Forward Stance: Movement Work Redefined

Originally posted at TMJ Abundance

I’ve been there. The organizer rushing from one campaign training to the other; the policy wonk at the desk delving into legislation, reports and volumes of data; or the advocate preparing testimony and fact sheets for the next accountability meeting. At the ready for verbal combat at a moment’s notice, I was lost deep in my thoughts, my head disconnected from my body.

I suppose this is why I was so intrigued by an innovative approach to movement work developed by Forward Together. Based in Oakland, California, this organization takes on big issues by supporting the leadership of the people most affected by them. Issues like youth and sexuality; reproductive rights; the realities of modern-day family structures and the community services that fail to meet their needs. Forward Together makes it happen through a progressive analysis of race, gender, class and community that grounds their work—work that is conceptualized and actualized by a staff that is predominately women of color.

It is out of this microcosm that Forward Stance was developed. Putting the move in movement, Forward Stance is a tool that reconnects activists and advocates with what Forward Together calls “the physics of social change work.” That means getting out of our heads and into our bodies in a way that values the whole person and brings a different type of wisdom to our efforts. In the short video interview below, Forward Together’s Culture and Training Director, Dana Ginn Paredes explains the vision, core elements and the success of Forward Stance.

Dana Ginn Paredes, Culture and Training Director
Dana has worked for social justice organizations for over 12 years as a field organizer, trainer, national program director, organizing director, and training director. Her previous work to promote racial equity and healthy families within welfare policy led her to develop a strong interest in reproductive justice issues for women, youth, and communities of color. Since joining Forward Together in 2003, she has directed research to advance comprehensive sex education policy for California public schools, led electoral campaigns that advance reproductive justice, and initiated and overseen the development of Forward Together’s current youth and worker organizing projects and climate change initiative. Dana was a 2008 fellow in the National APAWLI Signature Program of the Center for Asian Pacific American Women, a 2008 participant of the CLEAR Executive Training Program of the Communications Leadership Institute, and a 2007 fellow of the Women’s Policy Institute. She also serves on the steering committee for the California Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative, and holds a BS in Political Science from the University of California at Berkeley.

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All the Freaky Beauty in the World

Originally Posted at CoreAlign
By Sujatha

To my surprise, articulating my own dream for the reproductive movement has wracked my brain and heart way more than I expected. Why I work on these issues, as opposed to many others, has always seemed to be right there, on the tip of my tongue, gut-felt and completely obvious. And yet, I couldn’t put it into words. This incoherence is a problem. Especially when trying to create an inspiring initiative and change a movement.
In Start with Why, Simon Sinek writes, “It doesn’t matter what you do; it matters Why you do it.” He makes the case that people are inspired to action by why we do what we do, not how (values and principles) or what (programs) we do. Case in point: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had a dream, not a plan. I know many leaders and organizations that are great at developing plans, but not so effective at motivating others to action.

People like hearing other people’s driving purpose in the world. They are more likely to be inspired, more likely to develop a communal sense of purpose, and more likely to create a shared sense of belonging. As Sinek also notes, “King gave the ‘I have a dream’ speech, not the ‘I have a plan’ speech.” A friend went even further, “people who believed that dream and shared that belief made, and make, their own plans.” From a movement-building perspective, that is exactly what we should aspire to, and yet we don’t. We should share a vision for a better future and then let a 1,000 plans bloom, and (hopefully) many of those plans will be way more creative, effective, or inspiring than anything you or I could imagine.

During a recent debate about the continued utility of using “reproductive” to define our movement, I finally got it, the reason why I am a warrior in this movement. This is the one place where I can fight publicly for love, sex, family and community. Despite the current professionalization, sanitization and medicalization of sex and reproduction, this is the place we can all fight for the right to be who we are and in relationship with other human beings. A big light bulb went off, that was my Why.

In the words of Michael Franti’s All the Freaky People, I believe that “all the freaky people make the beauty of the world.” That all of us are on our own journey to “stay human” in a world that often tells us that who we are, how we behave, what we desire, and who we love is wrong, and bad, and shameful.
As a brown-skinned, Indian, immigrant, American, and now middle-aged woman in a committed relationship with somebody who doesn’t have a right to stay in this country, that was never a message I got, that “every flower has a right to be blooming.” The right to be flowering is what I fight for in this movement, for all of us to love, desire, create and grow as fully human, in relationship with other humans.

As human beings we are built to love, have sex, build families and create community. This is what motivates me.

What is your Why?

Get Involved with the "Yo Te Apoyo. I Support You" Campaign!

From the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health

“Yo Te Apoyo. I support you,” was launched to lift the voices of the Latino community and our allies in support of our sisters, our daughters, our primas, our Tias, and any woman who is making a difficult decision about her pregnancy, her family, and her future. By standing up and standing together, we will fight back against outdated conservative myths about Latin@ views on abortion, as well as harmful policies that would deny women the care they need. The truth is: our community is supportive. And getting more supportive every day. Together, we will show our support for every woman’s ability to make her own decisions about when and whether to become a parent."

Read more about Yo Te Apoyo and find out how you can support!

Why It’s Time to Dump DOMA

Originally posted at People for the American Way
By Erik Lampmann


Attending weddings is always an interesting phenomenon for queer Americans. We might celebrate in the festivities, box out our cousins for the bouquet or present a toast. Yet, for most queer people, myself included, there remains the thought in the back of our minds that -- try as we might -- a federally-recognized marriage is largely beyond our grasp. While I’m not sure when or if I’ll ever try to marry, I am committed to ensuring that American society treats all partnerships as equally valid under the law. Under the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 (DOMA), the federal government denies married same-sex couples every one of the 1,000+ federal legal protections that marriage affords and institutionalizes a negative stigma of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, and queer/questioning (LGBTQ) people.  For these reasons alone,  DOMA is antithetical to a “free” America where all citizens are seen as equal under the law.

DOMA’s effects extend even further, however. For instance, the repeal of DOMA is also an issue of economic justice. Because DOMA prevents queer couples from filing their taxes together and sharing health benefits, these couples often pay more than heterosexual couples for the same services and opportunities. DOMA not only prevents same-sex couples from taking on the full benefits and responsibilities of marriage, it penalizes them financially.

The question of whether to “Dump DOMA” is clear for me. As more and more Americans favor marriage equality and as courts reject its reasoning, it’s only a matter of time before all Americans are afforded equal marriage rights under the law. I believe the “arc of history bends towards justice,” and I believe this is a time for all Americans to stand with their queer family, friends, and community members against injustice. DUMP DOMA TODAY!

Erik Lampmann, University of Richmond
Member of affiliate People For the American Way Foundation’s Young People For Program

Ruminating on Aretha Franklin’s Demand for RESPECT to 2 Chainz Big Booty Hoe

Originally posted at the New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice
By Jasmine Burnett


When the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin said, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T find out what it means to me,” she meant it as a declaration and for it to forever stick as a reminder. However, with the ever expanding collection of disrespectful and demeaning songs that presents Black women and girls as less than human, the disrespect becomes too obvious to ignore. My answer is simply, to respond. Case in point, “Birthday Song” by 2 Chainz featuring Kanye West.

I understand how these things work, right? Here I am, a Black Feminist Ethicist who works tirelessly to shift culture and build societal accountability and support for Black women and girls. This shift happens among ourselves, the Black community, and the “mainstream” around our images and how they inform and define how we’re treated. At this point, with this particular song, I am once again confronted with misguided constructions of our identity and choices based on the experiences of the Black men it’s speaking to through it’s entertainers, the lyrics and video. Unfortunately, the only message that it sends and works to establish for Black women and girls is that, we should be good with these images because we are getting air time after all.

It actually makes me sick to even give voice and space to the company of entertainers that will continue to make millions of dollars at the expense of Black women and girls bodies. Unfortunately, we are once again reduced to the sum of our body parts for the animalistic pleasure of a society that endorses our exploitation. Black women, we have to understand that whatever we want and need is within ourselves. Searching for our identity in these lyrics that are born from experiences that give the green light for sexual assault, racial and gender based violence,  is a clear indicator that to endorse this is to willingly embrace the harm that it supports.

It’s clear that when it comes to Black women and girls me, and entertainers like 2 Chainz will always disagree. So, I’ll get to the business of creating a difference while you get to the business of continuing to bring in the dollars that disrespects your mothers, grandmother’s, daughters, aunts, sisters, cousins and friends. I could never imagine how it feels to spit in the faces and on the legacy’s of the Black women who cared for you and continue to make a way for you despite the path that you’ve chosen.
As Black women and girls we demand RESPECT!

By design, Black women and girls have always invested in lifting up the respectable Black man and his masculinity.  Black men continuing to support and create in this way will always only be a partial win for you. Though, I am curious about what parts of your soul you have to sell so that you can sleep at night knowing that this is ultimately contributing to our oppression and yours?  What kind of punk move can you make to attack the very women who STILL make a way for everyone in this country, including you? As Black women and girls we will always protest the incorrect and stereotypical images presented of us. Especially, the ones that make it okay for us to simply accept second class citizenship to a country who’s leaders we’ve nursed, fields we’ve toiled and empires we’ve built. In order to put a stop to this,  society and its institutions has got to have our back in rejecting this as our norm.

 Jasmine Burnett is a dynamic leader with a mission to collect a set of contributions that will transform the way society thinks about Justice, Love & Diversity. Since 2009, Jasmine has been a Reproductive Justice leader and  grassroots organizer in New York City.  She is the Lead Organizer of New York Coalition for Reproductive Justice (NYC4RJ), formerly organized as SisterSong NYC.  Jasmine also advocates for the Right to Sexual Pleasure and to Define Families through her online community, Aunt Betty’s Basement.

The Problem of Prolonged Incarceration of Immigrants

Originally published at ACLU of Northern California
By Julia Mass and Jenny Zhao

Bertha Mejia is a 53-year-old grandmother who fled political violence and sexual abuse in her native El Salvador as a girl. She has four U.S. citizen children and is the primary caretaker for her 9-year-old grandson, Pablo. The victim of rape at the hands of her employer, Ms. Mejia has a strong case for a "U-visa," a type of visa for victims of crime who cooperate with law enforcement. The police have already certified that Ms. Mejia is a victim who has assisted the police in apprehending the perpetrator.

Unfortunately, Ms. Mejia also has a shoplifting problem. She began stealing food as a child to feed her brothers and sisters. She has had a series of minor offenses, mostly related to stealing food items, and was diagnosed with kleptomania in 2011. Ms. Mejia has no violent criminal history and has strong claims for legal immigration status, yet she has spent the last 16 months in immigration detention solely based on her shoplifting offenses. Her detention is based on a 1996 law that purports to authorize prolonged mandatory detention during immigration proceedings even for individuals who pose no threat to public safety.

Today, the ACLU of Northern California, along with Ms. Mejia's immigration attorney Rosy Cho, filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, seeking Ms. Mejia's release. We argue that Congress could not have authorized prolonged detention based only on a record that includes a crime of "moral turpitude" (like shoplifting or writing a bad check), without requiring the government to convince a neutral judge that prolonged detention is justified because the detainee poses a danger to the community or is a flight risk.

Ms. Mejia has no violent criminal history and poses no danger to the community. Her loved ones all live in the vicinity of where her immigration court proceedings are held. While her application for the U-visa is pending, Ms. Mejia has every reason to appear at all court hearings and pursue immigration relief. And yet, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has the discretion to release her with any conditions that they find suitable, such as bond or electronic monitoring, refuses to do so. The immigration judge who presides over her case has ruled that he has no authority to release her and so Bertha Mejia languishes in the Yuba County Jail.

Ms. Mejia is only one of many immigrants confined in an irrational detention system. On any given day, over 30,000 immigrants are locked up in facilities around the country as they fight their deportation cases. Many are subject to mandatory detention and are denied even a hearing before an immigration judge to determine whether their detention is justified. This overuse of incarceration not only shatters immigrant families, but also squanders taxpayer money.

As almost everyone acknowledges, our immigration system is in need of reform. In addition to providing a pathway toward citizenship to the many who already contribute to our culture and communities, reform must also include common sense solutions to our current unconstitutional, inhumane, and wasteful immigration detention practices.

Julia Mass is a Staff Attorney at the ACLU-NC. Follow her on Twitter @MassJulia. Jenny Zhao is the Liman Public Interest Fellow at ACLU-NC.

I Love Black Women, Everyday

By Jazmine Walker

I love black women. With a sentiment like that, I don’t have time to hate Valentine’s Day. For me, Valentine’s Day is not just about celebrating romantic relationships, but also a day to celebrate the multi-faceted relationships with the numerous people in our lives, particularly my friendships with the amazing black women in my life. My black feminist identity makes it a day to love and honor the black women who nurture and care for me year-round. And even though a single day is not enough to show all of these beautiful women how much I care, I feel it necessary to use this day to politicize and celebrate our love and accountability to one another.

In a society that aims to suppress our visibility and definitions of self, it is essential for black women to create safe spaces where we can affirm, cope, and resist a white and male dominated world (hooks 1992; Wingfield 2008). Our friendships create emotional support that encourages growth and validates our right to exist, while lending credibility to our experiences. We are able to affirm our own power by having the ability to share our experiences in our own words.

Often stereotypes about black women’s inability to be trustworthy makes our friendships seem less valuable in relation to our perceived deviance. So much so, that many women, including my own sister friends, internalize ideas about us being jealous or even hostile that they will, without shame, proudly proclaim how much they “dislike women,” or even cite those characteristics as to why they “don’t have women friends.” This is not only offensive, but it also undervalues the relationships they already have, and fails to recognize how their own relationships with other black women often subvert this tired stereotype. It also directly countered the inspiring relationships that I have with a number of black women.

I have created the best memories and shared the best moments in the company of black women in intellectual, activist, and a number of other spaces where we have been able to hang out, laugh, cry, argue, be downright mad, but always have a mutual respect for our feelings and thoughts. Most of these women have become my sisters where we engage in reciprocal relationships of support and understanding without judgment. A few of these women have been my mentors. They are amazing women who have had my back when I would have otherwise been ignored and abandoned during critical stages of my professional growth. Some of these women have been acquaintances. I cannot count the number of women that have come into my life only briefly, shared opportunities with me and been willing to be selfless enough to help this stranger despite not knowing me personally. All of these women have taught me and given me so many things, that on this day dedicated to showing love, I feel obligated to lament how courageous and astonishingly human they are and how they encourage me to be the same.

The support that I have gained through my relationships with the black women that I’ve lived, pledged, learned, taught, cried, and experienced unparalleled joy with deserves to be celebrated today on Valentine’s Day. I cherish and honor these relationships in the same ways that we are often advised to reserve only for our romantic relationship, for that is limiting. I believe that sharing love and mutual care with black women in my life is necessary for my own survival. Despite having a partner on this day for 5 years now, I find it essential to celebrate my various relationships with my black women sister friends. Though our dynamic relationships cannot undermine institutional oppressions and interpersonal obstacles we face in our daily lives, our ability to be unapologetic about our friendships gives us the ability to resist. That is reason enough to commemorate this day of love.

Jazmine Walker is a participant in Echoing Ida, a project of Strong Families. She lives and works in North Carolina. Her personal blog is Furious and Brave. Follow her on Twitter @JAZonyaMINE.

Sources:

hooks, b. 1992. Black looks: Race and Representation. Boston: South End.

Wingfield, Adia Harvey. 2008. Doing Business With Beauty: Black Women, Hair Salons, and the

RacialEnclave Economy. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.