Jade Hare manifests as genderfluid healer to battle epidemic

Last April, when I posted the old Beijing legend of Sir/Dame Hare stopping an epidemic, I didn't think that the pandemic would still be with us now. This illustration is dedicated to the non-binary and transgender healthcare workers, health officials, community organizers and frontline workers who are working hard to support our communities during this pandemic, often in the face of prejudice from an unappreciative society. Here are a few of them:

• Chennai's hijra community organized to distribute relief during COVID-19 lockdown
• Lorena Borjas, a community activist who spent decades advocating for immigrant transgender women in NYC, passed away from Covid 19 in March 2020. Before her passing, Lorena Borjas had started a fundraising campaign to support transgender people who had lost their incomes during the pandemic.
• Dr Rachel Levine, as Health Secretary of Pennsylvania, led the state's COVID-19 response.

Do you know if your voter registration has been purged? (Animation)

Do you know if you have been purged from the voter rolls? from Wolfberry Studio on Vimeo.

13 Names: Sureshbhai Patel, Wangsheng Leng + 11

Content warning: mention of injury or death by violence.

In 2015, Sureshbhai Patel was detained by police while on a walk around his neighborhood. A neighbor called the police on him, describing him as a "black man". Video footage showed that the 57-year-old grandfather from India was NOT resisting police. An officer seriously injured Patel's neck in a needless takedown. Patel was partially paralyzed and had to learn to walk again. In 2017, police broke the neck of Wangsheng Leng, a 66-year-old with Alzheimer's, while restraining him in his own home. Leng was taken to the hospital and died a month later. Both Leng and Patel did not speak English; their unfortunate encounters had been attributed in part to their inability to communicate with police officers. But many other unarmed individuals with no language barrier with police officers have died in similar encounters:

Thirteen Names: Charleena Lyles , Tommy Le + 11

Content warning: mention of violence and death.

Yvette Smith and Charleena Lyles both called the police to their homes. Yvette needed help with resolving a domestic dispute between two other people. Charleena was reporting a burglary. Both were killed by the public servants who were paid by their tax dollars to protect them.

13 Names: Srinivas Kuchibhotla, Vincent Chin + 11

Inspired by Anirvan Chatterjee's article The $205 million industry that helped murder ‪Srinivas Kuchibhotla.

Content note: mention of death by violence

The rings contain names of Asians in America who were murdered in cases of mistaken ethnic identity - South Asians shot by someone who assumed that they were Arabs, Indians killed by someone who thought that they were Iranians, a Vietnamese American murdered by someone who assumed that they were Japanese... You can find the names of more Asian American hate crime victims at 35 Years After Vincent Chin's Murder, How Has America Changed?.

The Christmas Story as a Refugee Story

Hernan Bogado's award-winning ad campaign "Let Them In":

Dragons of the Oil Sea

In support of a former art school classmate presently imprisoned in deteriorating conditions. See vice.com report: Saudi Princesses Claim King Is Confining and Drugging Them.

Who is on the island? (From left to right)

• Gala the labrador - She passed away this year after she and her human companions (Jawaher and Sahar) underwent a prolonged period of food deprivation. You can see Gala's 'before starvation' and 'after starvation' photos here.
• Jawaher Al Saud- youngest sister of artist/activist Sahar Al Saud. She and Sahar are held captive in a seaside compound while their 2 sisters, Hala and Maha, are imprisoned at other locations. Go to SocialBombing.org campaign for the release of the four women.
• Sahar Al Saud - a painter and sculptor who is passionate about Saudi human rights. For months, she and Jawaher have been surviving under house arrest by distilling water and scavenging for food from the sea. Read her interview with muftah.org.
• Tosca the cat - beloved companion to Sahar and Jawaher . Tosca passed away in 2009, leaving behind Gala the Labrador, Gracia the German Shepherd and Jade, another cat. Gala has since died.