10 Things to Know This Week
#AndStillWeRise Use this hashtag with us to celebrate to resilience and brilliance of Black women as we move forward post-election period with the integrity and grace that we have always possessed from our foremothers. How do you rise? Share it with us!
Feeling Paralyzed? Pledge Your Support for BWB on #GivingTuesday, two weeks from today. If you are anything like us, it has been difficult to get out of bed, let alone make a plan for action or connect with those around us. The emotional and physical costs on Black women of Trump’s rise to presidential power are real. And we know that the financial costs of fighting his Administration’s dangerous policy proposals over the next four years will also be extraordinary. Help BWB prepare for the fight ahead by pledging your support to us on #GivingTuesday, November 29. We’ll be racing to raise $5000 in 24 hours, with every donation matched dollar for dollar by Brooklyn Community Foundation. If you pledge, we will personally check back in two weeks from now to see how your self-care is coming along, and to support you in showing up in your true power through this concrete contribution for positive change.
Words of Fire Call for Papers has been released! Please answer the call to action by clicking on this link. Given the impact of the 2016 Elections on Black Women and All Survivors, Black Women's Blueprint calls for resistance and urgent communal care through this call to action and convening. Words of Fire will carry us with full momentum into the next phase of Black feminist futurity where our thriving and surviving are not only paired with struggle and resistance but rebirth and regenerated sources of power and global justice.
BWB on the Map in Ireland and Atlanta: Last Week our Executive Director Farah Tanis was at Facing Race 2016! She spoke on panel “Mobilizing Black Women and Girls in the Movement for Black Lives” in conversation with Jamia Wilson, Joanne Smith, and Eesha Pandit in Atlanta, Georgia. This Week, Farah is in Ireland for the #SafeIreland Summit, talking safety for Women and Girls around the world.
Check out Fierce Leader, BWTRC Commissioner and BWB Member Agunda Okeyo’s Call to Action: Why We’re Taking Our Protest Against Racism and Misogyny To Trump Tower "The stakes are high my friends. A great deal of the western world has moved to the right in the face of self-created financial ruin and migration crises.Male domination, white supremacy and its bedfellows (racism, sexism, classism, xenophobia, homophobia and transphobia) have led to numerous wars, overpopulation (by denying reproductive rights), refugee crises the world over, climate change, and now Donald Trump, leader of the most powerful nation, no, EMPIRE, in the world. To quote myself, “ I’m not having it,” are you with me?" Read the entire article here
#ImWithUs: Say it boldly! Write for mama black as you process and move through the election results in your own way. How are you choosing to show up? What is your vision for Black women and girls moving forward? What are you electing in this next season of resistance and resilience? This online platform accepts grassroots human rights, academic and scholarly writing, first person narratives, interviews, Op/Eds, personal narrative, and critical analysis. The suggested length of each piece is 800 to 1200 words, submitted in a word document, 12 pt. Font, Times New Romans. Long form writing is also encouraged.
Don’t Wait to Name Your Freedom Black Women’s Blueprint wants to hear from you. How do you define freedom and liberation? What does it look like and feel like to you? What policy addresses it? What laws create space for it? What communities demonstrate and embody it? How do you experience or want to experience freedom in the wake of violence and terrorism? How can we abolish fear and the institution of hate? We can and will move forward together collectively. Send us a list of things you would have in your Black Women’s Resistance Toolkit at Sevonna@Blueprintny.org
8 Black Women Who Won on Election Night: Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in congress, who also became the first black woman to run for president from a major political party, once said, "If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair." Read more about these amazing women here.
An Open Letter to Our Nation from 100 women of color leaders was published pledging to continue the work of fighting for human rights and human dignity especially during the first 100 days of the new administration. Join the pledge to stand with women of color leadership and women who are leading solutions to support a vision for black lives and end for violence against women and girls. To find out more ways to get involved visit https://our100.org/
On November 14th 1960, 56 years ago, 6 year old Ruby Bridges was accompanied into an all-white elementary school desegregating the New Orleans public school system. Ruby Bridges was the first African American student to attend an all-white public school in the South, years after the Brown v. Board of Education decision was handed down by the Supreme Court. Black Women’s Blueprint continues to honor Ruby Bridges’ legacy of breaking down barriers and working to create a system in which every child has access to transformative, liberatory education. Read more about Ruby Bridges’ story here.
#BlackWomen39sBlueprint #BlackWomenintheUS #BlackWomeninDiasporaNorthAmerica