who are th e ny c radical che erleader s?
we are a collectively-run radical cheerleading squad comprised of queer, straight and transgendered women and men, youth and adults living in the boroughs of new york city, and surrounding areas. the new york city squad has existed for over 5 years, but is fluid in its membership. in january 2004 a new batch of cheerleaders replied to a call for new members to attend a cheerleader sleepover and have been practicing together weekly ever since. our squad, like all radical cheerleading squads, is open to anyone who expresses interest. we are also unlike other cheerleaders that you may be more familiar with—there are no tryouts involved. the nyc squad has approximately 12-15 members, who are between the ages of 15 and 35, and come from a variety of backgrounds in respect to race, class, gender and sexual orientation. members of our squad are both seasoned and fledgling activists from across a diverse spectrum of issues, and our collective defies hierarchal structure. we are students, artists, corporate employees, sex workers, labor organizers, librarians, teachers, lawyers, actresses, mothers, childcare providers, clothing designers, restaurant workers, filmmakers, performers and unemployed. cheerleaders in our current squad are active in a range of local social justice struggles and are currently focusing on educating and mobilizing the public to get george w. bush and his administration out of power, for positive body image and sex-positive education, against globalization, against racism and homophobia, for choice, against forced c-sections, against the patriot act, against sexism and street harassment, against the consolidation of corporate media, against the police state and the prison industrial complex, against the patriot act, against the recruitment of low income youth and people of color to the military, against sweatshops, for workers rights, against the war in iraq and the occupation of foreign nations, against the occupation of palestine, for immigrant’s rights, for human rights, for grassroots community media resources, against illegal detentions, and against the criminalization of dissent, amongst a myriad of other issues critical to our communities.
what is radical cheerleading?
radical cheerleading is a global movement which has been spreading fast since beginning in 1999, when it was founded by two activist sisters in florida. radical cheerleading squads can be found across the united states and as far as poland. radical cheerleading squads are traditionally feminist, anarchist and anti-capitalist with each diverse cheerleader bringing their own politics, creativity and dance moves to the movement. radical cheerleading is protest with pompoms, dissent with middle fingers extended. tired of the same left, right, left; radical cheerleaders reinvigorate the idea of political protest by making it fun to participate in dissent. radical cheerleading has been known to de-escalate police violence, stage spontaneous cheer-offs in subway stations, have incredibly original fashion sense, and educate and empower individuals to become more active in their communities for social change. radical cheerleading squads across the globe connect with each other primarily through a network of websites, listservs, cheer zines, protests, cheer-offs, conferences and cheer-shares.
cheers are written by an individual or group and passed along through this established network. in turn, they are interpreted, modified, choreographed, improvised upon and performed by other squads in other parts of the world.
how can you get involved with the nyc squad?
rah rah rah! we’re so excited that you want to get involved! first: email us at nycradicalcheerleaders@yahoogroups.com. second: during the summer months we will meet (almost) every friday night at tompkins square park for practice at 7:15 pm in the bandshell area. for wintertime and rainy day practice areas, email us. come and check it out!
you’d like to interview us for a publication or film project?
please send an email to our listserve identifying yourself, telling us about your publication or project, the reasons why you’re interested, and tell us about other stories or films you may have worked on recently. we will not conduct interviews or allow ourselves to be videotaped at practice without advance permission – so please contact us first. please review our website thoroughly before contacting us. www.nycradicalcheerleaders.org WE NEVER ALLOW OUR LAST NAMES TO BE PRINTED IN A PUBLICATION or film/video without written consent from each individual cheerleader. In addition, we require that before printing, all reporters conduct a fact-check.
selected recent performances for the nyc radical cheerleaders:
june 2004 28th - annual dyke march ―lick bush in 2004‖, NY 24th - performance at Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, Lincoln Center, NY may 2004 26th - ―Majority Whipped: where agitators and culture shapers converge – A political art show & cocktail party‖ Whitebox Gallery, NY april 2004 25th -March for Women’s Lives, radical pro-choice cheer bloc, Washington D.C. march 2004 20th -United for Peace and Justice – ―The World STILL Says No To War‖ New York, NY february 2004 28th - Workshop and performance at NYC Grassroots Media Conference, New School University, New York, NY
Bios
Jinxy, 20, Occupation: student, Issues Jinxy cares about most: Animal liberation, the rights of indigenous peoples, stopping all wars, revamping the criminal justice system, an end to all -isms including racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, speciesism, etc. Reasons Jinxy’s a cheerleader: “The corporate media time and time again has chosen to misrepresent the messages of most radical, anti-authoritarians by labeling them as terrorists. When tens of thousands of nonviolent anarchists join together to demand their rights or to defend those of others (such as in Seattle) the media reports on the select few individuals who went against the masses and decided to be more violent spurring the police to
attack us all. Radical Cheerleading is an opportunity to spread a message of peace, love, beauty, justice, and ultimately, freedom in a media-friendly way. We cheer to bring joy and spirit to all those who are struggling against oppression. We cheer because we are in solidarity with these individuals and their struggles. Cheering = joy = freedom.”
Kickassica, 25 occupation: actress/student/party promotions. Why I am involved with
the new york city radical cheerleaders?: ―because I believe inclusion, creativity, fun, anger, humor, and oodles of raw sex-appeal can change our world for the better! we're cheering on the revolution, y'all!‖ Laura a.k.a. midicat grew up respectively in Chicago and New York City, the latter of which she noow calls home, although she is an avid traveler as well. For four years, she worked in the editorial department of a financial newspaper, and is now focused on acting, having recently become involved in a series of local theatre productions. She joined the radical cheerleaders while involved in The Street Harassment Project after seeing the RCs cheer at a benefit. She thought, what better way to politicize dance and performance (and vice versa)? She has been actively involved ever since and has cheered at many rallies and special events. "I enjoy working with the RCs because there is a strong sense of social and political responsibility, and people here are committed to human rights across the board, as am I. Also, however, they're dancers and performers and we're protesting and bringing awareness to issues in a way that is entertaining, catchy and funny as well. It's glamorous protest." "Cheerleading has brought me together with other people who are oriented toward the same issues and feel strongly about them the same way that I do." MayDay 26, Occupation: Organizer. Why I became a nyc radical cheerleader?: ―Because the idea of adding performance, humor, and fun (and hot dance moves) to protest appeals to me. ― Pink Kitty, 25, began cheering with the NYC squad after the 2001 inauguration. Later that year, she moved to Boulder, Colorado, where she pursued her MFA in Writing and Poetics at Naropa University, and joined forces with Boulder’s Rocky Mountain Rebels. After receiving her degree, she moved back to Brooklyn to rejoin the revitalized New York City squad. Currently, she works as a junior librarian for a consulting firm, while working towards her graduate degree in Library and Information Science. She is a runner, and writes fiction, and is currently working on two very different novels—one about a hip librarian, and the other about the relationship between two best friends who consciously choose to be as sex workers. ―Cheering is a way to reach everybody. Cheerleaders are as American as apple pie and dissent. On Black Friday (the Friday after Thanksgiving), the NYC squad cheered by Rockefeller Centre, near many popular shopping destinations. We put anticonsumerist lyrics to Christmas tunes, and sang and cheered them to tourists and holiday shoppers. Ironically, people loved us—even though they were shopping!‖ ―Now more than ever, it’s important to speak up. People are scared, or feel like they can’t make a difference. I refuse to give in! What I love about cheerleading is that we can speak up while having fun—with dance moves, pompoms, and cheers. We get the other activists pumped up, and educate and entertain the observers who may not believe in our beliefs, but will often listen because we present it in a new way.‖ (―Make it new!‖ Ezra Pound) Ohboywhatagrrl! 19,trans grrrl, born in NYC, grew up mostly in New Delhi, India, came to New York in June 2002 after finishing high school in India to study at Columbia. Raised a boy, (s)he started writing poetry and stories at the age of 14, and studied theatre for two years
in school. At some point in time, around the age of 16, (s)he realized that (s)he wasn't really a he inside, despite being birth-assigned male, and Oyboywhatagrrl’s political revolutionization has been closely intertwined with her shedding of gender boundaries and categorizations. She has since pursued spoken word performance and theater acting fairly successfully all over NYC and is learning how to trash the system from the belly of the Ivy League beast. She is also a member of the NYC Summer 100 Days of Democracy in Action Collective and the Anarchist People of Color NYC network Radikelly Kupowski (24) is an artist and documentary video maker who works to challenge the corporate control of the mainstream media with the organization Paper Tiger Television. Radikelly also works at a human rights organization bringing documentary film to local public schools to broaden the dialogue around issues of human rights. She joined the NYC squad in January 2004 after years of videotaping them at protests. Back in high school she was the captain of the kickline and dance teams (and credits this as one of her first experiences of feminism.) ―I joined the radical cheerleaders as a way to bring light to issues I see happening in our communities like illegal detentions of immigrants, the criminalization of dissent, military recruitment of low income youth and youth of color in high schools and decreasing funding for education. I think that our group inspires people to educate themselves, share their opinions and engages others to become active for social change.‖ ―My generation gets attacked for being disengaged with the political process – and I see things very differently. Young people are making enormous change happen every single day. Creative resistance is everywhere – and everyone has a responsibility to make their voices heard.‖ More bios to come soon, please check back to our website for more information, or with further questions.