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"Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise": First Film on Writer and Activist Chronicles an Extraordinary Life (report from Democracy Now!)
Popular Resistance Newsletter:
Celebrate Black Power
The Art Of The Black Lives Matter Movement
#HERDREAMDEFERRED:
A WEEK ON THE STATUS OF BLACK WOMEN AND GIRLS
MARCH 28 - APRIL 1, 2016
Webinars and radio show: info here
The Movement, Remembered Forward
Interviews and discussion from the Jan. 19, 2015 radio show:
On Being, with Krista Tippett, featuring:
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons and Lucas Johnson —
"Wisdom for how we can move and heal our society in our time as the Civil Rights Movement galvanized its own. Lucas Johnson is bringing the art and practice of nonviolence into a new century, for new generations. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons was an original Black Power feminist and a grassroots leader of the Mississippi Freedom Summer."
Action, resources: Black lives matter!
#Black Lives Matter
http://blacklivesmatter.com/
Police violence goes unpunished. See:
The Worry And The Wait For Justice: What It Feels Like To Be A Black Mother Right Now, by Mikki Kendall
NYPD Officer NOT Indicted for Chokehold Death of Eric Garner by Lauren McCauley (Both posted on commondreams.org, Dec. 3, 2014)
See also: ColorOfChange: "We have a key opportunity to transform discriminatory and violent policing nationwide."
The Million Hoodies Movement for Justice was established in March 2012 in response to the murder of Trayvon Martin.
#BlackLivesMatter: Lessons from a Leader-ful Movement
By Jodie Tonita, in the Social Transformation Project, also published on the Popular Resistance website and and newsletter. Don't miss the excellent links in this piece:
Excerpt:
"In the 15 years that I have been supporting social change leaders to become more powerful, effective and collaborative I have never been as hopeful as I am today. A new civil rights movement with bold new leadership is emerging, and there is already a lot to be learned from these efforts, and much to celebrate...
"I was saddened but not surprised when Oprah Winfrey recently said she was looking for “some kind of leadership” from this movement. Saddened that she could not yet see the incredibly courageous, strategic, and talented leadership at the heart of this “leader-ful” movement. Not surprised given the generational gap between boomers and millennials and the tendency for traditional media to seek a single charismatic leader to deliver the message.
Oprah notwithstanding, I’m hopeful that as this movement grows, more and more people will recognize the bold, innovative and radical new leadership behind it. #BlackLivesMatter founders Opal Tometi, Alicia Garza and Patrisse Cullors-Brignac, two of whom are queer women and one who is a Nigerian-American, recently wrote:
There are important implications for the possibilities that this new layer of leadership can offer the movement as a whole. We create much more room for collaboration, for expansion, for building power when we nurture movements that are full of leaders, and allow for all of our identities to inform our work and how we organize. This then allows for leadership to emerge from our intersecting identities, rather than to be organized around one notion of Blackness. Because of this, we resist the urge to consolidate our power and efforts behind one charismatic leader.
When we center the leadership of the many who exist at the margins, we learn new things about the ways in which state sanctioned violence impacts us all. ...
It‘s been incredibly humbling and inspiring to witness the courageous youth of Ferguson, NYC and people across the country declare and demand that #BlackLivesMatter. Black organizers heard the call, saw the possibilities, stepped into capacity gaps, and are organizing their communities and allies to meet the moment."... Read full posting here