Come TURN UP this Sunday, April 23rd from 2:00-5:00pm at the Mother House at SisterSong’s RJ Block Party!
For directions to the Mother House, click HERE.
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Category: Updates
From The Sea Islands to Beyonce – The Legacy of The Igbo Landing In Contemporary American Culture
Image c/o Mikael Owunna: Beyoncé in the music video for “Love Drought” marching into the water followed by a procession of black women.
One of the guests on our upcoming podcast, Mikael Owunna, is, among many things, well-known for his article on the link between Beyonce’s music video “Love Drought,” Julie Dash’s film “Daughters of The Dust” and the myth of the Igbo Landing.
[Mikael Owunna’s Image description: Donovan Nelson’s artistic depiction of Igbo Landing in charcoal. It shows the Igbo slaves marching into a body of water with the water already up to their necks and their eyes closed. Image via Valentine Museum of Art]
For those who don’t know, Igbo Landing is the location of a mass suicide of Igbo slaves that occurred in 1803 on St. Simons Island, Georgia. As the story goes, a group of Igbo slaves revolted and took control of their slave ship, grounded it on an island, and rather than submit to slavery, proceeded to march into the water while singing in Igbo, drowning themselves in turn. They all chose death over slavery. It was an act of mass resistance against the horrors of slavery and became a legend, particularly amongst the Gullah people living near the site of Igbo Landing.
Not only is the story of Igbo Landing one of the key themes of Julie Dash’s Daughters Of The Dust, which influenced LEMONADE, but its imagery also appears to be central to the “Love Drought” video. In the video, Beyoncé marches into the water followed by a group of black women all in white with black fabric in the shape of a cross across the front of their bodies. They march progressively deeper into the water before pausing and raising all of their hands toward the sunset.
Join us TODAY 4/20 at Georgia State University’s Alliance for Gender & Sexual Diversity located in Room 467 of Student Center West located at 141 Courtland Street SE, Atlanta, GA 30303 for a screening of Julie Dash’s Daughters Of The Dust and stick around for a discussion on the legacy of the Igbo Landing as we sip on some lemonade and other seasonal refreshments.
Welcome to SPARK, Randi!
We are pleased to welcome Randi Gregory to the SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW family as our new Director of Programs!
Randi is a native of GA and studied Speech Communications at the University of Georgia. She has been a life-long progressive, but didn’t become active until after working on a Senate race in Arkansas where she became even more excited about working on community issues with volunteers. After working as the Atlanta Field Director for the 2010 elections, Randi became a union organizer with Service Employees International Union where she organized a wide variety of healthcare workers. She most recently worked as the Central/Southern Ohio Organizer for NARAL Pro Choice Ohio which sparked her interest for Reproductive Justice. Randi enjoys travelling, good or bad movies, is a Gates Millennium Scholar and a proud member of Gamma Phi Delta Sorority Inc.
We are honored to have Randi as a member of our team and know we will accomplish great things together! Join us in welcoming Randi Gregory and wishing her the best in her journey with SPARK.
Free Breast Health Screenings
The Health Initiative is hosting a series of no-cost community breast health screening days that are open for registration now! Services provided are made possible by a grant from Susan G. Komen of Greater Atlanta and It’s the Journey.
Screenings will take place on Saturday, March 25, 2017 between 9:00 AM & 2:00 PM at The Health Initiative site located in The Phillip Rush Center. You can register for the screening here. There are limited spots available so sign up now!
Participants must be at least 35 years old. All of these services are trans* inclusive.
The Health Initiative will contact you to select your appointment time after you register.
What Does RJ Mean To You?
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 Legislate This!, 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 is 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.
This year, the training was held at the Troy Moore Library at GSU and we were joined by Devin Barrington-Ward, a long-time supporter and lobbyist for SPARK as well as Sable Nelson, Esq., the Policy and Advocacy Program Manager at SisterLove, Inc.
SPARK thanks you all for your attendance and encourages you all to make your voices heard as advocates and allies in the fight for reproductive justice.
Tweet us or tag us on Instagram and Facebook and tell us what RJ means to you!
Meet Our Keynote Speaker, Jennifer Barnes!
LegislateTHIS! is our annual statewide day of action and advocacy where you can expect to hear from key leaders about pertinent public policy issues and educate our policymakers at the GA Capitol about the reproductive justice agenda.
We are just a mere hours away from the 10th Annual LegislateTHIS! taking place tomorrow, THURSDAY FEB 23, from 9:00am – 2:00pm, at Trinity United Methodist Church, and are doubly honored to have Jennifer Barnes as the Keynote Speaker who, among many things, recently delivered an unflinching indictment on the state’s negligent housing practices at SPARK’s hearing with the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus on the HIV epidemic in Georgia.
For the 2017 legislative session, SPARK invokes Kimberlee Crenshaw’s work on #Intersectionality, and calls on YOU to carry on in the tradition of grassroots community leaders, like Jennifer, who believe that we can speak truth to power and hold our elected representatives accountable through the collective power of #ReproductiveJustice.
Thank You!
SOI 2017 is a wrap!
SPARK Organizing Intensive (SOI) February 19, 2017 at the Troy Moore Library at Georgia State University
Posted by Spark Reproductive Justice Now on Wednesday, February 22, 2017
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 Legislate This!, 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 is 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.
This year, the training was held at the Troy Moore Library at GSU and we were joined by Devin Barrington-Ward, a long-time supporter and lobbyist for SPARK as well as Sable Nelson, Esq., the Policy and Advocacy Program Manager at SisterLove, Inc.
SPARK thanks you all for your attendance and encourage you all to make your voices heard as advocated and allies in the fight for reproductive justice!
A message from our lobbyist, Devin Barrington-Ward
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
SOI Advocacy Training & Brunch
We’re only 3 days away from the SOI Advocacy Training & Brunch taking place this SUNDAY, FEB 19, from 1-4pm at the Troy Moore Library and we can’t wait to see you there!
For security purposes, Georgia State University will be verifying guest names against our registration list and if you haven’t registered yet, this is the time to do it.
Register NOW!
Queer South Rise UP!
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.
