This is a spoken word poem written by my friend, the amazingly talented e nina jay. When I first heard this poem, maybe 10 years ago now, I was floored by it. I still am after all of these years. It would take two days to deconstruct it. I asked e nina jay if I could publish it here and she generously agreed. Now you get to experience it too. I thank e nina jay for writing this; it holds so much truth.

i am a feminist
-e nina jay

i’ve got a master’s degree in sacrificial silence and a PhD in pain
‘cause i got a bachelor’s i didn’t want in violence and it’s left some degree of insane
now i am trying to balance holding myself together while still going against the grain
i want black girls to have a study group devoted to outliving shame
this world ain’t really nothing natural ~ fresh water don’t cultivate every tree
not every storm leaves behind a rainbow ~ not every ship comes back from sea
not every child has a parent who loves them ~ these laws do not set us all free
but we live in a place where we praise illusions ~ what it is ~ is very rarely what it be
and so on darkness and shattered glass these damaged legs have come to stand
i know i am as deserving as any white person ~ i am as smart as any man
this life a jungle i must make it through without much light and no map planned
these conditions forced me to learn to join a war that had already began

Read more »

For over a decade, I have been privileged to be in community with youth and adult members of a unique and transformative organization called The Young Women’s Empowerment Project (YWEP). I served as a board member, adviser (when called upon), supporter, cheerleader, booster, funder, and just an unabashed fan.

Yesterday evening, I gathered with dozens of YWEP members and supporters to celebrate the organization’s accomplishments and contributions. We were also together to mark an end to YWEP as an organization. The work of YWEP will obviously live on in new and different ways but the organization will soon officially close its doors. There are myriad reasons for YWEP’s decision to end its operations. Someday in the future, I’ll have some comments about these.

I was interviewed yesterday and asked to reflect on the organization’s history and work. It gave me a chance to discuss the ways that I’ve been influenced by YWEP as a youth worker and person. Quite simply, YWEP taught me about love, humanity, and struggle.

The young people who joined YWEP over the years are among the most marginalized youth in Chicago. There are black & brown girls (for the most part), trans* youth, poor kids, youth who trade sex for money and survival needs, people in the street economy, and substance using & sometimes abusing teenagers. And here’s the thing: at YWEP none of these identities or behaviors are defining. YWEP youth are treated simply as HUMAN and they are offered unconditional love and support.

They are considered leaders and experts in their own lives. I saw first hand how previously insecure young people slowly gained confidence and voice. I marveled at the metamorphosis of youth (who were previously seen as talentless) into brilliant artists (poets, visual artists, musicians). No one is disposable at YWEP. Every single one of us is “priceless.”

It is primarily through YWEP’s work that I learned the importance of centering healing in youth organizing. I learned from watching them how to put Audre Lorde’s words (not just the pithily cited ones) into PRACTICE.

YWEP is the embodiment of radical love and self-determination. Those two things made the organization a threat and a constant target of those who cannot abide people of color and the marginalized loving ourselves and each other, especially in public. I remember the consistent death threats and the persistent danger in doing the work. Yet those who moved the work forward have kept their integrity, compassion, and most importantly humor throughout.

Years ago, I read an essay by June Jordan titled “Where is the love?” It was transformative for me.

And it is here — in the extreme coincidence of my status as someone twice stigmatized, my status as someone twice kin to the despised majority — it is here, in this extremity, that I stand in a struggle against demoralization and suicide and toward self-love and self-determination. And it is here, in this extremity, that as a Black feminist I ask myself and anyone who would call me sister, Where is the love?

And it seems to me that the strength that should come from Black feminism means that I can, without fear, love and respect all men who are willing and able, without fear, to love and respect me… this means that as a Black feminist I cannot be expected to respect what somebody else calls self-love if that concept of self-love requires my self-destruction.

I can say that the love for YWEP was manifest at last night’s celebration and so too was YWEP’s love for all of us. It IS truly radical as oppressed people to love ourselves in spite of all of the ways that this is precluded. YWEP is a space where our humanity was consistently affirmed and where we were reminded of where love resides (in ourselves and between each other). It made it possible for so many of us to stay in the struggle. I am forever grateful.

Today is the last day to make a donation to support YWEP as it moves to close its doors. I hope that you’ll consider making a contribution as a way to say thank you to the amazing people who have been involved in YWEP’s work over all of these years.

It’s a privilege to publish the following words written by a young man who is currently incarcerated. One of the founders of the Circles and Ciphers program shared the story. If you have any thoughts that you want to send to the young man, please feel free to leave a comment or to email at [email protected].

Circles and Ciphers program participant (wished to remain anonymous)
(incarcerated at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center)
The Inside and Out Project

Once my friend and I were walking down the street. We were at Wood Street and 45th, and we had just come outside (it was 9am).

Then the cops came – deep, three cop cars. Because my phone had a weed plant on the screen they wanted my PIN number to unlock my phone. But I said, “I’m not going to give you my PIN.” So one of the white cops punched me in my stomach and put me inside the cop car. He told me, “You are going to give me the PIN number.” I said, “No.”

Then they let my friend go to his house and took me to my house and told my mom to unlock the phone. My mom said she didn’t know the code. So the white cop left me with my mom and gave my mom the phone. He left.

I went back to the block and saw my friend I had been with earlier and some other guys and told them what happened. I was so mad and my other friend told me to relax. He and I jumped in the car to pick up his baby girl at school. I was telling him the details of what happened, but then the same white cop that took me to my mom’s house stopped us and told me to step out of the car. He put me in his cop car and drove me into the territory of another rival gang, called La Raza. He dropped me off there. On my way trying to get home I got jumped and almost killed for being in La Raza territory. I ran fast as I could back to my house.

I called my friend that I had been in the car with and asked him, “What did the cops do to you?” He said they had let him go. Then I had to get off the phone because my baby brother needed my help, so I helped him with his homework. Later, when I was finished helping him with his homework, my friends came to my house and we smoked some weed.

From the National Archives:

U.S. vs Susan B. Anthony, Order to U.S. Marshal to deliver Susan B. Anthony to county jail, 12/26/1872

I’m a member of the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law’s Educational Equity Project Advisory Committee. The organization does important work in Chicago.

The Chicago Lawyer’s Committee on Civil Rights Under Law and the Education Law and Policy Institute at Loyola Law School are seeking volunteers for the Independent School Monitoring Project.

Pending the outcome of both federal and state litigation, Chicago will be closing as many as forty-nine schools and sending students to designated welcoming schools. The Independent School Monitoring Project is intended to assist in the orderly transition of children to new schools and ensure that their right to a high quality education is preserved during that process. Volunteers will work brief shifts in front of welcoming schools on the first days of the school year, talking directly with parents and students about their experiences at the new school. Volunteers will not provide legal advice, but will be given know your rights materials to hand out and will be able to provide legal referrals as needed.

Volunteering with the Independent School Monitoring Project will be a minimum three-hour commitment: one hour of training and two hours of monitoring time. Trainings will take place on Thursday, August 22nd from 5-6 p.m. and Friday, August 23rd from 9-10 a.m. (volunteers need only attend one of the trainings). We are exploring webcast options for those unable to attend an in-person training session. Monitoring sessions will be on the first two days of the school year for CPS students: Monday, August 26th and Tuesday, August 27th, with additional days of monitoring to be scheduled on an as-needed basis.

If you are interested in signing up, registration is available HERE. Please feel free to direct any questions to Eve Rips at [email protected]. Thank you so much for your interest.

Maya Schenwar did a terrific interview with Dr. Carl Hart about his new book “High Price.” The book is sitting on my summer reading shelf and the summer is almost over…

Anyway, you should read the whole interview but below is a particular interaction that stood out for me:

MS: You’ve mentioned how there aren’t many studies that acknowledge the positive effects of illegal drugs, which is funny because sometimes those effects manifest very similarly to the effects of legal drugs. At one point, you compared methamphetamine and Adderol, for example. This made me think about how in some ways, the scheduling of some drugs as illegal and some drugs as legal comes across as arbitrary.

CH: It’s not arbitrary, but it has little to do with pharmacology. It certainly doesn’t have much to do with potency. Nicotine is one of most potent drugs in the world. The reasons go back to these despised groups – when a drug is associated with them, it often becomes illegal.

This happens through history: Cocaine became associated with black people in the South. The concern with opium was that there were all these Chinese people using it – even though the average user was a 30- to 50-year-old white woman. Marijuana became associated with Mexicans and black people. And meth was restricted when people like bikers and hippies – and young people – were seen to be the ones using that drug.

I found these U.S. government issued “anti-prostitution” posters at the National Archives website. They are from the early 1940s but could easily be part of today’s anti-trafficking efforts.

National Archives (1941-45)

National Archives (1941-1945)

Today is the day on 8/4/64 that the bodies of civil rights martyrs of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were found buried in an earthen dam in Philadelphia, Mississippi. The Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement website provides a detailed account.

After the murders of the three young civil rights organizers, the KKK (which was responsible for their murder) issued a newsletter offering their response. It was written in a Q & A format.

Q: What is your explanation of why there have been so many National Police Agents involved in the case of the “missing civil rights workers?”

A: First I must correct you on your terms. Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman were not civil rights workers. They were Communist Revolutionaries, actively working to undermine and destroy Christian Civilization. The blatant and outlandish National Police activity surrounding their case merely points up the political overtones of the entire affair…

Q: By “political overtones” do you mean that the case has a bearing on the forthcoming elections?
A. It is doubtful that the case itself will be made an issue in the election. However, the incumbent in the White House [Lyndon B. Johnson] is a communist sympathizer, as proven by his numerous acts of treason, and his sole chance of victory in the November election will depend upon his being able to hold his communist-liberal block together by continuing to support and protect all Domestic Communists…

Q: Isn’t it unlikely that the Communists would do that [kill the three civil rights workers themselves] in this case? Schwerner was a valuable man?
A. Not at all. The Communists never hesitate to murder one of their own if it will benefit the party. Communism is pure, refined, scientific Cannibalism in action. A case in point is the murdered Kennedy. Certainly, no President could have been a more willing tool to the Communists than was the late and unlamented “Red Jack.” He cooperated with them at every turn. Yet… he was callously given up for execution by those whom he had served so well…

Q: Do the White Knights of the KU KLUX KLAN advocate or engage in unlawful violence?
A. We are absolutely opposed to street riots and public demonstrations of all kinds. Our work is largely educational in nature… All of our work is carried on in a dignified and reverent manner…We are all Americans in the White Knights of the KU KLUX KLAN of Mississippi.

Source: The Klan-Leader, Special Neshoba County Fair Edition.

I am beyond excited to share that I am working on a project I am calling “Transformative Justice Fall (TJ Fall).” TJ Fall is kicking off early with a sold out discussion on August 15 about Transformative Justice and the Trayvon Martin case.

Next, I am happily collaborating (again) with my friend, brilliant artist Billy Dee to create an arts-informed transformative justice curriculum that we will make available to educators and organizers this fall. The reason for creating this curriculum is to foster discussions with young people about the concepts of transformative justice.

All of this leads up to an amazing exhibition featuring the art of my friend, talented & visionary artist Micah Bazant. Here are Micah’s own words about the Cities of Refuge project:

For the past few years I’ve been working on an art project about transformative justice and scapegoating. It is rooted in my personal experiences of healing from ostracization, but also a longing to understand these experiences historically, spiritually and politically.

The art re-imagines two ancient models of dealing with social transgression: the ritual goat sacrifice (or azazel in Hebrew) that was the root of the scapegoat concept, and the mythic Cities of Refuge (or Ir Miklat) where people accused of a crime could take refuge from violent retribution. As the project develops, the scapegoat is slowly entering the city and the city is entering the scapegoat.

As part of the project, Lewis Wallace and I created a zine of powerful stories about transformative justice.

In collaboration with Project Nia, it will be showing at HumanThread Center/Gallery for Peace, Arts & Education in the Bridgeport Art Center in Chicago 11/11 – 12/9. The project is open for future collaborations with other artists, educators, spiritual communities and organizers!

Below are some amazing photographs of some of the art from Cities of Refuge.

Azazel (Scapegoat) with Ir Miklat (City of Refuge), 2013, clay, goat fur, sequins, trash.

Azazel (Scapegoat) with digestive tract, 2011.
People are asked to write down a serious transgression they have committed and insert it into the goat. Then they pull a question about transformative justice from the mouth of the goat.

Cities of Refuge (Arei Miklat), 2012-2013

City of Refuge (Ir Miklat) #2, 2013, cardboard, electric lights

City of Refuge (Ir Miklat) #3, 2013, cardboard, electric lights