Winter Tangerine Review (WTR), a literary and arts organization, is curating a special feature called Hands Up Don’t Shoot that will explore what it means to be black in America. The concept for the feature, part of WTR’s Spotlight Series, stemmed from the realization that unchecked police brutality and institutionalized racism in America allows for the unjust murder of black citizens, defying the claim that this country is “postracial”.
The injustice of Michael Brown’s death, along with the deaths of hundreds of other black
children who were killed for the color of their skin, has been tragically normalized in our society.
However, the riots and protests taking place all over the world, reflect a demand for change.
Hands Up Don’t Shoot will exclusively feature AfricanAmericans creating art out of this
injustice.
The feature will be guest edited by the following critically acclaimed writers and artists: Danez Smith, Alysia Harris, Kameelah Rasheed, Patrick Earl Hammie, Khadijah Queen, Randi Butler,Kiese Laymon, Sam Vernon, Cameron Awkward-Rich, and Fahamu Pecou.
Submissions of poetry, prose, and visual art will be accepted free of charge from December 10, 2014 to January 10, 2015. Hands Up Don’t Shoot will be released on February 5, 2015, in honor of Trayvon Martin’s birthday, on the Winter Tangerine website at www.wintertangerine.com.
About Winter Tangerine Review:
Winter Tangerine Review was founded in 2013 by Yasmin Belkhyr. Their mission statement is: “Winter Tangerine Review is dedicated to the electric. We aim to disrupt the status quo. We believe in the power of art. We believe in the power of the written word. We believe in structure, and we believe in dismantling structure. We aim to challenge you to a fistfight outside a nice club in Nevada. We aim to remind you of why you loved him. Of why you left her. We aim to tap into memories, to conjure nostalgia. We aim to create new experiences. So leave your artistic boundaries behind. You won’t need them here.”
There are currently 52 people on the WTR staff from across the world. They have published three volumes of writing and artwork, as well as one special feature for the Spotlight Series called “Imaginary Homelands,” a ten week feature exploring the concept of origins through poetry and visual art.The Spotlight Series was started as a way to shed light on contemporary issues worth discussing.
They are currently developing features on celebrity culture, the process of drafting in poetry, stigma behind mental illness in the Asian American community, femininity in contemporary and mythical settings, and a project dedicated to amplifying the voices of Africa and the African Diaspora.
If you would like more information about Hands Up Don’t Shoot, please send an email to
handsupdontshoot@wintertangerine.com, or check out the official site:
www.wintertangerine.com/handsupdontshoot.
