10 Things to Know This Week
1. Join BWB and NYC4CEDAW for a city wide Day Of Action!
Black Women’s Blueprint along with other justice-minded community organizations across the five boroughs as part of the NYC for CEDAW Campaign are hosting a City-wide Day of Action We will be rallying to pass a Women’s Bill of Rights based on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. This is an exciting opportunity to join a national campaign which proudly proclaims that women’s rights are human rights – and refuses to yield to the myriad of threats posed by the new Administration in Washington DC by building power and avenues for transformation and recourse at the city level. Join us on June 28th, 2017 - we plan to meet at Brooklyn Bridge Park at 9:30 AM, then walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to rally on the steps of City Hall.
Click here to check out our FB page
RSVP by clicking on the link below:
2. Black Women's Blueprint is headed to CT Alliance Institute on Sexual Violence in Black and African American Communities Day-long Institute:
On June 20th, Black Women’s Blueprint will be discussing the issue of Sexual Violence in Black and African American Communities. The goal of this institute is to engage service providers serving Black and African American people and to provide them with considerations and skills to adequately serve Black and African American survivors. During this institute, participants will get a chance to learn about the new innovative ways that sexual violence is being addressed within their communities.
3. BWB’s Words of Fire Book Circle Continues into the month of June:
Last we started our 5-week Words of Fire Book Circle taking place at the Black Women’s Blueprint! The first major anthology to trace the development, from the early 1800s to the present, of black feminist thought in the United States, Words of Fire is Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s comprehensive collection of writings, in the feminist tradition, of more than sixty African American women. This book circle will provide space for reflection on the text as well as space for visioning, healing, and building community with Black women, Queer, Trans, Interxex and GNC Black people. For more information on this book circle, which will be continuing until the month of June please refer to our FB page.
4. #CosbyWatch: On Wednesday, jurors were selected for Bill Cosby’s trial set to begin on June 5th. At least 60 women, including Andrea Constand, have accused the 79 year old comedian of sexual assault. Read more about the case here.
5. Black Women and Political Action: This Sunday the Democratic National Committee (DNC) refused to participate in an MSNBC panel to discuss the importance of black women voters. This follows an open letter written by Black women activists, civic and community leaders, and elected officials to the DNC, which urged the party to convene with activists to discuss the state of Black women and the Party. Watch a clip of MSNBC'S Joy Reid’s panel on Black women voters here.
6. Black Lives Matter The Sydney Peace Foundation in Australia will award its 2017 peace prize to Black Lives Matter! The group will accept the award on Nov. 2 at the city of Sydney Lecture and Award Ceremony at Sydney’s Town Hall.
7.Black Women on the Map: Governor Rick Scott and Republican in the state legislature of Florida are threatening the political authority of Aramis Ayala, the first Black person to be elected State Attorney in Florida. Ayala was elected with overwhelming support from the Black community, which accepted her campaign to overhaul the criminal justice system and to reduce death penalty charges. Scott has reassigned one of her cases to a white male prosecutor, and he has proceeded to reassign an additional 21 of her cases. You can support the political power of the Black community by signing this petition demanding Ayala be reassigned to her cases here.
8.#FlintWaterCrisis: This Black women owned construction company is one out of four companies recently funded to end the ongoing water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
9. #BlackWomenTestify "We may be shut out of these meetings, but we refuse to be shut out of the conversations:" Today Black activist Odunola "Ola" Ojewumi gave a poignant testimony on the critical role Obamacare played in saving her from a post-transplant cancer that would have been a "death sentence." In her short speech she discusses the importance of accessible healthcare for the lives of disabled Black women and low-income folks.
10.#EndingRapeCulture This powerful article discusses the systematic rape culture and normalization of sexual violence in South Africa.