Our hearts are breaking.
We are deeply saddened to share that on July 21, 2016, we lost a beloved Atlanta based SONG member, Kiesha Webb. Many in Atlanta know her from the Hot & Ready campaign crew, while others met and shared space with her at last year’s Bayard Rustin gathering.
May her spirit rise. May she join the ancestors and find joy and peace.
We know firsthand that the grief and isolation many of us struggle with often becomes unbearable, and that for those of us who choose to still be here every day, we are gifted the opportunity to restore with each other the covenants that make our very survival possible. We find love and salvation in and through each other, through the chosen bonds we call kinship, through movement, through political home and political work that brings our shared vision into focus. We find redemption in rising to fight for ourselves and each other another day.
As LGBTQ people, Black folks, people of color, women, immigrants, working people, we know firsthand that oppression and isolation kill our people daily. This sobering moment reminds us to widen the circle of our hearts, our organizing circles, and our movements deliberately and strategically, because we are stronger together, because our lives hang in the balance. As much as we desire to create and be wrapped in movement spaces and institutions that fulfill all of our needs, heal all our wounds, and build kinship that can carry all of us through sorrow, we know that is not always attainable or enough. We remain committed to struggling together. As we contend with daily heartache and hurt, we choose each other.
To all of our political family, to the tens of thousands of LGBTQ Southerners here and exiled from home, for those of us whose hearts are breaking when the load becomes unbearable: we want you, we need you, and there is honor in reaching out. Every year we meet more of you who are surviving the harshest of conditions, and finding daily ways to thrive. SONG was created out of that collective resilience and love for self and community. And so in the still of a hot summer, we celebrate and mourn Kiesha with prayers of survival for each other, for all of us, and for peace and reprieve for her spirit.
Saturday August 6th, Kiesha’s Homegoing Service(s):
Saturday, August 6th at 2:00 p.m., there will be a viewing from 1-2 p.m.
Her wake will be Friday, August 5th between 6 and 8 p.m.
Both services will be hosted by Kiesha’s family and held at the Divine’s Funeral Home located at:
5620 Hillandale Drive, Lithonia, Georgia 30058.
Tuesday August 9th, Community Celebration of Kiesha’s Life
Food, Ritual, Song and more from 6-9 pm
The Motherhouse – 1237 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd
For more information please visit the Facebook event page HERE
Donations to Kiesha’s Family and Homegoing
