Footprints

We all Leave Them

One way or another


"A powerful idea communicates some of its strength to him who challenges it." Marcel Proust


Knitta Please and Racial/Class Issues in Crafts
O stated"*Scratching my head* I really am not sure why there is any ambiguity when the group name is actually a play on a racial slur that has strong class implications."

The ambiguity is simple to explain, I wasn't brought up in this country/culture or the terminology behind the brouhaha, so when I saw the word knitta I thought of it as a play on the word knit (pronounced with a hard t). It's a mistake to assume that it would be obvious to everyone. Not everyone is born in America and has the historic cultural conditioning/experiences that comes from being raised in the usa and see what might be obvious to others. Racism/Classism exists everywhere but how it manifests itself is different in each culture.
Ernesto Aguilar wrote a commentary on his website titled Knitta Please, Racism & the Backlash that makes for thoughtful reading and take on the issue.

Somebody commented "the crafting world ....Yes, it is overwhelmingly white". There were several that agreed with her, but what I want to know is how would they would know that. Is there some data on this?
If she meant the representation in the business side of it, I don't have an argument there. Women and minorities are seriously underrepresented in the art world (this article touches on that). But if she meant crafting is overwhelmingly a white activity I don't agree. It ignores crafts/art done by a range of people in America (Chinese, Japanese, Middle Eastern, Arab American, Indian, African American,Mexican American,Cuban, Native American,South American, just to name a few)

HandMadeNews: Modern Hispanic Crafts
African American quilting history
African American History through the Arts
Black Crafters Guild
Mexican American Quilt History