care of her child so that the child can, you know, grow up and in turn be a benefit for society. And I know that that kind of creates sort of issues between gender binaries and it kind of murky's that water. But I think the concept of prioritizing people through a people-centered human rights should be pushed in how we understand Black feminism. And I'm truly truly hoping that we back away or rethink intersectionality a bit. Because not I wouldn't say back away, I would say that without an ideology intersectionality could be anything. And and we have seen that. So I think that maybe it's, my hope is that more, there's more conversations around an ideological framework for intersectionality, whether it's socialism or not, but I think those, that gives it a concrete direction. So that, you know, we have an objective and a goal, strategies for what we want to see, especially if we're talking about equity, and things like that, because those are not things that just happens, those are things that we have to organize towards. But we can't have an elusive sort of idea of what we want, we have to have a concrete idea of what we want, so that we can, you know, have strategies and tactics to get us there. And I think that the use of intersectionality without an ideology leads us to a Kamala Harris, or, you know, right, D.C. a Marilyn Browser, you know, just the sort of representation for representation sake, without really considering. Well, what does that mean, not just for Black women were for Black people, and not just for Black people, but for society as a whole? So yeah.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=350.0,703.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dartricia Rollins  \n\nSo my last question is, what Black feminist future are you building?","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=703.0,709.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Erica Caines  \n\nA Pan-African, revolutionary Pan-African, revolutionary Black internationalist Pan-African Black feminist future, I truly feel that's the only way. You know, especially if we're thinking in terms of feminism, if we think about Africa as our mother, if we think about modernity in that way, it's very, very important that we understand the necessity of freeing Africa so that we can free ourselves. But I think all of that I say all of that to say join an organization, and struggle through these concepts within your organization, because that's where the building happens. That's where the change happens. And those are where the tough conversations to smash these contradictions and not let them linger forever. Because I think people are pretty comfortable with the lingering right. And it's also profitable to let the contradictions linger and never solve. But join an organization and start getting to the work of solving those contradictions and making it plain for folks.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=709.0,772.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dartricia Rollins  \n\nThank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=772.0,773.0"},{"id":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569/transcript/94402/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Erica Caines  \n\nThank you.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://georgiadusk.aviaryplatform.com/collections/3340/collection_resources/151060/file/278569#t=773.0,774.53501"}]}]}]}