Written by:
Gina DeVries
» Order
this Issue of Curve:
11.5
Mathilda Minerva Mahal de Dios is a 21-year-old queer Filipina. She currently lives in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Currently, you are working with Ways Out Academy on Projecto Libertad, a program to enhance literacy and cultural competency in youth ages 9 to 14. What kind of issues do you face trying to offer multicultural education to these youth?
The kids from Ways Out Academy are all Latina/o. We just finished the poetry collaborative, in which the tutors and the students from Ways Out were all student-teacher poets. We based our workshops on Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed and June Jordan’s Poetry for the People. Even though my friend Maria and I were co-leaders for the poetry program, we still did the same exercises as the rest of the workshop participants. … We encouraged the kids to use whichever language they were most comfortable using.
What do you enjoy about working with youth?
I love working with youth because the process of connecting with young people gives me the opportunity to connect with myself. … The last day of the program, I cried because several of the kids articulated their joy and frustration in ways that I had never heard — some of them had not spoken in class before, and by the end of the program they were performance poets!
You are also working with the Purple Rose Campaign, an international campaign against the sex trafficking of Filipinas worldwide. What do you want people to know about this issue?
I want people to recognize that our struggles are interconnected. Patriarchy, sexism, heterosexism and globalization are all root causes of this particular form of exploitation. This issue affects me, especially when newspapers advertise for mail-order brides, or when people tell me that they have a “thing” for “Asian girls.” … It is also necessary to recognize that the imperialist relationship of the U.S. in the Philippines perpetuates the exploitation. Militarization of the Philippines continues through the Visiting Forces Agreement, and the U.S. refuses to recognize that its legacy of toxic pollution in the Philippines has violated international laws. The Purple Rose Campaign comes out of the need to heighten awareness around sex trafficking and the root causes of exploitation.
You are also planning a series of political education workshops for an upcoming hip-hop festival that will heighten awareness about the prison industrial complex. What do you hope people will learn from your workshops?
The prison industrial complex has its roots in the overcrowding of Immigration and Naturalization Services detention centers. The criminalizing of people — especially people of color — clearly shows that institutional racism feeds other systems of oppression.
What about hip-hop organizing is appealing to you?
I grew up listening to hip-hop, and while there is misogyny, homophobia and classism rampant throughout, I am reminded that there are so many artists and activists that are leaders of this hip-hop generation. I remember growing up listening to lyrics that spoke true to my life. There is something not only irresistible but celebratory about activism. The strength of community lies within our power to release with imaginative self-statement.
— Gina DeVries
baby dyke-in-residence, age 17
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