Southerners on New Ground

Durham Chapter Meeting
2020-08-18 18:30 - 20:30, 2020-09-01 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Contact: songdurham@gmail.com

Language Justice Working Group Call
2020-08-19 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
The Language Justice Working Group is a space for members across the region, bilingual or monolingual, to help SONG strategize, build and fortify our values around creating authentic communication across race, culture, and difference. This is imperative for movement building. Language justice as a framework allows us to explicitly name the grief associated with the loss of our ancestral languages, as a result of colonization and imperialism as well as heal and advocate for our inherent right to communicate in our most authentic form.
Contact: Monse Ramirez (monse@songsouth.org)
RSVP Here

DigiCommz Working Group Call
2020-08-20 18:00 - 19:30 (America/New_York)
Join the monthly DigiCommz Working Group calls!
The DigiCommz Working Group is a space for members across the region to help build capacity for SONG regionally and for our chapters and crews moving active campaign work. DigiCommz aims to identify members who are moving communications or digital work in our membership and support their leadership through cross team skill building, regional projects, and providing training and resources. We know the importance of organizers also being communicators – to not only speak of their work, but create crafted messages and narratives in line with their politics and organizing to translate into tactics to win campaigns. Contact: Micky Jordan (mickyj@songsouth.org)
RSVP Here

Political Education Working Group
2020-08-20 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
The Political Education Working Group is a space for SONG staff, SONG members and Forever SONG family to identify the current political education needs for our membership. We know that grassroots organizing work requires intense study in rigor, and this space will help us continually provide tools and curricula for our membership.
Contact: Angela Henderson (angela@songsouth.org)

Black Queer August Political Education Series
2020-08-21 18:00 - 20:00, 2020-08-31 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join SONG for a three-part Black Queer August Political Education series from 6-8pm EST on August 14th (closed session), August 21st, and August 31st. Together we will study the histories, traditions, and themes of Black August from a Black Queer and Trans abolitionist lens.
We will cover topics including George Jackson and the origins of Black August , Trans and Queer abolitionism, unpacking the meanings of ‘political prisoner,’ letter writing, and the connections between maroonage, abolition, and Black land stewardship today. Join us for a space of creativity, reflection, study, and connection!
RSVP Here

Virginia Race Traitors Call
2020-08-22 16:30 - 18:00 (America/New_York)
RSVP today for our first Virginia based Race Traitor call, happening this Saturday, August 22nd, 4:30-6 PM on Zoom. Virginia Race Traitors is a series of calls focused on SONGs white membership in Virginia and open to all members across race. We will focus on white SONG members’ role in antiracist and abolitionist freedom struggles.
We hope to offer a space for vulnerability, connection, and political education while building the skills and capacity necessary for white members to identify and combat whiteness as an institutional, cultural, and personal matter. This process builds strength in the critical critique of ourselves and our collective world.
RSVP Here

New Member Orientation
2020-08-23 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
If you are a new member of SONG, join our New Member Orientation call! This call is a chance to be in community with other new members as we visit the history of our founders, the methods in which we organize in the South, and an orientation to the infrastructure of this organization. This is the space to bring questions, curiosity, time, talents and vision for how we can organize together! No worries if you can’t make it – this space is going to be held on a monthly basis and will be recorded!
Contact: Alan Ramirez (alan@songsouth.org)

New Orleans, LA Chapter Meeting
2020-08-25 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago)
Contact New Orleans fellows Toni and Ra for information about the meetings!

Virginia Statewide Membership Call
2020-08-29 16:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York)
Join SONG Virginia members from all around the Commonwealth for a chance to build relationships with Southern freedom fighters, learn about the practice of abolition, share resources like plant medicine knowledge, and get plugged in with the work for queer and trans liberation! This virtual meet up will happen every other Saturday 4-6PM EST via Zoom. Please register to receive Zoom dial-in information.
RSVP Here

Squad Up, Skill Up, Slay: Street Fighter Series
2020-08-30 13:00 - 15:00, 2020-09-27 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
We are living through and calling for transformation as protests against the system of policing have kindled fires of rage and solidarity globally. Our abolitionist vision is being embraced and grows with each person fed up, activated, fired up, and ready to fight for queer liberation.
In order to win our fights, we must work, move and build in formation! We must lean into our collective power and learn from the wisdom of our movement leaders and ancestors. The mandate calls us to work strategically to strengthen our power and birth the world we’re dreaming. To see our people free of shackles and cages with an abundance of Black joy and queer and trans liberation is the charge!
Join us every other Sunday for our bi-monthly Squad Up, Skill Up, Slay: Street Fighter Series to learn community organizing and direct action planning fundamentals. The series is for brand new organizers and folks wanting to refresh their skills alike. To gain insight on how to squad up through base-building, direct action planning and more join us as we skill-up and prepare to slay in our respective communities! Each module is intended to strengthen our disability justice and language justice politic and practice. Starting August 2nd, join us every other Sunday 1-3 pm ET/12-2 pm CT! We’ll have interpretation between Spanish, English and ASL.
RSVP HERE

Lynchburg, VA Chapter Meeting
2020-08-30 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join SONG Lynchburg, VA on Sunday, August 30th at 6:00 PM ET to discuss local issues, statewide actions we can support, and spend time bringing our knowledge to the table on the topics of police and prison abolition. This meeting will happen every other Sunday on Zoom.

Register here

Staff Mid-Year Break - August 31st-September 6th
2020-08-31 - 2020-09-06
SONG full-time and part-time staff will be off work from August 31st-September 6th.

Nashville, TN Chapter Meeting
2020-08-31 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Chicago)
Join the Nashville chapter of Southerners on New Ground for an open membership meeting Monday, August 31st at 7PM CT. This virtual zoom meet-up will be a chance to build relationships with Southern freedom fighters, learn about the practice of abolition, share resources, and get plugged in with the work for Queer and Trans liberation! Please register to receive Zoom link & dial-in information.

Register here

Free From Fear Campaign Call
2020-09-03 18:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
These every other month calls are a vehicle for member-leaders organizing SONG campaigns across the South to talk to one another, share strategies and tactics, assess the conditions we are facing regionally, share out core organizing training and tools, troubleshoot challenges that are arising, build trust, and strengthen relationships. The Free From Fear regional calls happen are normally on the 1st Tuesday.

Contact: SONG Statewide Organizers: Rebecca Keel (rebecca@songsouth.org), Angela Henderson (angela@songsouth.org) and Jill Cartwright (jill@songsouth.org)

Language Justice 101 + Creating Multilingual Spaces Call
2020-09-09 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York)
Join Cenzontle Language Justice cooperative on September 9th 5-6pm ET/ 4-5 pm CT for a language justice training. Cenzontle is a worker-owned Language justice cooperative based in Asheville NC. The revolution will be multilingual! We must connect and build with each other across language. We invite SONG chapters and SONG members who want to learn more about how to create multilingual spaces virtually through Zoom!
This training will cover the basics of Language Justice as well as a step by step training on how to set up and host a zoom meeting with interpretation successfully.
Register Here

Regional Membership Call (co-hosted by SONG Power)
2020-09-09 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
As we enter the fall season amidst this ongoing pandemic, we know that our survival is deeply rooted in our people holding each other up and building networks of care. We’ve seen, through the uprisings, the beauty and strength of our collective organizing! Let’s continue in the footsteps our ancestors and sow a New South that is pro-Black, pro-queer, pro-trans, pro-woman, pro-immigrant, and pro-worker!
Join us on Wednesday, September 9th, 2020 from 7-9pm ET/6-8pm CT for our Regional Membership call, co-hosted with our sister organization, SONG Power. On this call, we want to hear from you all, share updates from the field and celebrate new crew and chapter formations. We’ll also introduce the work of SONG Power, share about the electoral and power building strategies we are employing in South Carolina, and offer insights from our Melt ICE and voter education campaigns in Georgia.
RSVP here

Black Nashville Assembly
2020-09-12 15:30 - 17:30 (America/Chicago)
In the spirit of Black power, SONG members, and coalition members come together to build an agenda that will serve the needs of Black people in Nashville. Join the Black Delegation of the Nashville People’s Budget Coalition on September 12th at 3:30 pm CT to build community consensus and plan collective action.
RSVP Here

Richmond, VA Chapter Meeting (Virtual Meeting)
2020-09-17 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join the interest meeting for the new SONG Richmond chapter! This meeting will be virtual, come out to find some kin. The goals of these meetings are to: build connection and community with local members, discuss SONG, chapter-hood and the benefits of chapter formations. Contact Jasmine Leeward for more information.
RSVP Here

Richmond, VA Chapter Meeting (Outdoor Meeting)
2020-09-19 17:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | Smith Peters Park, 904 Catherine St, Richmond, VA, 23220
Join the interest meeting for the new SONG Richmond chapter! This meeting will be outdoors at Smith Peters Park, come out to find some kin in SONG. The goals of these meetings are to: build connection and community with local members, discuss SONG, chapter-hood and the benefits of chapter formations. Contact Jasmine Leeward for more information.
RSVP Here

Defund the Police Crash Course - Part 2
2020-09-26 - 2020-09-27
[English Below]
El 19 de junio de 1865, las tropas de la Unión llegaron a Galveston, Texas para hacer cumplir la Proclamación de Emancipación. Aunque la gente esclavizada ya era libre legalmente, muchas seguían trabajado en Texas y en el sur durante dos años después de la declaración de Lincoln.
En el mismo sentido, aun siendo legalmente libres, sabemos que las personas negras, lxs inmigrantes y la clase trabajadora rara vez han tenido la experiencia de vivir con libertad de la violencia policial y el acoso del estado. ¡Ya es suficiente! A nivel nacional, el mandato de “Desinvertir en la policía” ha cobrado vida propia. Sin embargo, entendemos este mandato como parte de un proyecto en curso de abolición que aún no se ha realizado plenamente¡
¡Únete al Movimiento del Amanecer (Sunrise Movement), Mijente, Defensorxs de Sueños (Dream Defenders), AfroSocialistas (AfroSocialists), el Grupo de Socialistas de Color (Socialists of Color Caucus) y Sureñxs en Nueva Tierra (Southerners on New Ground) para profundizar nuestra comprensión de la abolición y aprender cómo convertir el mandato de “Desinvertir en la policía” en una acción tangible en nuestras comunidades!
Regístrese Ahora
——–
On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation. Though enslaved people were already legally free, many had still labored in Texas and the South for two years after Lincoln’s declaration.
In that same vein, while being legally free, we know that Black folks, immigrants, and working class people have rarely experienced freedom from police violence and harassment from the state. We’ve had enough! Nationally, the mandate to “Defund the Police” has taken on a life of its own. We, however, understand this mandate as part of an ongoing project of abolition that has not yet been fully realized.
Join Sunrise Movement, Southerners on New Ground, Dream Defenders, AfroSoc DSA and Mijente, as we deepen our understanding of abolition and learn how to turn the mandate to “Defund the Police” into tangible action in our communities!
Sign Up Now

Free from Fear Campaign Call
2020-10-06 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
These every other month calls are a vehicle for member-leaders organizing SONG campaigns across the South to talk to one another, share strategies and tactics, assess the conditions we are facing regionally, share out core organizing training and tools, troubleshoot challenges that are arising, build trust, and strengthen relationships. The Free From Fear regional calls happen on the 1st Tuesday.

Contact: SONG Statewide Organizers: Rebecca Keel (rebecca@songsouth.org), Angela Henderson (angela@songsouth.org) and Jill Cartwright (jill@songsouth.org)

National Coming Out Day
2020-10-11
[English Below]
¡Feliz Día Nacional de la Salida del Closet! a sea estes fuera contigo mismx, con tus seres queridxs o no, te valoramos y apoyamos dónde te encuentres en este camino de descubrimiento. Tú eres la medida, avanza a tu ritmo y sé que eres amadx.
——
Happy National Coming Out Day! Whether you are out to yourself, your loved ones or not, we value you and hold where you are on this journey of discovery. You are the measure, move at your pace and know you are loved. #ComingOutDay

Squad Up, Skill Up, Slay: Street Fighter Series - Healing Justice
2020-10-25 13:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
We are living through and calling for transformation as protests against the system of policing have kindled fires of rage and solidarity globally. Our abolitionist vision is being embraced and grows with each person fed up, activated, fired up, and ready to fight for queer liberation.
In order to win our fights, we must work, move and build in formation! We must lean into our collective power and learn from the wisdom of our movement leaders and ancestors. The mandate calls us to work strategically to strengthen our power and birth the world we’re dreaming. To see our people free of shackles and cages with an abundance of Black joy and queer and trans liberation is the charge!
Join us every other Sunday for our bi-monthly Squad Up, Skill Up, Slay: Street Fighter Series to learn community organizing and direct action planning fundamentals. The series is for brand new organizers and folks wanting to refresh their skills alike. To gain insight on how to squad up through base-building, direct action planning and more join us as we skill-up and prepare to slay in our respective communities! Each module is intended to strengthen our disability justice and language justice politic and practice. We’ll have interpretation between Spanish, English and ASL.
RSVP HERE

SONG Power Post Election Regional Membership Call
2020-11-09 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York)
Join SONG Power on November 9th from 6-8pm CT/7- 9pm ET for our SONG & SONG Power November Regional Member Call to reflect on the electoral process, reground in our political commitment, and share with one another what opportunities there are to be harvested in this moment. On this call we will create and enter third-space, rooted in creation, invention, innovation, and re-birth together. Members will give updates on this year’s election cycle and our abolitionist movement building work. This call is for us to name and celebrate our wins and grieve our losses.
We are calling ALL members, new and seasoned, because we do not fight alone! This call is for each of us who need space to reflect on what this political and spiritual moment is bringing to bear. We hope to strategize, connect, and be together because we know that where there’s great challenge, there is equally great opportunity and together we hold the dreams and visions to manifest liberation in our lifetime. We do this while recognizing that we take care of each other.
RSVP Here

Polls to Power: SONG Power Georgia Statewide Membership Call
2020-11-10 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York)
Join SONG Power Georgia on Tuesday, November 10 at 6:30 pm ET for our SONG Georgia Statewide Movement Building Meeting where we will introduce our Black November fellows and the work they’re doing to transition the energy around this election into local abolitionist campaigns. Join the call and you, too, will learn about the steps you can take to End Cash Bail, Melt ICE, close the cages and help lead your Georgia community from the polls to power!
RSVP here

Make It Rain Working Group Call
2020-11-16 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
Join the monthly Make It Rain Working Group calls!
The Make It Rain Working Group is a space for members across the region to help SONG fundraise and skill up their development skills! Fundraising is so important to help our organization have campaigns, convenings, and have a strong regional reach queer and trans people across the South deserve. Contact: Britney Nesbit (britney@songsouth.org)
RSVP Here

Spokescouncil Call
2020-11-17 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York)
The SONG Spokescouncil is a longtime dream of the organization. It consists of member leader representatives from each chapter, working group, board, current fellowship cohort, and ForeverSONG family. The Spokescouncil is designed to be a member-led formation for making decisions, sharpening our collective tactics, actions, and work across the region.
To Learn More Contact: Carlin Rushing (carlin@songsouth.org)
