Stories of Access / Stories of Denial

Stories of Access/Stories of Denial is a year-long investigation of Civil Rights history by youth at Riverzedge Arts. A group of young artists who specialize in making art in the public sphere looked at how various communities — African American, Latino, Southeast Asian, LGBTQ and Native American – experience marginalization and resist with resilience. We invited educators and speakers, watched documentary films, mined archives and reflected through blogging.

Stories of Access/Stories of Denial spurred discussions about social justice, activism and identity, connecting discussions of history to experiences in our daily lives. We are now hoping to share these stories to a wider audience through a series of narrative clips and youth presentations. In these audio pieces and youth reflections, we cover themes of police brutality, political organizing, access to housing and cultural appropriation from the 60s to today.