T-shirts advertise many things. For me, social justice issues are a healthy way to express yourself. Being an ally is also one way I can share my support for those who are oppressed. I believe it was Erasmus who said: “He who allows oppression shares the crime.” I am now a convert to “One who wears t-shirts can share something powerful.”

At one time in my life, I had the reputation of not wearing t-shirts with any statement or picture.  My reason was simple: why give free advertising to a corporation making millions?  Well, that too became a stubborn action on my part. And one that has changed.

As an example, let me share the story of my friend Berta Cacerrus. She was a ‘water protector.’ She demonstrated/protested against the government in Honduras for privatizing the rivers. She stood up for her people. She knew that privatizing the rivers by US Mining companies would pollute the water and drain the river. While in Central America this summer, I wore a t-shirt with Berta Cacerrus’s face on the front. It is quite stunning and beautifully done. Many looked at it and smiled. I would turn around, so they also could read what was on the back in Spanish. Then I would hear “Amigo.” As I turned, they would smile, give me a high five or shake my hand. They read her story. As John Lewis said: she “got in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble.” And she was assassinated for it. A river that was 40 feet across in Berta’s village was now four feet across. Her village needed that water for their families and their farming. Girls who have to get water every day from that river (stream now) have sores on their body because the water is contaminated and has touched their skin. My t-shirt spoke to many. I wear it often in the states and many want to know the story. Berta fought corporate greed. This is a t-shirt worth wearing and a life worth sharing.

I wear my ‘Water Protector” shirt often. Many want to know why I proudly wear it. I have to remind others that our country finds ways of providing for us, while challenging the ecosystem of other countries. It is a new way of colonizing others

In 2016 my spouse and I went to Standing Rock, North Dakota. Two hundred Native American nations were demonstrating / protesting a pipeline across their land (much of it burial grounds). It also would go under the Missouri River, so that oil could be transported from Canada and NW North Dakota to a processing plant in Illinois. We camped for a week with the Nations. The state government decided on this route because the original one went north of the capital, Bismark and the people thought it may leak and pollute ‘their’ water. So it was directed south of the city. It must not have mattered if it polluted the reservation’s water. This year Waterworks Gallery, here in Salisbury, had an artist from Standing Rock speaking to this issue with her art. She emphasized the pain and misuse of their land. She verbally shared her feelings through her art. Meeting her was like a ‘coming full circle kind of moment’ in life, all because of my “Water is Life” t-shirt from Standing Rock.  

I also proudly wear my “water is life” t-shirt, my Homeland Security shirt with Indians watching out for us, and my “School of the Americas” which expresses my solidarity with the countries in Central America which have been damaged environmentally and domestically by our military support of the corporate colonizers. I also have a  “Paz Para Vieques” shirt which shares the story of the US buying part of an island off Puerto Rico to practice bombing, while babies were being born, children were in school, people were worshiping, and businesses were trying to make a living – all within 2-3 miles of the bombing range.

T-shirts advertise many things. For me, social justice issues are a healthy way to express yourself. Being an ally is also one way I can share my support for those who are oppressed. I believe it was Erasmus who said: “He who allows oppression shares the crime.” I am now a convert to “One who wears t-shirts can share something powerful.”

“Dear Neighbor” authors are united in a belief that civility and passion can coexist. We believe curiosity and conversation make us a better community.

Kim Porter