#ReclaimHolyWeek @reclaimholyweek - Tumblr Blog

Resistance Theology Wear to #ReclaimHolyWeek 2016

We are a grass-roots collective of activists who believe in the love and justice ethic of Jesus. We unapologetically affirm the liberation of Black and Brown, and all Oppressed Peoples.

Please help us to #ReclaimHolyWeek in 2016—that we may take back the power of the narrative from those who deploy the name of "Jesus" to support, either idly or actively, the oppression of God's Peoples.

**Proceeds will go towards the work of merging faith and activism through the #ReclaimHolyWeek campaign in 2016. Thank you for your help!

#ResistanceTheology #ReclaimHolyWeek

The Truth About Palestine

Guest: Prof. Abdelhamid Siyam

In this show, Middle East and United Nations Expert Abdelhamid Siyam tells the uncensored TRUTH ABOUT PALESTINE.

#Palestine #FreePalestine

We CopWatch From Ferguson to Baltimore

Guests: David Whitt, Alexis Davis, Chad Jackson, and Kevin Moore

This episode consists of a discussion with We CopWatch members from Ferguson to Baltimore. For more information, please visit:

www.wecopwatch.org

www.facebook.com/WeCopwatch

www.facebook.com/TheCanfieldWatchmen

www.facebook.com/wecopwatchbaltimore

#WeCopWatch #Ferguson #Baltimore

The Cooperative Movement for #BlackAndBrownPower

Guests: Dhoruba Toure Shakur (@DhorubaShakur) , Elizabeth Vega (@chicanapoet1), Jalal Akbar Sabur

Co-Hosts: Susan Smith (@FergPalRadio), Daniel Ismael Aguilar (@Ferguson2NYC)

Topic: Roots CoOp (@RootsCoOpSTL), Black Souljahz (@BSouljahzSTL), Sweet Freedom Farm

This episode focuses on a growing Cooperative Movement for #BlackAndBrownPower.

Learn about two cooperatives that are working towards building a federation of cooperatives in North Saint Louis:

- Roots CoOp; Affinity Groups In Residence: Tribe X (@TribeX_STL); Artivists (@ArtivistsSTL), #ResistanceTheology (@ReclaimHolyWeek)

- Dhoruba Toure Shakur and others with Black Souljahz.

Visit their websites at www.RootsCoOp.org and www.blacksoujahz.wordpress.com.

Also, learn how the Sweet Freedom Farm through the Freedom Food Alliance and the Victory Bus Project are connecting cooperatives and farming to prisoner justice in the Hudson Valley, New York.

Tweets by @FergPalRadio !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

SUBSCRIBE to From Ferguson to Palestine on iTunes: Click HERE. Listen LIVE on WVKR 91.3 FM Vassar College Independent Radio or at http://www.wvkr.org: Wednesdays, from 12pm -1pm EST

#BlackAndBrownPower #RootsCoOp #Nonprofit Industrial Complex

Life Stories

A weekly show which focuses on issues of justice here in the U.S. Empire and abroad.

LIVE on WVKR 91.3 FM Vassar College Independent Radio or http://www.wvkr.org Wednesdays, from 12pm -1pm EST

Email comments, questions, or concerns to: [email protected]

#MassIncarceration #Black and Brown Liberation

Mass Incarceration - Macro and Micro Perspectives

The United States has 5 percent of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prison population. One in every 3 Black males born today can expect to go to be incarcerated, compared with one in every 6 Latino males, and one in every 17 White males. The prison industrial complex is a modern and intentional form of slavery institutionalizing a “new caste system”. Tarik Greene is a formerly incarcerated Black man who has dedicated himself to the task of movement building to end our nation’s current caste system starting in his own neighborhood just north of New York City. Tarik leads discussion groups on legal scholar Michelle Alexander’s iconic book, “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”published by the New Press (2010). In the first half of the program, he discussed that critically-acclaimed book lauded by the NY Review of Books as follows:

"Now and then a book comes along that might in time touch the public and educate social commentators, policymakers, and politicians about a glaring wrong that we have been living with that we also somehow don't know how to face. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander is such a work."

In the second half of the program, Tarik Greene, who is Deputy Director of MADE Transitional Services, is joined by Toney Earl, Jr, Executive Director of MADE. Toney is also a formerly incarcerated Black man and a “Beyond the Bars Social Justice Fellow” at the Columbia University Center for Justice. They talk about the prevailing culture of racism, repression and retribution that sustains mass incarceration and their work to help Black and Brown men empower themselves to navigate from incarceration to redemption through positive self-image and relationships, gainful quality employment, and meaningful community re-entry.

LIVE on WVKR 91.3 FM Vassar College Independent Radio or http://www.wvkr.org Wednesdays, from 12pm -1pm EST

Email comments, questions, or concerns to: [email protected]

#NewJimCrow #MassIncarceration

PODCAST "From Ferguson to Palestine"| Jewish Voice for Peace Conference Conversations

A weekly show which focuses on issues of justice here in the U.S. Empire and abroad.

LIVE on WVKR 91.3 FM Vassar College Independent Radio or http://www.wvkr.org Wednesdays, from 12pm -1pm EST

Email comments, questions, or concerns to: [email protected]

#FreePalestine #BDSMovement

PODCAST "From Ferguson to Palestine"| Jewish Voice for Peace Conference

A weekly show which focuses on issues of justice here in the U.S. Empire and abroad.

LIVE on WVKR 91.3 FM Vassar College Independent Radio or http://www.wvkr.org Wednesdays, from 12pm -1pm EST

Email comments, questions, or concerns to: [email protected]

#FreePalestine #BDSMovement

PODCAST "From Ferguson to Palestine"| GUESTS: Marjorie Hill, Muslim ARC; Sahar Alsahlani

LIVE on WVKR 91.3 FM Vassar College Independent Radio or http://www.wvkr.org Wednesdays, from 12pm -1pm EST

Guests: Margari Aziza Hill, @Margari_Aziza & Shahar Alsahlani

Email comments, questions, or concerns to: [email protected]

#MuslimsforFerguson

@Ferguson2NYC LIVE

#FilmThePolice #FTP

Live streaming video by Ustream Tweets by @Ferguson2NYC !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+"://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js";fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,"script","twitter-wjs");

Live streaming video by Ustream

https://www.youtube.com/c/DanielAguilarTatteredRose1

#FergusonUprising #Ferguson #MikeBrown

Breaking into History: the Black Church in the era of Ferguson

Address by Dr Cornel West, Professor of Christian Practice & Philosophy, Union Theological Seminary, followed by a panel including Bree Newsome, The Tribe; Rev. Traci Blackmon, Christ the King (UCC), Rev. Renita Lamkin, St. John's A.M.E., Pastor Michael McBride, Live Free Campaign, Rev. Starsky Wilson, Saint John’s Church (The Beloved Community), and Min. Rahiel Tesfamariam.

Moderated by Marc Lamont Hill, with introductory remarks by Rev. Osagyefo Sekou.

As part of the weekend of events commemorating the killing of Michael Brown and the unprecedented uprising that followed, Dr Cornel West will return to St Louis to lift up the ongoing struggle for racial justice, and examine the role of the Church and the faith community in the broad resistance to state violence.

This conversation between local and national thinkers, activists and religious leaders will engage critical questions of spirituality, justice and the way forward for a Black church of liberation.

Panelists:

Rev. Traci Blackmon, Senior Minister, Christ the King (UCC)

Rev. Renita Lamkin, Senior Minister, St. John's A.M.E.

Pastor Michael McBride, Live Free Campaign, PICO Network

Bree Newsome, The Tribe

Min. Rahiel Tesfamariam, Founder, Urban Cusp

Rev. Starsky Wilson, Saint John’s Church (The Beloved Community), St. Louis.

Presented by: HandsUp United, Fellowship of Reconciliation, and PICO Network as part of #UnitedWeFight, the Ferguson Action Anniversary Weekend.

Further details on all events at: http://fergusonaction.com/united-we-fight/

For more information, please contact: Keiller MacDuff 202 679 2236

#BlackLivesMatter #BlackChurch #Ferguson

Who is going to march for Rashad?

A local alderman, Jeffrey Boyd recently lost his nephew in gunfire. In his grief he said, this is the first time violence has hit his family so closely, though he said he’s “tired of going to so many funerals” and wonders if the people who protest police shootings would protest his nephew’s death.”

Who is going to march for Rashad? We are and have been for a year. We are marching despite evidence that this is going to be a long struggle, because even this black alderman does not grasp why his statement is deeply problematic.

As if the fight for dignity and life has to be parceled. So many have bought into the lie of either/or. That we cannot as a country work on both police accountability AND violence in neighborhoods. Or even comprehend the fact, the two are inextricably intertwined.

“You know not all cops are bad.” She looked at me with an earnestness and asked, “Yeah but how will I know the difference?” I had no answer.

I think of the children I worked with in Canfield and in Baltimore. Children who had experienced more deaths than field trips, more fear than freedom. We often make buttons. It is a form of expression that moves the complexities of politics into the realm of personal truth. It is easy, fun and honest. One little girl unprompted made a button that read: “I don’t trust the police.” In my adult way I tried to insert nuance. Said to her, “You know not all cops are bad.” She looked at me with an earnestness and asked, “Yeah but how will I know the difference?” I had no answer. In the silence of that moment, I felt the urgency and vulnerability of her world. Every corner a different gang–be it bloods, crips or cop. There was no one to trust. No where to turn. And yet we choose to not see the connection between police accountability and violence in our neighborhoods. Again and again choose to resort to the black on black crime narrative drawn from the pages of the white supremacy playbook because it is familiar and the implications for deeper analysis absolutely terrifying.

We post signs in neighborhoods of color that read “We must stop killing each other.” Never do we stop to ponder why these signs are only in black neighborhoods, like the responsibility rests solely on the shoulders of those with the least resources rather than the NRA lobbyist who controls the discussion on gun control or the politicians who can hold police accountable. We talk about personal responsibility but never talk about the personal responsibility of a government to its citizenry to provide a truly level and just field. To hold cops to the same standard of justice when they shoot 12-year-olds in three seconds.

We do not talk EVER about white on white crime. Nor do we discuss that even our murder is racially segregated and that 89% of all whites are killed by other whites. When Sandy Hook, Columbine, Waco & Oklahoma City bombing happened there was no protests or demands that people do something about their white on white crime. There was only grief. And a clear message that when a white boy goes into a kindergarten classroom and guns down children in cold blood it is an anomaly spurred by mental illness rather than reflection of white America’s cultural obsession with guns and violence. Just a lone crazed gunman that has happened 200 times since 2006 and overwhelming in all cases was carried about a young white male. We do not talk about this EVER.

The reality is that the violence in the communities of color is a DIRECT result of hundreds of years of oppression, racism and poverty.

Yet when we dare to call for police accountability people suddenly say our energies are misdirected. Repeatedly bring up the visible crime in our black and brown neighborhoods to deflect from what we know in our heart to be true. That this one violent shooting is bigger than one families pain and can be traced generationally to the violent underpinnings of this country from the trail of tears to slavery to the new Jim Crow and school to prison pipeline. Even the grieving refuse to see how fighting for police accountability IS also fighting for an end to violence in our neighborhoods because it is just one entry point for justice in a crumbling system with thousands of broken windows.

The reality is that the violence in the communities of color is a DIRECT result of hundreds of years of oppression, racism and poverty. From poor schools to a lack of adequate housing to an absence of emotional justice that strips people of first their dignity and then their compassion. I hear it everyday in the stories of the young people I teach. The micro-aggressions of race, the unrelenting grind of economic struggle, the critical eye of a racist world that paints a person bad before they even have a chance to determine their own destiny and then the emotional shut-down of their own humanity just to get through. Because humanity is a liability in an inhumane world where you are not seen. Yes, gang and gun violence is systemic but it is also merely a symptom of the white supremacy that we all learned far to well. To talk about this aspect would make us all culpable. Would require us to peel away the layers of more palatable narratives and smell the truly rotten core.

So who is going to protest the death of Jeffrey Boyd’s nephew? We are, every time we demand police accountability and shout Black Lives Matter! I believe the trajectory to put the lives of people of color on the same footing as white ones STARTS here. We pay police officers to protect us. I do not want our tax dollars to fund the violent arm of a system that uses traffic tickets and harassment to turn poor people into ATM machines to fund city coffers while companies like Emerson electric pay only $62,000 a year in taxes.

I want our government officials and police officers to stop racially profiling black and brown people and to stop killing them at higher rate than white counterparts. I want to be able to look in a child’s eye and say there is someone bigger, more powerful than her that she can trust and that will keep her safe. I want an end to the hypocrisy that devalues black and brown lives with 1000 cuts and slices and then complains bitterly when individuals –especially young black and browns ones act on that message.

#black on black crime #BlackLivesMatter #police accountability

Resistance Theology Needs Your Help

Dear Co-laborers in the Struggle for Black, Brown, and Poor Liberation,

It is with great joy that we write to you all from St. Louis, Missouri. We've had some challenging days so far, but our our Spirits are high and with the People. It has been amazing to witness the divine work that so many local activists have been doing all year long!

The Ferguson Rebellion is alive and well, and we feel privileged and honored to be able to support even just a portion of it! As we approach the one year anniversary of the murder of Mike Brown and of the birth of a Global Movement, we are eagerly preparing all of the equipment, software, and other materials that we'll need to help amplify the already strong voices of the People.

Therefore, we are writing to ask our friends and family, who are willing and able, to support our mission to contribute our heart, mind, body, and spirit to grassroots Black and Brown liberation groups.

Daniel is a budding Resistance theologian, scholar, activist, and agitator with a special passion for the liberation of Black and Brown ghettos and barrios.

Yasmine is a budding Muslim theologian, scholar, activist, and agitator with a special passion for the liberation of Palestine.

Together, we choose to commit our whole selves to whatever radical work is being done by those groups and individuals who experience the brunt of systemic oppression on a regular basis.

We plan to remain in St. Louis/Ferguson through September 1, 2015.

Some of our work in Ferguson/STL will include supporting local organizations that are working on a National Call to Ferguson for the one year anniversary of the murder of Mike Brown and of the Resurrection of a Global Movement!

Additionally, we will work to strengthen ties between Radical Faith Communities of Resistance from #FergusonToNewYork.

Peace, Danny and Yasmine

PAYPAL:

Resistance Theology also uses Donately to handle online giving:

**In no way do we want to take away donations that would have otherwise gone to supporting local grassroots organizations that are fighting for the liberation of Black and Brown Peoples. So please, only support us financially if you believe in our ability to do good work in St. Louis/Ferguson.**

Below is a rough breakdown of our expected expenses related to this trip:

Round trip, Ferguson to New York for two ≈ $600

External Battery Packs (2) ≈ $50

Ustream channel subscription (http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ferguson2nyc) to broadcast in HD, for live streaming direct actions, and for disseminating real-time updates from Ferguson via squarespace website (i.e., http://www.holyweekofresistance.net) and social media ≈ $250

Hootsuite subscription ≈ $20

Full Facepiece Gas Mask (2) ≈ $200

Supplemental food for two (≈ 40 days x $15/day) ≈ $600

Transportation (local), including two monthly passes (2 x $78) + misc. ($100) ≈ $250

Estimated total: $1,970

If we could raise $1800 for our work, we would be eternally grateful to all of you! Detailed updates will be emailed to contributors and also posted on this blog.

Here's some of our previous work:

#ResistanceTheology #FergusonToNewYork