PUSHMAG: The Active Issue

treated like a passing fad, it is easy to lose the spirit and the
origins of the movement, but Brujas are fighting to keep the
youth-driven elements of street culture alive and thriving. “The
point is that all of the young people who are the models and the
innovators and the trendsetters are the ones who are creating
the value for others to come in and extract. So my point is you
might as well capture the value at its origin point,” says Gil when
discussing the appropriation of street culture as a trend. This
conversation exposes what is perhaps one of Gil’s most amazing
qualities: they are acutely aware of the power and influence of
themself and their peers. Years of belittling and underestimation
from adults, government systems and other ageist peers have
only fueled their fire. The streetwear brand, debuting this
October, is appropriately named the 1971 Collection after the
1971 Attica prison riot. The clothing bares drawings of prisons
and the motto of the collection, “Prisons are obsolete, give
em hell, negotiations from the door of a cell.” Portions of the
proceeds from the streetwear collection are being donated to a
fund for queer and trans prisoners of color.
Brujas are all too familiar with a heavy police
presence in their lives, and have bared witness to racist
policies, as well as the unnecessary searches and arrests of their
family members and peers. While they are obviously affected
by the political fuckery that is our federal government, their
focus always remains local and community-based, “We try
really really hard to do as much service to our community
as we possibly can. We are constantly engaging with our
direct community to create programming and resources
for people,” shares Gil. Addressing the issues within their
community means dealing with mass incarceration and the
policing of youth. This reflects the true heart of what Brujas
are doing: focusing on their immediate community, assessing
its problems and creating a safe space to work together to
solve them. They are self-sufficient, self-aware and always
solution-based, yet they remain consistently reduced and
underestimated by the systems surrounding them.
Beyond the community-based work Brujas do and the
money they raise to donate to their dedicated causes, what they are
doing is starting a larger conversation about the lack of resources
and respect for youth and youth contributions. “We are trying to
start a new world order one hoodie at a time,” Gil expresses. Youth
culture in America is thriving, educated and bursting with the
motivation needed to create real solutions to tired problems. And
yet we push and pull young people until they fit into the poorly
constructed boxes and systems we are reluctant to admit are not
working to begin with. In essence, what Brujas are asking is that if
they must be purposeful and introspective about their intentions
in order to be taken seriously, why can’t the systems that are
failing them do the same? In the meantime, perhaps their biggest
resistance as an organization is creating a truly inclusive and safe
space for those deemed “other” by hetero-normative culture. “I
think just to be honest…sometimes we’re just making sure each
other are eating and sleeping enough,” says Ripley Le Fey, coowner
of Mask Mag and Brujas collaborator. In a time when the
nuclear family is being reworked and reconsidered,
Brujas have created their own ride or die
community that continues to
provide the resources
and support
they have long
since stopped
expecting
from the
world. p