PRESS RELEASE: Black Women Converge at Atlanta HBCU to Resist Trump Cuts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Farah Tanis, 646-263-1050 | Ftanis@blueprintny.org
Ericka Dixon, 917-685-9687 | Ericka@blueprintny.org
Black Women Converge at Atlanta HBCU to Resist Trump Cuts
April 29 - 30, 2017 Spelman College - Black Women’s Blueprint and the Women’s Research and Resource Center will convene the Words of Fire Conference with a focus on Gender, Power and a Black Feminist Call for Social Justice.
More than 1200 grassroots activists, artists and academics of the U.S. and formerly so-called Third World meet at Spelman College, as women and girls in Black communities are under siege. With the federal administration’s recent budget proposal to make vital cuts to anti-rape, anti-battery and anti-stalking prevention services that ensure human rights to personal and economic security, non-torture and bodily autonomy, Black women are running out of places to turn to for safety and justice. Black women are turning to each other and building power and and are calling all communities to join women of the African Diaspora at the Words of Fire Conference in a response to the current political climate and because they’ve always taken up the mantle to fight for civil rights, human rights and human dignity. What better place for a conference than Spelman College, exactly one year after the 2016 U.S. Truth and Reconciliation Commission on Sexual Assault.
Not to be missed, the Conference will honor more than 30 Black women leaders in Dr. Beverly Guy Sheftall’s “Words of Fire: An Anthology of African-American Feminist Thought”, including Pearl Cleage, Byllye Avery, Cheryl Clarke, Angela Davis, Michelle Wallace, Barbara Smith, Akasha Gloria Hull, Paula Giddings, Patricia Hill Collins and others like Loretta Ross, Ruby Sales, Fania Davis, Anita Hill, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Brittney Cooper and Bre Ann Campbell of Trans Sistas of Color, Detroit. With a provocative presentation by Darci McConnell, Kim Trent and Kymberli Worthy of Enough SAID, working to end rape kit backlogs in their state, and a training by Wellstone Action for HBCU women on electoral politics, there is no doubt that the inter-generational, deliberative dialogues and workshops planned for Words of Fire will mean an increase in political action and Black women’s participation in national women’s rights movements that bridge differences across race, ethnicity, sexuality, economic status and other intersections. Where some felt the post-election Women’s March didn’t meet all of their needs, Words of Fire is the place for Black women to unite their voices, speaking loudly to demand an end to policies that perpetuate gender and racial oppression. For those ready to resist and transform their communities, step up.
Register Today For The Conference or Support a Scholarship For A Survivor to Attend
#WordsofFire #BlackGirls #BlackWomen39sBlueprint #BlackWomenintheUS #BlackWomeninDiasporaNorthAmerica #SpelmanCollege