On this page you’ll find information about three convenings in July that need your support:
Sustaining Black Resistance: A Call to Black Racial Justice Leaders
July 30-31, 2015
Conveners: Linda Burnham, Alicia Garza, Denise Perry
(please note that this is a small convening and is by invitation only)
Goals:
- To encourage stronger alignment on approaches to mobilizing, organizing, advocacy and messaging regarding the immediate crisis of state violence against Black communities.
- To strengthen the capacity of Black leaders to meet this moment by identifying and taking advantage of new opportunities for political action.
- To develop a collective understanding of the current moment, our responses to it and the openings it presents to advance a racial justice agenda.
This moment offers multiple opportunities for political alignment and strategic intervention. Specifically, it offers opportunities to engage in deepened analysis, education and communication about police practices and their relationship to other systemic and structural processes that reinforce and reproduce the race, class and gender inequities that pervade 21st century poor Black communities. Further, this strategic opening has underscored the urgency of supporting a more intentional process of political alignment among this generation’s racial justice leaders.
The demonstrations and uprising did not emerge in a vacuum. Racial justice organizers and advocates have been building organizations and networks at the local, statewide and national levels for many years. For a range of complex reasons, however, the racial justice movement of the past several decades has been less than maximally effective.
We believe that it is critical to convene Black racial justice leaders to enter into dialogue about how best to ensure that we build upon the opportunities presented by this strategic opening. We believe that this moment demands that we step up to the challenges of leadership: deep love and compassion for our people; deep understanding of their life circumstances; strategic vision of how to shift – and ultimately overturn – entrenched, racist arrangements of power; and creative approaches to building the actions, alliances, movements and institutions that will move our agenda forward. We believe that we can meet these challenges together.
If you are interested in making a grant to support the convening, please write to Denise Perry at dperry@boldorganizing.org.
#Law4BlackLives
July 31st – August 1st | Harlem, NYC
Support the #Law4BlackLives Convening in July in New York City. #Law4BlackLives is a national gathering of lawyers, law students, legal workers, and jailhouse lawyers who are committed to working with activists to build a world where #BlackLivesMatter.
Unlike most convenings of this type, this one will prioritize the voices and leadership of people of color, most importantly Black lawyers and legal advocates, from around the country.
Resources will help support travel for speakers and those with financial hardships, food and logistics for the conference, as well as support the convening’s cultural components, which are essential to inspiring and leveraging this important work as we move forward.
Contributions at every level, from $50 to $5,000+, will help the convening organizers reach their goal of full participation and a truly representative group of participants.
More than a meeting or a conference, this gathering is a call to action for legal advocates from diverse parts of the country to join together and spend a day designing how legal advocates can support the growing Movement For Black Lives.
Plenaries, workshops and panels will explore how legal advocates can work collaboratively with activists and organizers on a range of matters–from defending the civil rights of protesters to drafting transformative local and federal policy to advancing innovative international human rights advocacy strategies.
The convening will also surface current legal needs from the ground and start to identify legal strategies and tactics. Finally, the space will stitch together a community of like-minded individuals and build a deeper collective understanding of how legal advocates can build the power of movements.
Thank you so much for your support. Your gift will contribute to the creation of the best program for the largest possible number of possible, regardless of their ability to pay. If you are interested in making a grant to support the convening, please write to jrye@ccrjustice.org or call 212-614-6473.
