Author: SPARK

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A message from our lobbyist, Devin Barrington-Ward

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Did you know that pregnant women serving time in correctional facilities in states like Georgia are shackled and handcuffed while they give birth to their child?

Check out this letter I co-wrote with Dr. Krystal Redman, Executive Director of Spark Reproductive Justice Now to members of the Georgia General Assembly about this horrible practice!

This practice continues in Georgia despite the fact that doctors and criminologist alike have labeled the practice both unnecessary and unsafe for mother and child, especially consider the fact that there has never been a reported case of a pregnant women escaping custody during labor.

Spark and I believe that we must dismantle the prison industrial complex to truly save Black women, however we realize that Georgia has recently been on a path of making significant reforms to the criminal justice and prison system in Georgia, however if these reforms do not ban shackling pregnant women during labor then these reforms are illegitimate because they do not center the experiences of Black women who make up the bulk of Georgia’s female prison population.

Please call State Representative Alan Powell, Chairman of the Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security at 404-463-3793 and demand that a hearing be held on this important legislation!

 

– Devin Barrington-Ward, SPARK Lobbyist.

 

Join us at The 10th Annual LegislateTHIS! on Thursday, FEB 23, to learn more about Georgia’s shackling laws and other pressing policy issues that affect our communities.

Register NOW! http://bit.ly/2kHYdD2

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Queer South Rise UP!

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There’s less than 24 hours left to register for SONG’s Queer South Revival happening in Highlands, NC, from March 3-5.

What can you expect?

In March, we’re bringing together 100 members who want to turn up with SONG both locally and regionally. Whether you are a new SONG member or Forever SONG family, if you want to move strategies, organizing, culture, and action in lockstep with the SONG formation then this is the membership gathering for you. Together we’ll imagine and enact on possibilities and plans to protect and defend our communities and to build sanctuary for southern towns and cities so we can live free from fear.

 Head on over to www.southernersonnewground.org to learn more.

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The Weekend Countdown Starts… NOW!

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There’s only 5 days left to register for the SOI Advocacy Training & Brunch taking place this Sunday, FEB 19, from 1-4PM at the Troy Moore Library.

The SPARK Organizing Intensive (SOI) engages an intergenerational cohort of reproductive justice and sexual health advocates through collaborative intensive political skill development for comprehensive and sound reproductive justice policies in the Southeast.

As a lead up to the Legislate THIS! advocacy day, the SOI is geared towards supporting and empowering people of color, while centering the experiences of Black Women and queer & trans youth of color. The training will provide an opportunity for both new and experienced organizers and activists to dig deep on pressing issues that affect our communities across identities, gain concrete organizing and campaign building skills, and directly organize and support community events and projects throughout 2017.

Read our 2017 Legislative Brief.

As we prepare for a drastic shift in our political environment, it is increasingly important to focus on building our power and our voices as a community.

Register for the SOI Advocacy Training NOW!

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Black Queer History – Miss Major

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COURTESY OF MISS MAJOR via SF Weekly – Miss Major at the Ark of Refuge in the 1990s

It is impossible to sum up Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, BKA Miss Major, and her importance not just to the trans-liberation movement but to human progress as a whole. She has been a vocal and revolutionary leader of prison reform, even at the risk of her own safety, and in what can only be described as a miracle, survived the systematic and unrelenting violence of living in a white supremacist capitalist patriarchy for a fierce 76 years!

And yet, here we are 48 years after the Stonewall riots (in which she participated), 17 years after the formation of TGI Justice (where she was amongst the earliest employees), and $118,000 dollars short of her retirement fund.

What will you do to help honor this bastion of human civilization?

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Georgia Black Caucus Hearing

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In observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, SPARK and the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus will be hosting a public hearing co-sponsored by SisterLove, Inc tomorrow, Thursday, February 9, 2017, at 1:30PM in Room 415 of the Paul Coverdell Legislative Office Building at the State Capitol.

Georgia is one of 32 states that place an undue criminal liability on people living with HIV and SPARK, along with our community partners, has been working as part of a national task force, THE GEORGIA COALITION TO END HIV CRIMINALIZATION, to address the HIV epidemic in the South and help modernize HIV laws.

Join us at the hearing and learn more about how you can lend your voice to the movement.

This is the first in a series of events for our Speak Justice Take Action programing.

Up next is The SOI Advocacy Training And Brunch, taking place on Sunday FEB. 19,

and our education day at the State Capitol, Legislate THIS!, slated for Thursday, FEB. 23.

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What does RJ mean to you?

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We have plenty to celebrate this year, including Dr. Krystal Redman’s appointment to the Fulton County Schools Health and Physical Education Department’s Health Advisory Committee. The committee is comprised of community stakeholders within our district and will have a hand in crafting sex education material prior to it being implemented in classrooms around metro Atlanta.

SPARK applauds Dr. Redman for being an invaluable asset to the Atlanta community and invites you to let us know how you think we should impact Fulton County’s efforts to improve the education of our future leaders.

Read more about what we have planned for the month, and tell us what #RJmeans to you on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

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Don’t Agonize. Brunch & Organize!

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Whether you are looking for a role in your community or have been an active organizer for years, the SPARK ORGANIZING INTENSIVE ADVOCACY TRAINING (SOI) is a wonderful opportunity to engage an intergenerational cohort of reproductive justice advocates and dig deep on pressing issues that affect our communities across identities. You will also be able to gain concrete campaign building skills that will help you directly organize and support community events and projects throughout 2017.

Read our 2017 Legislative Brief.

SOI serves as a lead-up training to LegislateThis! our annual advocacy day at the state capitol and is geared towards supporting and empowering people of color, centering the experiences of queer & trans youth of color and black women. As we enter an increasingly disruptive political age, it is urgently important to focus on building our power as a community and uplifting the voices of those most marginalized in society.

This year, the SOI will take place on Sunday, February 19th, from 1-4PM, at the

TROY MOORE LIBRARY AT GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY.

Register for the 2017 SOI.

Doors open/brunch served at 12:45PM.

View and share the event on Facebook and Eventbrite.

For more information, e-mail our Programs Specialist, Shayla Robinson, at Shayla@sparkrj.org

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Happy Black History Month!

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We are celebrating our queer and trans leaders for Black History Month starting with the incomparable Marsha P. Johnson, a trans liberation trailblazer and fashion it-girl who not only repeatedly risked her life to stand up for what was right but looked spectacular while doing it.

We call upon her courage to guide us through the 10th Annual Legislate THIS! and beyond in the fight to ensure that individuals and communities have the resources and power to make sustainable and liberatory decisions about our bodies, gender, sexualities, and lives.

Tell us what Marsha’s legacy means to you via Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and share your queer and trans heroes with us for our month-long series, #BlackQueerHistory.

Illustration by Micah Bizant.

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Let’s Meet At The Crossroads Of Reproductive Justice

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Legislate THIS! is our annual statewide day of action and advocacy, with this year’s session taking place on Thursday, February 23, 2017. You can expect to hear from key leaders about pertinent public policy issues and educate our policymakers at the GA Capitol about many of our obstacles that meet at the crossroads of reproductive justice.

Read our 2017 Legislative Brief.

In celebration of the momentous 10th annual session, SPARK invokes Kimberlee Crenshaw’s work on Intersectionality, and calls on YOU to carry on in the tradition of grassroots community leaders who believe that we can speak truth to power and hold our elected representatives accountable through the collective power of Reproductive Justice.

Doors open/breakfast served at 8:30AM at Trinity United Methodist Church.

Register for the 10th Annual Legislate This! here.

View and share the event on Facebook and EventBrite.