Location: New York

J. Bob Alotta on countering the gaslighting of America

“We have a very real opportunity, to create this country, in its own image, for all of us, for the first time.”

Note: this opinion column, written by J. Bob Alotta, originally appeared in the digital pages of The Huffington Post in February 2017

What does it mean to stand in righteous community? During the first month of this new administration, it has meant standing with signs that read “you are welcome here,” marching alongside strangers while calling in unison “show me what democracy looks like,” and together responding, “this is what democracy looks like.” It’s getting and staying woke to the reality that democracy ― and it’s promise of governing by “we, the people,” is a practice. It is a practice taking the form of marching, chanting, voting, litigating, bearing witness, showing up, staying woke, and insisting that representative government be neither passive in its actual representation, nor aggressive in its undermining of the equality it is meant to unrelentingly instill and impart. It is a practice that doesn’t allow us to choose some of our rights, over all of our rights. And it is a practice that will succeed and thrive if it stands steadfast in the radical notion of love.

As a collective, we are resisting, not for spite or hate of this current administration; but instead because we choose to know better, to do better, to be better and love better than the barrage of policies coming down trying to divide us and deny our collective humanity.

The sweeping changes in conduct and content, policy and practice, all with considerable implication for our daily lives, is overwhelming. Each Executive Order, the onslaught of tweets aimed at targets as wide as our entire judiciary, or as oddly specific as Nordstrom, the constant calling out of any media critique as fake – requires us to be ever mindful of this purposeful chaos. The scrutiny required to discern the accuracy of this information, and the voracity with which “common sense” has been gaslighted and become untethered, requires daily vigilance.

And yet not only must we persist, we do. We are. All kinds of people are showing up in record number and taking a public stand on so many issues at once. People are asking how we are going to beat this, to get “our country back,” to win.

First, I don’t think we are going to get our country back. Just like I rebuke making it great again. I do think, we have a very real opportunity, to create this country, in its own image, for all of us, for the first time.  We have an opportunity to move from rhetoric to reality – to heal some of the very real ills that have been plaguing the United States since its inception because of the contradictions upon which it was built.

We are a country that was built on the backs and bloodshed of Native people and enslaved Africans. While our history books continue to erase this reality by minimizing the brutal effects of democracy-built-on-slavery, we know better. Standing in this truth and owning it, means loving truth however horrific, however contradictory.  Denying our national truths have only served to foster perpetual systemic oppression and violence.  We must not only heal as a nation but design a future and governance that needn’t strip any of us of our humanity or equality in order to continually veil us from the truth.  What will make it possible?  It will not be any policy that requires the ugliness of race hatred, an extreme wealth gap, turning corporations into people, or legalizing some of our bodies while criminalizing others.

The only thing that will allow us to make this critical course correction as a nation is: Love.  Love as resistance. Love as actionable honesty. In order for us to succeed, we must be able to stand together in our differences, learn from each other, build trust, and synchronize strategies. Practicing these components of love, is the only way we will ensure the best outcome for this democratic experiment we call America.

We would not march in the streets and at airports or have walkouts from schools if we weren’t stepping out with love and belief in the tenets of democracy. Resistance is an act of love. The willingness to place our bodies in line with our values to stand against oppression by any means necessary—whether taking water cannons to the face to protect all of our right to clean water; or suffering the bruises of batons and tear gas to protect our right to exist black and free, or love who we love, or have autonomy over our own body, or ensure our children can access a free and excellent education regardless of their zip code— we do so to truly enact our greatest participatory democratic possibility.  This love resistance posture is the alignment of our collective hope.

Activist, author and all-around badass Angela Davis once said, “I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change, I am changing the things I cannot accept.”  Some of us have had to fight for our rights for quite a long time.  Some of us are just being called to action.  But whatever day you come into your consciousness, it is a good day.

We do not need a more urgent moment than now for an unabashed and radical form of love like the display we saw at the Women’s March or countless protests over the past few weeks all over the globe —this persistent vigilance and unrelenting belief in the formation of a better and more reflective union is how we will continue to resist, organize and stand in our truth. This is our moment to seize; this is our uprising of love.

Save the Date for Astraea’s 40th Gala in NYC!

This is what forty years of lesbian feminist activism looks like!

This is what forty years of lesbian feminist activism looks like! On Monday, November 13, 2017, we will celebrate Astraea’s big 4-0 with an evening of art, cinema, music, food, and righteous community in New York City!

Location:
The Angel Orensanz Foundation for the Arts
172 Norfolk Street
New York, NY 10002
6:30pm-9:30pm
*After party to follow

Mark November 13th in your calendars today.

Click here to purchase a ticket!

PS – Host committee memberships and sponsorships for Astraea’s 40th are available. For more information, contact Astraea’s Development Officer for Special Events, Sally Troncoso, at [email protected] or by phone at 212-810-4183.

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Thanks to everyone who attended the event! We were grateful to have everyone in the room.

View event photos

What Will Be Different: A Conversation on LGBTQ Activism in a Changing America

Join us on April 30, 2017, for a powerful free forum on how LGBTQ activism will respond to an era of sweeping political change, moderated by Astraea Executive Director J. Bob Alotta.

Join us on April 30, 2017, for a powerful free forum on how LGBTQ activism will respond to an era of sweeping political change, moderated by Astraea Executive Director J. Bob Alotta.

Despite celebrated and hard-won advances in equality, the deeply diverse LGBTQ community has always been targeted by bias and hate. In recent months that antagonism has flared, along with other forms of intolerance.

Now, as people who openly disparage LGBTQ rights fill key posts within the U.S. Government, and an old, anti-Other sentiment gains new legitimacy, what are the challenges and goals of LGBTQ activism today? What is the historical context for this battle, and what guides those at its front lines? How do we organize across communities to build a future where our differences are prized and human justice is available to all, regardless of gender identity or gender preference?

Join us for a conversation with Apphia Kumar, Chair, SALGA-NYC; Bashar Makhay, Founder, Tarab NYC; Cara Page, Executive Director, Audre Lorde Project; and Mustafa Sullivan, Executive Director, Fierce. Moderated by J. Bob Alotta, Executive Director, Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.
Pre-talk performance by Angel Nafis, Author, BlackGirl Mansion.
Held at The Park Avenue Christian Church, one of the most progressive communities of faith in New York City.
Presented by the Astraea Foundation, The Park Avenue Christian Church, and The Tate Group.
Curated by Brian Tate.

 

Communities United for Police Reform (CPR)

Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) launched as a campaign in 2012 after long-time New York City grassroots organizers saw the need to build a comprehensive multi-sector coalition.

Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) launched in 2012 after long-time New York City grassroots organizers saw the need to build a comprehensive multi-sector campaign to end discriminatory and abusive policing. CPR itself is comprised of over 70 member organizations and runs coalitions of up to 200+ groups to win campaigns that strengthen community infrastructure and promote racial justice and community safety, while holding police accountable for respecting the rights and dignity of all. In spite of the decrease in reported street stops in NYC, “Broken-windows” and other abusive policing continues to target low-income communities of color, particularly immigrants, young people, homeless, public housing residents, LGBTQ and gender nonconforming people, women, and people with disabilities.

Opposing the current lack of transparency and accountability within the NYPD, and the disproportionate amount of resources spent on policing, CPR envisions a transformed New York City where safety does not rely on criminalization policies or come at the expense of human rights, but instead supports community infrastructure through affordable housing, quality education and healthcare, youth services, and living wage employment opportunities.

Girls for Gender Equity

Founded in 2002, Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) was a response to a dearth of safe and equitable leadership development programming for girls of color in Brooklyn.

Founded in 2002, Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) was a response to a dearth of safe and equitable leadership development programming for girls of color in Brooklyn. After incidents of sexual violence rocked the Bedford-Stuyvesant community, GGE expanded their mission to address the root causes of gender-based violence and uplift the human and civil rights of young people of color. Centering the voices and experiences of LGBQI/TGNC youth of color–girls and women of color in particular–GGE uses advocacy, organizing, and education to challenge structural forces that work to constrict their rights, expression, and freedom to live self-determined lives. With a distinct focus on safety and equity where young people live and learn, GGE’s base of cisgender girls of color trans youth, and gender non-conforming young people has pushed them to fight criminalization in schools, where sexual and gender nonconformity is stifled through law enforcement agents and harsh discipline.

Freedom to Thrive (Formerly Enlace)

Enlace works to create a world where safety means investment in people & planet and to end the punishment-based criminal and immigration systems.

Freedom to Thrive (Formerly Enlace) works to create a world where safety means investment in people & planet and to end the punishment-based criminal and immigration systems.

We are building a powerful Black and Brown network, centering youth, nonbinary, and femme leadership. We engage our network in our Prison Industry Divestment Campaign and the Freedom Cities & Freedom Campuses Movement to address criminalization and incarceration.

Our Institute builds leadership of directly impacted people to develop campaigns addressing the root causes of oppression to bring about transformation and collective liberation. Our approach to leadership development centers healing justice and political education in service of supporting empowered individuals capable of advancing a collective vision for social justice through mobilization and action. The Umoja program supports the leadership of black youth and provides on the field organizing experience with campaigns combating criminalization. Our We Rise training program supports femme and non-binary organizers of color to deepen their campaigning skills and build healing justice and wellness practices that sustain personal resiliency.

Freedom to Thrive was founded in 1998 by visionary organizations in North America and Asia to support women of color led grassroots organizations to campaign against transnational corporations. After game changing victories like the International Sara Lee Campaign, which proved under-resourced grassroots groups could win demands for workers against multinational corporations, we developed strategic frameworks that became the Integrated Organizing Approach (IOA) Methodology. Our Institute launched shortly after, to train frontline leaders in the IOA frameworks in order to build intersectional campaigns that address root causes of state and corporate violence.

Image credit: Jake Ratner

Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)

Black Alliance for Just Immigration is a racial and migrant rights organization which engages in organizing, education, advocacy, and cross-cultural alliance building in order to end the racism, criminalization, and economic disenfranchisement of Black immigrants, refugees, and African American communities.

Black Alliance for Just Immigration is a racial and migrant rights organization which engages in organizing, education, advocacy, and cross-cultural alliance building in order to end the racism, criminalization, and economic disenfranchisement of Black immigrants, refugees, and African American communities. They recognize that, like African Americans, Black immigrants and refugees suffer the consequences of racial and gender injustice in the U.S., including the impact of mass criminalization, harsh immigration enforcement policies, economic inequality, and lack of access to adequate health care. Utilizing an array of strategies to tackle these issues, BAJI works with Black migrant communities in eight cities including New York, Oakland, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Miami, Boston, and Washington, DC, and have members throughout the United States.

Image credit: Esther Y. Lee

This International Women’s Day, we rise up!

International Women’s Day is a moment to recognize and remember the efforts of our community members, organizers, and cultural workers who’ve fought and continue to fight for our right to not simply exist but thrive in all our beauty, dignity, and autonomy.

Left to right: Berta Cáceres, Marsha P. Johnson, and Audre Lorde

Today, Astraea celebrates the formidable efforts of women around the world who are rising up in incredible numbers to combat the growing tides of misogyny, xenophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia and white supremacy. International Women’s Day is a moment to recognize and remember the efforts of our community members, organizers, and cultural workers who’ve fought and continue to fight for our right to not simply exist but thrive in all our beauty, dignity, and autonomy.

We honor all the ways you may be activated today: striking, wearing red in solidarity with A Day Without Women, phoning elected officials, taking to the streets, or supporting your favorite Lesbian Foundation for Justice (!) because must use all available tools to resist and rise up.

iwd

Left to right: Colectiva Mujer y Salud, Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group, and BreakOUT!

Lifting up the visions of lesbian, queer, and trans women, Astraea grantee partners are building the world in which they want to live:

  • Colectiva Mujer y Salud produced the first-ever document to exclusively address the priorities and demands of lesbian, bisexual, and queer women in the Dominican Republic. Titled “The LesBiAgenda,” the text was created through a national process that included rural and small cities.
  • Thanks to the advocacy of Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG), the Supreme Court of Georgia found Levan Kochlashvili guilty of the murder of Sabi Beriani, a transgender woman, in December 2016. WISG has been accompanying Sabi’s mother to court since the murder two years ago and has been working to raise visibility of the growing violent backlash against trans women in Georgia.
  • In response to growing anti-trans violence in the United States, BreakOUT! issued a call to action to create sanctuary for young trans women and gender non-conforming people of color in New Orleans. They are also developing new strategies for community safety.

Astraea is proud of our four decade history of gender justice activism that supports the leadership of women, trans folks, youth, and people of color. Our lives depend on activists who are linking LGBTQI and women’s rights movements together, rising up, and resisting violence and discrimination that specifically affects lesbian, queer, and trans women. Today and all year round, we strive to find hard to reach groups in often-isolated areas and resource them to fight for justice in their own local contexts.

This International Women’s Day, we welcome you to join the uprising! Connect with the activists behind our movements through our Facebook feed, view and share our video on what 40 years of queer organizing looks like, or donate to the Uprising of Love Fund to support activists working against increased discrimination in the United States.

Kiyan Williams

Kiyan Williams (pronouns they/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work explores Black queer subjectivity.

Kiyan Williams (pronouns they/them) is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work explores Black queer subjectivity. Based in New York City, they have performed across the country and internationally at venues including: Dixon Place (NY), JACK Theater (NY), La Mama Experimental Theater Club (NY), The Public Theater (NY), SFMOMA (CA), SOMArts (CA), Bing Concert Hall (CA), and Orpheum Theater (Graz, Austria). As an artist engaged in the Black Lives Matter movement Kiyan has facilitated healing spaces in New York, Detroit, Denver, and Cleveland. Using Afro-Diasporic cultural expressions they co-create cyphers that allow Black people to mourn and grieve violence as well as celebrate Black life. Kiyan studied performance theory and practice at Stanford University, where they developed work with Cherríe Moraga, Aleta Hayes, Anne Carlson, and Guillermo Gómez-Peña / La Pocha Nostra. Kiyan is an alum of the EMERGENYC Performance Fellowship at the Hemispheric Institute at NYU and the Create Dangerously writing intensive at the Obie-winning JACK Theater in Brooklyn. They are a Trans Justice Funding Project grant recipient. Most recently an excerpt of their performance project Unearthing was featured in the 25th annual HOT! Festival at Dixon Place, the world’s longest running queer performance festival.

Cyrée Johnson

Cyrée Jarelle Johnson is a black non-binary essayist and poet currently working towards an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University.

Cyrée Jarelle Johnson is a black non-binary essayist and poet currently working towards an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University. They are a Poetry Editor at The Deaf Poets Society, a journal of D/deaf and disabled literature and art. Their writing has appeared in make/shift, bedfellows, and has been accepted into Issue 7 of The Suburban Review. Johnson’s writing considers disability as a cyborg reality, community as a state of shared trauma, and afro-pessimism. Their recent invited speaking engagements include the LGBT and Disability Forum at The White House and CARSS Town Hall at Mother Bethel AME Church.