What Media Missed In Covering The "Overt Racism" At Lido Pimienta's Halifax Show

[tinoesroho]

Nearly three weeks later, few know the name of the volunteer photographer who sparked the dispute when she refused to step back, while Pimienta has been subjected to hundreds of daily messages and comments shaming and threatening her and her family with death, rape, and other forms of violence.

Prior to national and international coverage, the Halifax Examiner published an October 22 feature about the incident entitled “Lido Pimienta happened,” placing it behind their paywall.

Journalist Maggie Rahr named and featured comment from the volunteer photographer, Kate Giffin:

“Do I regret yelling? Definitely. Should I have reacted differently? Definitely,” Giffin admits, but maintains, “I don’t feel like the way I was treated was appropriate, but nobody will ever see it that way because I’m white.”

Pimienta asserts that Giffin’s removal was due to her conduct — not her skin colour. In an October 31 statement on Facebook, Pimienta said the photographer was asked to leave “because she brought violence to my show, in an area surrounded by people that have to deal with this kind of violence in their everyday lives.”

Since the October 19 show, dozens of people in Halifax and beyond have asked on social media for her to come forward and apologize. At first, many referred to her obliquely, pointing out that most people knew the volunteer’s identity — and then, later, directly tagging her in posts. This evoked discussion about the difference between calling people in (reaching out personally to ask they take responsibility), as opposed to calling them out publicly, and arguing whether or not it was productive to name Giffin.

Photos have also recently circulated of Giffin, in blackface, dressed as Bootsy Collins for Halloween 2012.

It’s vital to acknowledge how race plays a role in who has the privilege of being obscured from a narrative. Pimienta is the face of national and international coverage, while Giffin’s name was left out of the statement posted by HPX and virtually all of the subsequent coverage.

Julia-Simone Rutgers, featured in the CP article, took issue with the reporter’s framing of the incident.

“It does not reflect the discomfort that the [women of colour] at the front of the room were feeling,” says Rutgers.

She says Giffin was to the right of her, when she saw that Giffin was in the way of Black and brown women trying to come to the front. Rutgers and her friend, a trans woman of colour, asked that Giffin move back to make room.

“Her immediate response was to raise her voice at us and tell us she didn’t have to move…and she began to scream that she had a right to be there,” says Rutgers.

“At no point can I remember her actually mentioning that she was a volunteer for the show,” she says, “but she kept pointing to other photographers in their designated section of the stage and asking why we weren’t making them move, too. She kept yelling ‘You don’t fucking know me’ and refusing to share the space.”

h/t Canadaland

What Media Missed In Covering The "Overt Racism" At Lido Pimienta's Halifax Show

[tinoesroho]

Fuck Kate Giffin, fuck her posse, fuck all these fragile-ass whitebread assholes, fuck 'em.

You do not get to be an asshole and pretend to be the victim.

Lido did nothing wrong. Fuck anyone who sez otherwise.