If You Give Me a Fish
Ricardo Levins Morales
Northland Poster Collective
Silkscreen, Circa 1990s
Minneapolis, MN
18914
CSPG’s Poster of the Week was created by Minneapolis-based artist and organizer Ricardo Levins Morales, whose work is featured in our current exhibition Taking Museums to the Streets: Using Fine Art for Protest. Morales' will also be a panelist for the Educate! Agitate! Appropriate! Panel virtual panel discussion on June 8.
Ricardo’s poster transforms a familiar Chinese slogan from charity to activism when it affirms that collective organizing is the best solution to oppressive hierarchical structures. With the most diverse legislature in state history, Minnesota has recently proven this point by passing record-breaking progressive reforms including:
Health Care advances such as codifying Roe v. Wade to protect all reproductive health care; paid family and medical leave for everyone; ensuring transgender healthcare for all ages; banning conversion therapy; and tightening background check and red flag laws for gun owners.
Investments in Education such as mandating free school meals for all kids; free tuition for low-income students at state colleges; increasing budget for special education programs, school psychologists, and the recruitment of teachers of color; and expanding curriculum to cover personal finance, Holocaust and genocide studies, ethnic studies and literacy initiatives.
Environmental Justice initiatives such as requiring carbon free electricity by 2040 and banning PFAS (aka “forever chemicals”) in consumer products.
Criminal Justice, Human Rights, and Labor reforms such as permitting driver's licenses and state health insurance for undocumented immigrants; legalizing marijuana; restoring voting rights to people with previous felony convictions; establishing the first Office of Missing and Murdered African American Women and Girls in the U.S; providing grants to businesses in historically under-resourced communities; and requiring employers to allow workers to accrue up to 48 hours of sick time per year. A representative body that truly reflects its constituency–a result of grassroots organizing and empowerment–led to the incredible wins that Minnesotans have achieved this year.
Congratulations Minnesota!
Taking Museums to the Streets: Using Fine Art for Protest is currently on display
at Mercado la Paloma in South Los Angeles through July 9th.
Resources: