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CBS Outdoor Where Racism and Sexism Sells! Take Action
March 8th, 2010
SPARK Trust Black Women
February 11th, 2010 1000+ Emails to Bring the Billboards Down Bring those Billboards Down NOW!Black women will not be blamed. Black women will not be shamed.Black women are not perpetrators of GENOCIDE!SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW respects and defends Black women, and all people’s reproductive health decisions including the right to abortion. Black women know what is best for our lives, our families, and our communities and are capable of making these decisions without a coordinated assault by organizations that are not genuinely committed to addressing the host of social issues confronted by the black community. We strongly reject and denounce these billboards and the sponsoring organizations, Georgia Right to Life, the Radiance Foundation, and Operation Outrage for speaking about us, demonizing our decisions, and assuming they know what is best for our lives. We trust ourselves, we trust Black women. Let’s keep the pressure up and the conversation going. Black women are not fooled by the misinformation campaign orchestrated by anti-choice zealots nor are we passive, uninformed and subject to their manipulative tactics. What YOU can do!KEEP THE PRESSURE ON CBS OUTDOOR! Let’s send 1,000+ emails to the Billboard Management Team of CBS Outdoor(owners of billboards). Email each of them with this message! I am outraged by the Black Children are Endangered Species billboards and these racist, sexist billboards need to come down! Jodi Senese, Vice President, Marketing jodi.senese@cbsoutdoor.com Lou Formisano, Vice President, National Billboard Sales lou.formisano@cbsoutdoor.com Dana Wells,President, Billboard Division dana.wells@cbsoutdoor.com Please email paris@sparkrj.org to let us know you sent an email so we can keep count. The pressure will bring the billboards down! SPARK’s Statement on the Anti-Abortion AdsBy now many of you have seen or heard about the shocking and horrifying billboards that state “Black Children Are An Endangered Species” in strategically located around metro Atlanta area in predominately black communities. There are 4 of these offensive billboards located within a 2-block radius of my home. This is second time in one year, anti-choice terrorists have engaged a calculated “Shock and Awe” campaign targeting the folks of Atlanta with racialized, gendered misinformation, racist propaganda, and an oversimplifications of Black women’s lives. Read the rest of this entry » SAVE THE DATE! 3RD ANNUAL LEGISLATE THIS!
January 12th, 2010 Please visit the Internships and Jobs link for more info about the Job Announcement
Tuesday February 16th 9-1PMVISIT WWW.LEGISLATETHIS.ORG FOR MORE INFO!
Health Care is a Human Right RJ Statement & Talking Points
December 2nd, 2009
SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, SisterLove, Inc., and SPARK Reproductive Justice NOW! Health Care is a Human RightZINE!! CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!!
August 17th, 2009 WE INTERRUPT YOUR REGULAR PROGRAMMING FOR THIS VERY IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:
We’ve Extended The YRJ Zine Submission Deadline!!!
Please read below and make sure we get your submissions by OCTOBER 12, 2009.
We can’t wait to hear from you.
Love, the YRJ Program
Official call for submissions: got art? Spark Youth & Reproductive Program wants YOU!Send us your works of art and get published! Were looking for: * art * rants * poems * paintings * collages * photography * essays * haiku’s * sketches * thoughts * questions * watercolors * favorite quotes * words of inspiration * organizing tools and tips for lgbt youth of color in your area * your personal stories and more! * Why? Because we haven’t seen anything quite like this before! lesbian, gay, trans, bi, queer and same gender loving young people in the South deserve resources and information that makes sense for us, for our families, our communities, our bodies and our relationships! Details: Please submit art work, photos, writings and more about your experiences being an lgbt, queer/trans, same gender lovin or questioning youth of color in the south! we wanna know: -what keeps you strong? -what kinds of relationships do you dream of? -how you take care of yourself (physically, mentally, spiritually)? -who are your communities and what’s wonderful about your communities? -what would you need to have the relationships you dream? -what does love look and feel like to you? Submission Info: To submit: email gabriel@sparkrj.org subject line=Art Submission Age range: 16-24 Deadline: August 21, 2009 For more info visit: www.sparkrj.org/what< Disclaimer: • not to send original as we cannot send submissions back to them • please do not send photos revealing their faces if they don’t want to be identified or they are under 18 and don’t have a signed photo release form from their guardian • something friendly about we believe in putting out oppression free materials so we will not except any material that is racist, homophobic, makes fun of or degrades women, people with disabilities, poor/working class people, people living in rural communities, transgender people or anything that could hurt or harm any member of an oppressed community (eli, we may or may not wanna put this in the flyer. we can make it more simple and short and just direct people to my cell, email or website for more information) ——————————————————– Criteria For ART Submissions: Please send us what you got but don’t send us your original or one and only copies! We won’t be able to send them back! For all photograph images: if possible, jpegs are preferred. You may scan in your photographs or mail in copies as well. If you are under the age of 18 and showing your face or the faces of others, we will need a consent form from a parent or guardian for all people featured in your photograph. For all painting, watercolors, sketches, pastels, charcoal works etc, again, please do not send us any original work unless you’re ok not getting it back. All submissions should be no larger than 8 x 11 1/2 in size. Please make sure before send in your submissions that your contact information is printed and written clearly if you wish to be notified when the zine is published!!! This zine will be made free to groups, individuals, businesses, organizations and services all over Georgia so please make sure you use a name attached to your work that you want out in the world. And finally, the Youth & Reproductive Justice Program seeks to do all our work from an oppression free space. Meaning, we know that racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, classism, ableism, sizeism and other forms of oppression exist in the world and are real. We ask that you send art that is coming from an oppression free place as well. For example, please do not send in art that puts down people of color, women, lesbian, gay, bi, transgender folks, poor or working class people, fat folks or people of size and people with physically or mental disabilities. Our goal is to provide something honors the individuals and communities that are too often put down or silenced. We reserve the right to make editorial edits but will do our best to maintain its original form. Thank you for checking us out! We know you have experiences, stories and or art that is worth knowing about. YOU are the expert of your own experience and YOU are who we want to hear from!!! Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions! Thank you! the YRJ Crew =========================================== YOUTH AND REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE ZINE PROJECT! What The Heck Is The YRJ Zine? The Youth & Reproductive Justice Program Zine is working to this summer to create a DIY (do it yourself) mini-magazine that will be jammed packed with information put together by and for lesbian, trans, bi, gay, same gender lovin, queer, youth of color. Who’s It For? Front and foremost this zine is for lesbian, trans, bi, gay, same gender lovin, queer, youth of color in Atlanta and Georgia. Friends and people who love and support queer/trans youth of color are welcome help us put this together, distribute the zines around town and to their friends and spread the word. We also want the zine to be something that parents, educators, service providers and other allies to find useful and exciting too! What’s Gonna Be In It? So much good stuff! This publication will include stories, art, organizing tools, community resources, information about sex, dating, communication, relationships, sexuality, gender identity and more! Who’s Making this Thing? We ALL are! The YRJ program is currently made up of queer/trans folks, mostly people of color and all between the ages of 18-29. We are youth Facilitation Crew members, program interns and staff. Over the summer we’ve been meeting regularly, running around handing out Let’s Talk About Sex Survey’s and hosting events to get input from YOU, our community. Every answer to a survey question, group exercise, story share and piece of art contributed by you helps us get closer to creating an amazing, ground breaking work of art/resource. By doing this project we hope build community, find out what kinds of resources are here in Atlanta and Georgia for queer and trans youth of color, find out where people are getting sex, sexuality, sexual health and relationship information from, take leadership from queer and trans youth of color and MAKING WHAT WE NEED. Umm…Why? Because nothing like this exists yet! Because we deserve resources and information that makes sense for us, for our communities, our bodies, our relationships! Because the Zine will be sex positive, non-shaming and making sense for more than one community. Because the Zine will be honest and real, affirming and validating and you don’t have to be actively having or wanting sex to use the zine How Can I Be A Part Of This? -Join SPARK’s Mailing List to stay connected to the YRJ Program and the Zine Release Party! -Fill out a Let’s Talk about Sex survey! -Come to an Art Party -Get in touch with us to talk more! -We are looking for art, writing, poetry, photography by local queer and trans youth of color that is about love, relationships, bodies, sex, intimacy and gender and sexuality to go into the Zine! To learn more or find out how to submit art/work, contact us at gabriel@sparkrj.org or kate@sparkrj.org 404.532.0022 YRJ Program P.O. Box 8551 ATL GA 31106 COMING TO YOU IN FALL OF 2009……STAY TUNED! Let’s Talk About Sex!
August 5th, 2009 Let’s Talk About Sex!
Are You Lesbian, Bi, Trans, Gay, Queer, Same Gender Lovin or Questioning & Can’t Find Sex or Sexuality Information That Makes Sense for You or Your Community? Do you know what you would want or need to have the kinds of relationships you dream of? Young people all over are rising up, leading & fighting for rights, respect & resources! August 10th, 6-8pm at YouthPride! www.youthpride.org 1017 Edgewood Avenue One Block from the Inman Park/Reynoldstown Marta Station…join us to talk about sex, sexuality, sexual health and relationships, facilitated by folks like you… The Youth & Reproductive Justice Program at SPARK Reproductive Justice Now is creating a zine by and for southern queer & trans youth of color & we need your input! What the heck is the YRJ zine? The Youth & Reproductive Justice Program is putting together a DIY (do it yourself) mini- magazine that will be jammed packed with information put together by and for lesbian, trans, bi, gay, same gender lovin, queer, youth of color. The publication will include stories, art, organizing tools, community resources and information about sex, dating, communication, relationships, sexuality, gender identity and more! Food will be served & space is limited so RSVP by August 7th! To RSVP or for more information, contact gabriel@sparkrj.org or call 404-423-4015 SPARK Statement about Dr. George Tiller’s Murder
June 12th, 2009
We join activists, organizations, and providers across the country and specifically in the South and South East to stand with our comrades in the Midwest, as many of our states have very similar stories to tell when it comes to reproductive violence and oppression. We condemn the oppressive normalized violence that our communities endure; from protests outside of clinics, shootings, stalking, to the daily overt and covert messages that abortion is wrong or shameful. We call on our allies and partners in other social justice movements to not shy away from abortion and join us in connecting abortion and reproductive justice to all of our struggles. There is not one issue that abortion is not a part of because at its core the fight over abortion access is about control over our bodies, sexualities, reproduction, families and communities. Controlling our reproduction is about controlling populations, neighborhoods and communities in many of the same ways that police brutality, prisons, militarization, the gender binary system and economic exploitation operate. These systems are rooted in control, power and political, material and economic gain.
As a reproductive justice organization, we understand abortion to be an integral part of reproductive justice and know that women of color across the board bear the brunt of the impact from the abortion debate. Abortion cannot be separated from sterilization, unsafe forms of birth control, birthing, adoption, foster care, family, sexual violence, parenting, pregnancy, sexuality and sex. Abortion is a women of color issue and cannot be separated from sexual violence, police brutality, health care, domestic violence, war and militarization, racial justice, gender justice, environmental justice and poverty. We cannot continue to allow abortion to be stigmatized and framed as a polarizing issue, divided by “pro-choice” and “pro-life;” or peg abortion as a “women’s issue.” We know that abortion and all of the conditions (i.e. oppression; violence, militarization and war; money and wealth; access to food, water, air, health care, good and safe schools; etc…) surrounding the decision (or need) are far more complicated and real. We acknowledge that our lives are incredibly complicated and can never be boiled down to “right and wrong” and that for many of us “choice” has never existed. The murder of Dr. Tiller is painful, scary and enraging; and again, places many of us at the mercy of a criminal justice system that we know to be corrupt, yet oftentimes is our only option. We hold the complexities and contradictions of the loss of a doctor who spent his life providing desperately needed health care to women; with the push to seek justice from a system that has been responsible for, perpetuates and acts in collusion with innumerable forms of violence against our communities. How do we, as a mourning community, advance conversations about alternatives to imprisonment and true transformation of those who cause great harm? We invite hard, continued and broader conversations about Dr. Tiller’s murder, abortion, and reproductive justice across our movements. We continue to work for a world where we can truly create safety, care, healing, wellbeing and liberation for all of us.
In struggle, We are Bold, Fierce, and Courageous!
June 3rd, 2009
Last night over 150 activists, joined in our collective pain, resolve, and strength to mourn the loss of slain provider, Dr. George Tiller. Representing clinics, people of faith, activists, and beyond, we showed the power in being visible even when acts of terror, like this murder, demand our silence. Many thanks to Dianne Mathiowetz, Laura Anderson, and Rev. Anthony David for being bold, courageous, and willing to share their moving words and calls to action. Click here to view pictures taken of the night. If you also took photos, please share them paris@sparkrj.org. Tremendous thanks goes to Sarah Meng, one of the main organizers, who helped pull this together. The love notes that you wrote are on their way to local clinics with your warming and encouraging words to our brave providers and clinic workers who provide necessary reproductive health care to Georgians. Please utilize the resource list that listed ways for folks to get involved. The fight continues! Tonight! Atlanta Vigil for Slain Abortion Provider, Woodruff Park * 7pm – 8pm Join us tonight, as we gather for a vigil to honor the life and mourn the death of Dr. George Tiller, who was shot and killed on Sunday morning while attending church service in Wichita, Kansas.
We will peacefully join together as a community of activists seeking answers, comfort, and to collectively think about our next steps.
If you have any questions, please email paris@sparkrj.org or call 404.532.0022.
Confirmed Speakers Include: Rev. Marti Keller, Dianne Mathiowetz, Clinic Worker and Paris Hatcher.
**Please feel free to bring signs and banners.
Currently, there is no public place to send cards and condolences for Dr. Tiller (we will post information to our website if it becomes available). If you would like to write something, we would be happy to post it to the SPARK blog. We invite you to send reflections, letters, condolences, stories and thoughts to mia@sparkrj.org regarding the death of Dr. Tiller, abortion, access, reproductive justice and more.
Vigil for Slain Abortion Provider, Dr. George TillerTuesday June 2*7PM* Woodruff ParkYesterday morning while attending church service in Wichita, Kansas, heroic abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller, was shot and killed. This is horrible news and a blow to women’s reproductive health care in this country. Dr. Tiller was one of very few doctor’s who provided late term abortions for women. Dr. Tiller was often the only option for women seeking this particular type of care- women facing one of the hardest decisions facing their bodies and pregnancies. Anti-choice violence is back and in full force. Many of us have been fearful of the violent back lash after the election of a pro-choice president. During the Clinton administration, anti-choice attacks on providers and clinic workers increased 5 times. In these times, when it is hardest to be visible- when visibility feels like a risk to safety- it is most important that we join as a community to amplify and demand reproductive justice now. Attacks to providers and clinics, threaten lives, make access to basic healthcare impossible, and silences women and our communities. |
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We are deeply saddened and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller, an abortion provider in Wichita, Kansas. As one of the handful of doctors who provided late-term abortions in the U.S., Dr. Tiller was constantly harassed, threatened, and survived a shooting by an anti-abortion demonstrator.
