Deciccio, Kate, Artist, Sponsor Amplifier, and Publisher Amplifier. We the Future - Will Not Be Banned., 2020. [Seattle: Amplifier] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021635612/
Educators teaching about historical moments when the American government has limited, suspended, or revoked the rights of different racial, ethnic, and/or religious minorities will find this image useful. For example, educators teaching about the Chinese Exclusion Act or about the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII can make connections between those historical moments and our contemporary one. Educators can link those historical events to the suspension of immigration from certain Muslim-majority companies during Donald Trump’s first presidential term. This poster gives a voice to people like Isra Chaker who were immediately affected by the Muslim travel ban and shows how individuals resisted that injustice.
Poster shows Isra Chaker in the foreground with several tents from a refugee camp in the background.
- After the 2017 presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, Amplifier created the We the Future campaign. Amplifier’s Education program aims to bring resources related to art and social justice into the classroom. The We the Future campaign identified young leaders who represented different political movements and created posters representing those leaders. Because these images were intended to be used in the classroom, Amplifier then created lesson plans to accompany each image. We the Future’s images represent a variety of youth leaders who have organized around disability justice, prison reform, environmental justice, LGBTQ+ rights, as well as other causes. This image was created in the context of Executive Order 13769, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” which suspended the entry of people from Muslim-majority countries (Syria, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and others) into the United States.
- After the 2017 presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, Amplifier created the We the Future campaign. Amplifier’s Education program aims to bring resources related to art and social justice into the classroom. The We the Future campaign identified young leaders who represented different political movements and created posters representing those leaders. Because these images were intended to be used in the classroom, Amplifier then created lesson plans to accompany each image. We the Future’s images represent a variety of youth leaders who have organized around disability justice, prison reform, environmental justice, LGBTQ+ rights, as well as other causes. This image was created in the context of Executive Order 13769, “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States,” which suspended the entry of people from Muslim-majority countries (Syria, Iran, Yemen, Somalia, and others) into the United States.
- Who is in the foreground of this image? What is in the background?
- What colors and symbols do you notice being used? What is their effect?
- What do the design elements of this poster remind you of?
- How does the artist portray Isra Chaker in this poster? Why do they portray her in this way?
- What is this artist communicating about the Muslim travel ban?
Common Core State Standards
RI.9-10.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
- Students will examine elements of the image’s design in order to develop an analysis.
RI.11-12.1: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain.
- Students will examine elements of the image’s design in order to develop an analysis, and also identify places for further inquiry.
- Consider using New York Times’s Lesson Plan, “Analyzing Trump’s Immigration Ban: A Lesson Plan.” This plan asks students to notice how Trump’s executive order echoes other moments of US history and to analyze its effectiveness and legality. Following the lesson plan, show students Isra Chaker’s brief YouTube video responding to the Muslim travel ban. Discuss, and then have students analyze this image and show how this artist depicts Chaker’s resistance to injustice.
- If teaching this image in the context of other historical events like the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII, teachers might discuss this image alongside texts like George Takei’s graphic memoir, They Called Us Enemy.
- Parents and guardians who support President Trump’s restriction of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries may be uncomfortable with art that critiques their beliefs.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- Learning for Justice, Countering Islamophobia; Islamophobia: A Structural Racism.
- “We the Future Are - Unapologetically Queer” – Many of the other images from the We the Future campaign could be used alongside or in place of this particular image. Students could discuss how the campaign represents young activists engaged in particular social justice movements. Based on this image, they could discuss how the image represents advocacy for LGBTQ+ people.
- “We the Future - Are Building Disability Justice” – Many of the other images from the “We the Future” campaign could be used alongside or in place of this particular image. Students could discuss how the campaign represents young activists engaged in particular social justice movements. Based on this image, they could discuss how the image represents disability justice.
- Video: Isra Chaker reacts to the SCOTUS decision to uphold the Muslim ban
- This would be a video companion to the primary source featured here. It would allow a multimodal approach to texts.
- PBS: Supreme Court Ruling on the Travel Ban
- This would logically follow the YouTube video above. It would also be a strong analysis of the language the court uses.
- TIME: “Trump Says He’ll Reinstate ‘Famous Travel Ban’ and Will Ban Refugees From Gaza”
- This would be a historical extension activity to show connections across the years.