Archives for October 2014

In these workshop will focus on practicing basic facilitation skills using interventions when disruption is happening in a meeting.

REGISTER HERE

Who should attend this workshop?

Organizers,  activists, community leaders, teachers, students and anyone who wants to practice their meeting interventions skills.
Date: Thursday, November 20

Time: 6p.m. – 8:30p.m. Please, be on time.

Location: 450 Mulberry St.  Memphis TN 38103, Links Education Center – National Civil Rights Museum. Wheelchair accessible.

*Minimum 10, maximum 14 people who register.

Cost: $20-$45 Sliding scale.

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Registration online or by phone is required to attend.
Some scholarships may be available.
Donations for workshop scholarships gratefully accepted!

For more information or to register contact Gio López gio@midsouthpeace.org or call the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center at 725-4990.

G.O.T. Power, a Mid-South Peace and Justice Center’s training program, is committed to building our community’s capacity through building skills in grassroots organizing, providing support to people doing community work and offering anti-oppression and liberation education.

Mid-South Peace & Justice Center is a ‘People-Powered’ organization. Over the years, you have supported us in so many ways. From our work to end homelessness and improve public transit, to our around demilitarization, and police accountably, nothing we have accomplished would be possible without our members and volunteers!  We all know there is more work to be done to build what Dr. King called the ‘Beloved Community’ here in the Mid-South, but sometimes we need to take a moment to celebrate all we’ve been through together.

On October 25, 2014 We are hosting the Mid-South Peace & Justice Center Volunteer Appreciation Day to do just that!  We’ll be celebrating with food, music, festivities, and friends! We have an impressive musical line up featuring Barbara Lester, DJ KUSH, NoOnOne, and The Chinese Connection Dub Embassy–so, you wont want to miss it!

The festivities are scheduled from 9AM until 5PM, at the beautiful Washington Bottoms Community Park and Garden, located at the corner of Court Ave & N. Watkins.

Admission is absolutely FREE! There will be food trucks on site for your digestive pleasure, or you can bring something of your own to throw on the charcoal grills!

A Guest Post from Rhodes student & MSPJC Intern, Schaeffer Mallory:

The anonymous social media platform, Yik Yak, hit Rhodes campus at the beginning of the fall semester. Since its introduction on campus, many posts have been vehemently misogynistic and homophobic. Then, in late October, there began to appear vitriolic, racist comments stating thing such as “All Black Leave Campus” and “Black should be out on leashes like moms use on little kids.” In the following weeks, there emerged substantial energy and action across campus to address both the injustices done on Yik Yak and the broader, systemic sources of oppression on campus. This energy eventually coalesced into over 90 students – representing a number of racial, gender, and cultural backgrounds and coming from an equally diverse group of student organizations – coming together during a BSA Townhall meeting to collectively produce a comprehensive and intersectional list of actionable short- and long-term demands for the administration As such, a campus-wide coalition has been built to take ownership of this list of demands, to present it to the administration, and to catalyze the long and arduous work of tackling all forms of oppression on this campus.

This group is called Rhodes United (RU) and on Friday, Nov. 21 at 12:30pm we are calling for a campus-wide walkout on oppression to take place at Evergreen Church (613 University St). We invite all community members to attend, as this is an issue not confined to the Rhodes Campus and, moreover, Rhodes should be held accountable by the city that houses and fosters it.

Check out recent media coverage on the issue by clicking here.

Did you know that in all of Memphis, there are only about 25 beds available to unsheltered women without children? October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus is well aware of the effects of DV: it is the leading cause of homelessness among women. Even worse, the threat of homelessness after leaving an abusive household is so frightening that some women end up staying in violent relationships. The fear is well-founded – over 90 percent of unsheltered women are survivors of severe physical or sexual violence and women traveling alone are at a particularly high risk for sexual assault.

Help us reach out to our sisters on the streets with some small creature comforts and welcome them into our group which gathers to heal the past and fight for the future through yoga, dance, advocacy, and self-defense.

The H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus is assembling care packages to include anything that might serve to empower women struggling without shelter, including, but not limited to:

• BUS PASSES
• SOCKS
• WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT
• Sleep Bags
• Large Cloth Grocery-Style Bags
• Warm Shoes
• Small Flashlights
• Soap and Waterproof Soap Containers
• Toothbrushes and Trial-Size Toothpaste
• Deodorant
• Compact Mirrors
• Reusable Water Bottles
• Hair Ties and Hair Clips
• Gloves, Knit Caps, and Scarves
• Baby Wipes
• Gallon-size Plastic Bags
• Lip Balm
• Tissue Packs
• Bandages
• Scented Lotions or Body Sprays
• Nail Kits (Including File, Clippers, and Polish)
• Journals and Pens
• Chewing Gum
• Chocolate or Granola Bars
• Feminine Hygiene Products
• Gift Cards or Movie Passes
• Job Opportunities

Items can be dropped off at the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center at 3573 Southern Avenue anytime Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Call (901) 725-4990 to make special arrangements outside of those hours. If outreach is successful, we hope to expand our self-defense course and allies who identify as women are encouraged to attend classes on a sliding-scale basis. Stay tuned for updates!

The H.O.P.E. Women’s Caucus is a safe space for H.O.P.E. members who identify as women to work together on the issues that affect them disproportionately, including reproductive health and violence.

Following the Gandhi King Youth Conference, the MSPJC and Memphis United will host The People’s Conference on Equal Justice, in partnership with LeMoyne-Owen College. The People’s Conference will be a day of learning about the criminal justice system and training in grassroots community organizing skills, featuring a variety of workshops that will help provide participants with tools to push for real reform of our local adult and juvenile criminal justice systems and police accountability.

The People’s Conference on Equal Justice will be unlike any other conference you have attended because YOU – the participants – will have a hand in directly shaping the tone and content of the conference. While there will be some pre-determined workshops on issues like privatized prisons,knowing your rights, and alternatives to incarceration and the death penalty, there will also be scheduled spaces left open for attendees who want to facilitate a discussion, make their own presentation, or host a dialogue circle around additional justice issues.

Following morning sessions, lunch will feature local food trucks offering a variety of tasty and affordable meals.

After lunch, participants will move into a structured series of skill-based workshops focusing on the basic skills of community organizing including planning a campaign, anti-oppression awareness,canvassing and outreach, and nonviolent direct action. 

Participants will leave with the tools needed to engage and collectively act with their communities, towards REAL changes in our justice system. We ask you to attend not to follow but to lead, as we as a community prepare to work for positive change.

The conference is free to current MSPJC members. You can renew your membership online or sign up the day of the conference.
We use a sliding scale for membership dues, and NO ON WILL BE TURNED AWAY FROM THE CONFERENCE FOR FINANCIAL REASONS.
On-site childcare will be available.

What: People’s Conference on Equal Justice

Where: LeMoyne-Owen College, 807 Walker Ave*

When: Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014
Registration and Check-In:  7:30am – 9:00am
Conference and Workshops: 9:00am – 5:30pm
(Lunch Break: 11:45am – 1:15pm)

* The conference will take place in and around the LeMoyne-Owen Student Center. While some of you may be familiar with the LMO campus, a Google Map highlighting the Student Center is available by clicking here. Conference parking will be available in the lot just west of the Student Center.