Ruth Bader Ginsburg died yesterday at sundown at the age of 87 on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. It’s said people who die on Rosh Hashanah are of greatest righteousness. She gave us her life over and over. She was a hero and a strategist and a brilliant legal mind and first and foremost, she opened this world for women. We mourn her, we celebrate her.
We RISE in her name for gender equality, immigrant rights, access to abortion, voting rights, LGBTQIA equality, healthcare, workers’ rights – the rights that she dedicated her life to. We refuse the deadly, hypocritical engine of the right wing. We organize. We vote. We thank her for her life by devoting ours to fighting for justice. We share our deepest love to her family and loved ones.
Amidst her decades long, pathbreaking career, Ginsburg co-founded the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union and won six gender discrimination lawsuits before the US Supreme Court. “In my life, what I find most satisfying is that I was part of a movement that made life better, not just for women … gender discrimination is bad for everyone.” – Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She was appointed to the United States Supreme Court in 1993 by President Bill Clinton, the second woman and the first Jewish woman to be appointed. “Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say my colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way, but the greatest dissents do become court opinions.” – From a 2002 NPR interview, on her Supreme Court dissents.
Rest in power, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We honor your powerful voice,
your bravery, and your dedication. We thank you for your life of courage,
vision and love. Your fierce and unrelenting fight for justice will continue.
We will continue the fight.
May Her Memory Be a Revolution,
V-Day, One Billion Rising, City of Joy
TAKE ACTION:
SIGN the Move On petition opposing any Supreme Court confirmation until after the next presidential inauguration, and please ask others you know to sign it.
JOIN the vigils taking place tonight to celebrate, mourn and carry on the fight.
V IS FOR VOTE, for activists who vote in the United States.
Election Day in the United States is Tuesday, November 3, 2020. We are in the midst of a rising tide of right-wing nationalism, white supremacy, fascism, tyranny, hatred of and fear of immigrants, misogyny, femicide, homophobia, transphobia, corporate greed and climate destruction. The United States election includes the Presidency, which is currently occupied by a fascist, misogynist and corrupt Predator-in-Chief. The rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and an inadequate federal response has worsened the effects of this tide. Elections are one way to voice your support of issues you care about.
Here is a short list of resources which includes info voting guidelines, deadlines about mail-in ballots, and to help you get out the vote:
“THAT KINDNESS” –
A NEW THEATRICAL OFFERING IN SUPPORT OF CALIFORNIA NURSES ASSOCIATION & NURSES EVERYWHERE
Over the past two months, V (formerly Eve Ensler) has been listening to the stories and experiences of frontline nurses. With the help of Alixa Garcia, Morley, James Lecesne, and National Nurses United, V presents THAT KINDNESS, From and For the Nurses of America, a new theatrical offering in support of California Nurses Association and nurses everywhere.
The performance will feature your favorite actors depicting nurses’ struggles and triumphs during the pandemic. This evening will honor, celebrate and lift up the voice of the registered nurse.
Please spread the word and join us online, Wednesday, 9 September at 9:00 pm ET/6:00 pm PT. RSVP HERE
RISING IN THE TIME OF CORONA EMERGENCY FUND
This Labor Day, during a year of an unprecedented global pandemic and uprising for racial justice, we stand in solidarity with and honor all workers. The rapid spread of coronavirus across the globe has revealed what has always been a glaring truth for so many of the essential workers who are the backbone of our society: inequity.
As part of the fight for one fair wage, tipped service workers, such as servers, bartenders, delivery drivers, and more have started a series of monthly strikes, starting with New York and Chicago on August 31. Together with One Fair Wage, we introduced Elena the Essential Worker, whom we hope can stand on the shoulders of Rosie the Riveter to serve as a new face in the fight for economic, racial, and gender justice!
This Labor Day, we write to ask for your support for these frontline workers. From the people who pick our food to the people who deliver our packages, it is the working class and poor who are most vulnerable to the virus and the economic disaster that Covid-19 has laid bare. So often these frontline workers are women. Many of them are activists, young leaders, and women who are part of our movement.
Workers and health care professionals in every country are on the front lines of the crisis, risking their lives to take care of other people, to keep food on the shelves, to deliver necessary services, and to heal those who are sick. For so many survivors, home is not a safe place. Advocates worldwide are providing shelter as well as posting information and resources online.
As the world faces the Covid-19 pandemic, activists, artists, survivors, and youth around the world are rising to help impacted communities, frontline workers, and survivors.
Your donation will give much needed assistance for essential women workers in these uncertain times.
Essential Service Workers Take Action Launching Series of Strikes Beginning Monday; Join Elena the Essential Worker
These are challenging times for essential service workers, workers of color, and womxn-identifying workers and mothers especially. We write today to ask for your support for these frontline workers. Tipped service workers, including servers, bartenders, delivery workers, and more, are starting a series of monthly strikes this coming Monday, August 31, demanding a full minimum wage with tips on top, at a time when tips are down 50-75%. These workers’ subminimum wages have caused a horrific experience for them during this pandemic, as has also been the case for so many other essential workers in other sectors.
At Monday’s rally, we will be introducing Elena the Essential Worker, whom we hope can stand on the shoulders of Rosie the Riveter to serve as a new face in the fight for economic, racial, and gender justice!
Read Elena’s biography to learn more about this powerful piece of artwork by Paul Leibow. Elena will measure 24 ft high and be dressed as service in a visual representation of the fight for One Fair Wage. She will make her world debut at worker strike locations this coming Monday in New York and Chicago. From there, Elena the Essential will hit the road and make appearances in Boston, Philadelphia, D.C. and Orlando (5-6 different art pieces).
We share Elena’s ‘Coming Out’ on the heels of a historic strike vote by tipped service workers on August 24, 2020. With a unanimous vote, service workers who have been organizing and mobilizing for change all over the country will take to the streets on Monday, August 31st for a one-day strike in New York and Chicago in solidarity with tipped service workers in their cities and all over the country who have to rely on tips to make ends meet. The strikes will be growing to more cities — at least to Boston, Philadelphia, D.C. and Orlando — at the end of September, and then again at the end of each month until we win One Fair Wage — a full minimum wage with tips on top.
Can you come see Elena IRL and join striking service workers in a socially-distant action & picket line in solidarity? If so, please register here!
If you can’t be with us, we’d greatly appreciate it if you could use this Social Media Tool to share this timely solidarity alert on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also make your voice heard by signing the petition at FightDontStarve.com and share it with your friends!
Thank you for supporting this important movement for social, racial and economic justice for all! #1FairWage #NoWorkerLeftBehind #1BillionRising #FightDontStarve
In Solidarity,
Saru Jayaraman, One Fair Wage President & Co-Founder
& V (formerly Eve Ensler), One Billion Rising Founder
15 Years Since Hurricane Katrina,
A Look Back at Swimming Upstream
Photos: Paula Allen for V-Day
This week is the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. As the anniversary approaches – and a new storm is approaching the coast of Louisiana and Texas – we remember those we lost and those whose lives were changed fifteen years ago and we celebrate the activists in New Orleans and the Gulf South whose work to rebuild is ongoing, whose work to address the devastating impact of climate change continues.
We remember the 30,000 activists, survivors and artists who converged in New Orleans in 2008 for V-Day’s 10th anniversary celebration V TO THE TENTH including the premiere performance of SWIMMING UPSTREAM in the Superdome.
16 New Orleans women crafted Swimming Upstream – a powerful theatrical production that tells the raw and soulful stories of women who lived through Hurricanes Rita and Katrina with grace, rage and great resiliency, punctuated by a flair for storytelling, humor and music that comes from being New Orleanian.
The performance featured Troi Bechet, Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes, Anne-Liese Juge Fox, Briceshanay Gresham, Karen-kaia Livers, and guest performers Shirley Knight, Anna Deavere Smith, and Kerry Washington. We honor Shirley Knight, who passed away this Spring. Shirley, a dear friend of the V-Day movement, lent her talents to many V-Day artistic productions over the years, in support of our work to end violence against all women and girls.
Written by Carol Bebelle, Troi Bechet, Reverend Lois Dejean, Asali DeVan Ecclesiastes, Anne-Liese Juge Fox, Adella Gautier, Briceshanay Gresham, Herreast Harrison, Karen-kaia Livers, Tommye Myrick, Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Kathy Randels, Dollie Rivas, Dina Roudeze, Karel Sloane-Boekbinder, Carol Sutton. Created in a process facilitated by V-Day Founder/playwright/activist V (formerly Eve Ensler) and Carol Bebelle, (then) Executive Director and Co-founder of Ashé Cultural Arts Center, the play was produced by V-Day and Ashé Cultural Arts Center with Support from Open Society Foundation.
“If art is therapeutic, Swimming Upstream is a breakthrough.” – Times Picayune
“In many ways the work resembles an engaging church event – complete with gospel songs, testimonies and hand-clapping redemption.” – Variety
“Swimming UpStream …. is the poetic equivalent of a breached levee. What begins as a flood of raw human emotion becomes a source of healing, transcendence and new beginnings.” – The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Welcome to City of Joy! The new class of young women is now arriving in Bukavu at the City of Joy.
The City of Joy is a revolutionary leadership center for women survivors of gender violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is a place where women turn their pain into power, a place that restores women’s sense of agency over their lives as they learn real, practical life skills to feed their futures, and connects them to the global V-Day movement, one billion strong. From the return of warmth and joy into women’s lives, to a reconnection to their bodies, to the feeling of empowerment each woman feels when she masters a new skill or acquires life-changing knowledge, the City of Joy gives women a platform to transform their pasts into fuel for a revolution of the mind, body, and community.
Over 1472 women have graduated to date. A woman who comes through the City of Joy is forever changed by it. She laughs more, she leads more, she gives more.
The team at City of Joy are using every tool to ensure safety. They are skilled in public health measures including Ebola and now Covid. Everyone has been tested prior to entry and they will also quarantine for two weeks at City of Joy with essential staff.
Ready to Netflix and Joy?
WATCH the feature length documentary CITY OF JOY
The story of City of Joy is the story of love and community. It is the story of what happens when women who are sexual survivors live together in community, heal themselves and each other, and create their destiny on their own terms. The transformation that is seen at City of Joy is profound – the most abused become the most powerful who turn poison into medicine, isolation into community, shame into self-love, silence into story. This is the story of what happens when women have time to heal and truly release and transform trauma, when women are loved and held and nurtured and treated with deepest kindness, dignity and intention.
CITY OF JOY follows the first class of women at revolutionary leadership center City of Joy, from which the film derives its title, and weaves their journey as burgeoning leaders with that of the center’s founders (Dr. Denis Mukwege, 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, women’s rights activist Christine Schuler-Deschryver and V (formerly Eve Ensler), founder of V-Day and One Billion Rising) – three individuals who imagined a place where women who have suffered horrific rape and abuse can heal and become powerful voices of change for their country.
“How does one find joy amid unspeakable tragedy? Madeleine Gavin’s documentary City of Joy, about a community built around women who have survived horrific violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), gives us a glimpse at both an incredible injustice still occurring today, and how Congolese women are combating it with their own grassroots movement.” – Clara Mae in The Guardian
During this Covid-19 pandemic, gather friends and community virtually and safely, watch CITY OF JOY and make use of the screening guide for small discussion groups via Zoom, Whatsapp, or Facetime.
Trigger Warning: Prepare to Support Survivors and Audience Members
Be sure to make your audience aware of the content of the film prior to screening. Stories about sexual assault, rape and sexual and physical torture are relayed in the film.
CONGRATULATIONS RADA!
RADA BORIC, ONE BILLION RISING COORDINATOR,
ELECTED MEMBER OF CROATIAN PARLIAMENT
Image courtesy: Dragan Matic / Hanza Media
We are thrilled to share the news that One Billion Rising Coordinator Rada Boric has been elected to the Croatian parliament! Rada is a member of the New Left party in Croatia and the We Can coalition, a Croatian platform of local green and progressive movements that formed a progressive political party and won seven seats in Sunday’s parliamentary election.
“We showed in the span of a month and a half what courage means – that’s what we brought to the table from activism. We also showed what creativity and respect for people and talking to them can do,” stated Rada in Slobodna Dalmacija, when commenting on the electoral success of the platform. “What the Prime Minister resented about us was our political activism and we think that many had been politically dormant in the past and the success of the election reflected that. This success is not just the success of our platform. I would say it is the cumulative success of 30 years of activism, gathered from different movements – anti-war, anti police powers, for women’s rights,” she added.
In Parliament, Rada will continue her lifelong commitment and advocacy to advance gender equality in Croatia, including fighting for a modern Abortion Act to provide women with free, safe, and accessible medical treatment and contraception. She will advocate for sex education, a modern civic education program designed to help students understand gender equality, and equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community, including adoptions and foster care.
Rada is a feminist linguist and activist who has coordinated One Billion Rising across Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia since the campaign launched in 2012. Prior to One Billion Rising, Rada has been a pillar of the V-Day movement, producing benefit performances across Europe. Rada is a member of the Initiative for the Women’s Court for Former Yugoslavia, regional coordinator of V-Day, the global movement against violence against women, and a member of the Nobel Women’s Initiative Advisory Board. In 2012 she was elected vice-president of the European Women Lobby (representing Women’s Network Croatia). In 2013, the Croatian President awarded her with the decoration Order of Danica Hrvatska for her work on promoting women’s human rights.
Please join us in congratulating Rada!
JUST OUT! READ KEVIN POWELL’S POEM “WE THEM PEOPLE”
We are thrilled to share this new poem written by Kevin Powell. Kevin is a poet, journalist, civil and human rights activist, public speaker, and author of 14 books, including his new one, WHEN WE FREE THE WORLD, about the present and future of America (exclusively an ebook on Apple Books). Kevin is currently writing as part of our ‘Artists Rising’ series.
we them people
By Kevin Powell
dream on
dreamer
the way Alvin Ailey
and Maya Angelou
and George Floyd
and Breonna Taylor
dreamed of
southern-baked
pilgrims
dancing and
slow marching
their sorrows
down the yellow
brick roads
of
second-line members
humming from
the heels of their dirt-kissed feet:
i wanna be ready/to put on my long white robe….
we are survivors
we are survivors
we are survivors
of people
who were free
and became slaves
of people
who were slaves
and became free
we know why the caged bird sings
we know what a redemption song brings
we them people
we the people
we are those people
who shall never forget
our ancestors all up in us as we sleep
our grandmother all up in us as we weep
because we are
native american
black irish welsh french german polish italian
jewish puerto rican mexican greek russian
dominican chinese japanese vietnamese
filipino korean arab middle eastern
we are biracial and we are multicultural
we are bicentennial and we are new millennial
we are essential and we are frontline
we are everyday people and we are people everyday
we are #metoo we are #metoo we are #metoo
we are muslim christian hebrew too
we are bible torah koran atheist agnostic truer than true
we are rabbis and imams and preachers and yoruba priests
tap-dancing with buddhists and hindus and rastafarians
as the Nicholas Brothers
jump and jive and split the earth in half
while Chloe and Maud Arnold
them syncopated ladies
twist and shout and stomp and trump
hate
again—
again—
again—
yeah
still we rise still we surprise
like we got Judith Jamison’s crying solo in our eyes
every hello ain’t alone every good-bye ain’t gone
we are every tongue every nose every skin every color every face mask
we are mattered lives paint it black
we are mattered lives paint it black
we are mattered lives paint it black
we are every tattoo every piercing every drop of blood
every global flood
we are straight queer trans non-gender conforming
we are she/he/they
we are disabled abled poor rich
big people little people in between people
we are protesters pepper-sprayed with knees on our necks
we are protesters pepper-sprayed with knees on our necks
we are protesters pepper-sprayed with knees on our necks
we them people
we the people
we are those people
who will survive
these times
because we done
survived
those times
where pandemics were
trail of tears and lynchings and holocausts
where pandemics were
no hope and no vote and no freedom spoke
we them people
we the people
we are those people
while our planet gently weeps
we bob and bop
like hip-hop
across the tender bones
of those tear-stained photographs
to hand to
this generation
the next generation
those revelations
yeah
that blues suite
yeah
that peaceful dance
inside a raging tornado
we call
love
In Russia, portraying women’s bodies can get you arrested.
Yulia Tsvetkova, a Russian artist, has been criminally charged with “production and dissemination of pornographic materials” after she shared stylized depictions of vaginas on social media. Trouble with authorities started after Yulia planned to stage a play called “Blue and Pink” about gender stereotypes in her city. She ultimately cancelled the play due to pressure from the authorities. “I don’t know which was worse for the authorities, the play about gender, which they don’t understand, and they are afraid of, or the other play, which was pretty political, very sharp. I guess it’s the combination of both that got me here,” Tsvetkova said over a phone call. “After that I was called to the police station every week or every other week.”
Tsvetkova was fined 75,000 roubles ($1,000) on Friday on charges of spreading “gay propaganda” among minors by publishing drawings of same-sex couples with children online. The court in the eastern city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur confirmed the 27-year-old had been fined under a 2013 law that bans disseminating “propaganda on non-traditional sexual relations” among young Russians – legislation condemned by rights groups.
The pornography charge came after the police discovered a group called “The Vagina Monologues” (named after V’s play) that Tsvetkova founded and moderated on Russian social media network VKontakte. Yulia is currently unable to leave her town and is waiting for a court date. If convicted, Yulia faces up to 6 years in prison.
We must stand with Yulia and RISE in her defense.
Here is how you can help:
SEND AN EMAIL using Amnesty International’s platform send an instant email to Russian authorities today demanding Yulia’s release and that her charges be dropped.
JOY! City of Joy Celebrates 17th Graduating Class, Graduating 1472 Women To Date
With gratitude to Christine Schuler Deschryver and the entire team in Bukavu, DRC!
The 17th Women’s Leadership Training Session at the City of Joy is a very special session. It is a session in which residents have not only been transformed by the ingredients of therapy and leadership but have also gained missionary knowledge. For six months, 89 residents of the City of Joy received training in psycho-therapeutic care that helped them heal their trauma caused by the atrocities they had survived.
The six months that these women spent with their sisters and mamas unfolded as the pandemic of Covid-19 killed hundreds of thousands around the world. 50% of the staff confined themselves with the residents at the City of Joy from 23 March 2020 onward to continue and complete the program. 89 women went to their villages as leaders and missionaries. They are leaders who will revolutionize the retrograde mentalities and practices that annihilate the development of women at all levels.
“We are proud of these leaders, who recovered their true potential. We are proud to have journeyed with a dedicated team to reach the expected results of the training and healing of 89 women despite the trying circumstances that the pandemic brought. We are thankful and really grateful to V (formerly Eve Ensler) and to V-Day, who trusted us and accepted our decision to continue our program while most of the NGOs in our area closed their doors and expats left the country. We are thankful to our donors and supporters. Let’s keep Raising the Vibration!” – Christine Schuler Deschryver, Co-Founder & Director City of Joy, Director V-Day Congo
Filmmakers Behind the Documentary ‘Woman’ Create Short About City of Joy to Celebrate Congo’s Independence Day
We are thrilled to share this new short from award-winning filmmakers Yann Arthus-Bertrand and Anastasia Mikova. Created to celebrate the independence day of the DRCongo, they have released a behind-the-scenes film of their shooting in Bukavu at City of Joy and Panzi Hospital featuring interviews with women including City of Joy Co-founder and Director Christine Schuler Deschryver.
TODAY (30 June) is the Last Day of our Fiscal Year. Support the work of V-Day, One Billion Rising & City of Joy
Support V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against all women and girls (cisgender, transgender, and those who hold fluid identities that are subject to gender based violence). DONATE to V-Day >
Your Solidarity & Support Make This Movement Possible. V-Day is a 501(c)(3) public charity and is one of the Top-Rated organizations on Charity Navigator and GuideStar.
This Friday, 19 June is Juneteenth – the 135th anniversary of the day the news of emancipation reached the last group of slaves in Texas, two years after the Emancipation Proclamation of 1 January 1863. (Juneteenth is also know as Emancipation Day or Freedom Day).
Join V-Day, One Billion Rising and City of Joy as we RISE and proclaim Black Lives Matter this weekend of national days of action anchored by the Movement for Black Lives. Events are being scheduled throughout the United States in the streets and online.
While this day is sacred for Black Americans every year, this year it takes on added meaning against the backdrop of countless people taking to the streets across United States and the world to declare that BLACK LIVES MATTER in the wake of the senseless murders of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and the countless other Black men and women at the hands of the police. For far too many centuries, anti-Blackness has been the underpinning of how our society is structured. It is time to dismantle it.
As a movement of anti-violent activists, we know the intersections that race, gender, sexual orientation and violence make along the trajectory of a person’s life; just look at the experience of Black trans women, who are disproportionately murdered in our society.
We must meet this moment with everything we have. Now is the time to mobilize in a way we have never done before. We must show up for our Black brothers and sisters and stand in solidarity with them in the face of Trump’s glaring racism, to demand that police forces be defunded so that resources can be channeled to true community needs, from housing and education to mental health support.
Together let’s join the Movement for Black Lives (M4BL)’s SIXNINETEEN mobilization on Juneteenth weekend, 19-21 June. Take action from home, in your community, or in Washington, D.C. Visit sixnineteen.com for information on how you can be involved in this historic weekend of actions.
If you take to the streets, please wear a mask and practice social distancing as much as possible.
Let’s listen. Let’s donate. Let’s show up. Let’s love. Let’s not stop until ALL BLACK LIVES MATTER.
Let’s RISE!
See you in the streets and online,
V-Day, One Billion Rising & City of Joy
JUNETEENTH NOW – Get us Free – Friday, 19 June, 7-9pm ET
Join a jubilant and joyous, Black led, multicultural celebration of Juneteenth, featuring an array of artists including One Billion Rising/V-Day Founder V (formerly Eve Ensler) and Actor/Activist and V-Board Member Rosario Dawson.
“On #Juneteenth, an incredible group of artists will gather for a Black-led, multicultural celebration. An homage to the 400 years that Black people have lived in this nation, the program will non-linearly jump through our past and present, highlighting Black resistance, resilience, healing and joy… the evening will feature performances from a wide variety of artists… A variety of writers will speak… and the entertainment will be rounded out with jaw-dropping musical numbers from award-winning theatre stars… As our nation remains gripped in protests against police violence, this program will amplify calls for justice while simultaneously highlighting the joy, virtuosity and excellence that are too-often absent in media portrayals of Black culture. And – against the President’s white nationalism – the show will offer a vision of a beautiful, justice-oriented, multicultural America in striking contrast.” – Middlechurch
For full details, to view the lineup of incredible artists, writers and entertainment and to register, visit: bit.ly/get-us-free
The 17th Women’s Leadership Training Session at the City of Joy is a very special session. It is a session in which residents have not only been transformed by the ingredients of therapy and leadership but have also gained missionary knowledge.
For six months, 89 residents of the City of Joy received training in psycho-therapeutic care that helped them heal their trauma caused by the atrocities they had survived. Some arrived desperate, others angry. But from the beginning of their stay, they began to heal and cultivate a new life. By giving up everything that contributed to their imbalance, they were given a solid foundation of self-empowerment, independence, and resilience to rebuild their lives.
The six months that these women spent with their sisters and mamas unfolded as the pandemic of Covid-19 killed hundreds of thousands around the world. The City of Joy had its greatest victory in transforming the lives of 89 women who were resilient, courageous, optimistic and above all determined reach the end of the mission despite the turmoil that Covid-19 brought. The City of Joy has moved forward with 89 women who believe in success despite the threat of an invisible enemy in the region.
In the pursuit of its mission, the City of Joy has developed strategies that demonstrate boldness, risk-taking to succeed and perseverance. Its staff has proven its dedication during this period of the pandemic. To achieve the objectives, 50% of the staff confined themselves with the residents at the City of Joy from March 23, 2020 onward to continue and complete the program. The staff worked during the day and part of the night to: tell stories with the residents; help them draw their lifelines and build the pillars of their lives; practice meditation and contemplation techniques and communicate with Mother Earth; knit, crochet and concentrate on sewing; and to do the art of cooking and learn healthy eating techniques. The residents played a great responsibility in the achievement of the objectives; they took ownership of their training and organized the closing ceremony by working on the key message they wanted to convey in relation to the mission they have to accomplish in their respective communities.
Session 17 gave a double mission to its residents. 89 women went to their villages as leaders and missionaries. They are leaders who will revolutionize the retrograde mentalities and practices that annihilate the development of women at all levels. They are missionaries because of the Covid-19 pandemic. They join communities that do not believe in the existence of Covid-19. They join communities that are building myths around the pandemic. They are reaching out to communities that are not sensitized against Covid-19. These women have been equipped since the declaration of a state of emergency in the DRC after the first cases of Covid-19 had been reported to understand its mode of transmission and prevention. They are going to give back what they experienced during three months of lockdown at City of Joy. They will help their communities to practice preventive measures and to respect physical/social distancing. They have joined their communities with tools and knowledge to play the role of community liaison agents, sensitizers and coaches to contribute effectively to the efforts in the response against Covid-19 in view of the dazzling situation of the pandemic in DRC.
We are proud of these leaders, who recovered their true potential.
We are proud to have journeyed with a dedicated team to reach the expected results of the training and healing of 89 women despite the trying circumstances that the pandemic brought.
We are thankful and really grateful to V (Eve Ensler) and to V-Day, who trusted us and accepted our decision to continue our program while most of the NGOs in our area closed their doors and expats left the country.
While thousands across the world condemn racism and demand justice at global Black Lives Matter protests, City of Joy is mourning and rising against racism. The City of Joy community is revolted over the police killing of George Floyd and others and condemns both racism and police brutality. We demand justice for those whose lives have been sabotaged after Floyd was laid on the ground and handcuffed with his neck pinned under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer. This is pure racism! This is injustice! City of Joy is kneeling in solidarity with all protesters across the planet amid the COVID-19 pandemic response.
King Leopold II statues abound today in Belgium despite his folly of grandeur. protesters are tired of racism and have removed one in Antwerp after anti-racism protests. Today, City of Joy stands in solidarity with these protesters. We denounce King Leopold II’s brutal rule in Belgium’s African colonies, most notably in the Democratic Republic of the Congo during which millions were brutally killed.
We will not forget Belgian Prime Minister Charles Miche’s speech of 4 April 2019, apologizing for the country’s actions toward mixed-race children in DR. We denounce the kidnapping, segregation, deportation and forced adoption of more than twenty thousands children born to mixed-race couples during Belgian colonial rule in Burundi, Congo and Rwanda. While we remember the Belgian’s apology and recognition of responsibility for the immense harm inflicted on our nations, which they colonized for eight decades; the apology is one step towards raising awareness and recognition of the tragic history of their colonialism. We demand that Belgium remove all statues of King Leopold II, whose violent, exploitative policies in the Congo were used to enrich Belgium.
We are offspring of those who went through colonialism. We are Congolese women who have been kidnapped, tortured and raped. We have been through so much. We are offspring of those who went through colonialism. We are Congolese women who have been kidnapped, tortured and raped. We have been through so much. We stand and RISE IN SOLIDARITY with the protesters!
“We are a society that has been structured from top to bottom by race. You don’t get beyond that by deciding not to talk about it anymore. It will always come back; it will always reassert itself over and over again.” – Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
I was released from prison in October of 2018 and have been home now for a year and eight months. I remember counting the years and days of my confinement with a heavy heart, now I count my days of freedom with pleasure and gratitude. We measure time in many different ways but for me these are the most precious of times, not only because I am free, but because I am experiencing history for Black Americans in my own backyard.
The police killing of George Floyd combined with the Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the festering sore of indifference for the most marginalized groups of people in society. This legacy of slavery and white supremacy that America has perpetrated for far too long needs to be addressed and dismantled.
(Roz at the Justice for George Floyd protest at the Barclays Center, Brooklyn 29 May 2020, at Rage Rejoice Rise event at Middle Church 26 February 2019)
For the last several days and nights of protest, Americans are confronting the systemic racism in our country with a vengeance, we are coming out in numbers, strong and powerful. We are tired of the blatant injustices put upon black shoulders each and every day of our lives for centuries. We are tired of being left out of the conversations. We are tired of being portrayed as menacing, threatening, dangerous, lazy and no good. We are tired of our Black men and women being killed by the police. I mourn for George Perry Floyd, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Alton Sterling, Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice and all the other men and women whose lives were taken. I mourn for the known and unknown and not just about police brutality but for the racism that permeates our world and provides a platform for this injustice that dictates that it’s ok to murder Black people and their lives have less significance than whites.
I am saddened and outraged by our history of lynching/killing/executing black people, the knees of white racist America has been on our necks too long and change is in the making, justice has been denied for far too long. We have suffered with our children having the most inferior schools and educators, our neighborhoods are food deserts with liquor stores on every corner, our communities are without adequate resources available for mental and physical health care, we are discriminated against in housing and job opportunities and are unproportionally herded into the criminal justice system because of the color of our skin.
We are in dire times with a demagogue president who continues bombarding the media with deliberate seditious rhetoric, who campaigned against the Central Park Five in 1989, and was furious about Colin Kaepernick taking a knee to protest in silence. Who reportedly tweeted “when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” the racially charged statement that dates back to the civil rights era and is known to have been invoked in 1967 by a white police chief Walter Headly during hearings about crime in Florida city.
“The challenge of the 21st century is not to demand equal opportunity in the machinery of oppression, but rather to identify and dismantle those structures in which racism continues to be embedded.” – Angela Davis
This pandemic spotlights the indifference towards the black population and the poor in our society who are dying at three times the rates of whites. The movement that is sweeping this country is one that has finally reached its time. This has been the perfect environment for change, with the pandemic that occurred and Floyd’s unnecessary death at the hands of police. Now is the time for change, now is the time for open discussion and now is the time to reimagine the world we want to live in. We can’t change what happened in the past, but we can determine what happens in our future. We can get this right!
In Solidarity,
Roslyn Smith
V-Day Beyond Incarceration Project Manager
SUPPORT black led grassroots groups, engage in racial justice work and system change. We encourage you to research who is doing the work in your immediate community, follow their lead on how you can best help, and use social media to amplify and support.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg died yesterday at sundown at the age of 87 on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. It’s said people who die on Rosh Hashanah are of greatest righteousness. She gave us her life over and over. She was a hero and a strategist and a brilliant legal mind and first and foremost, she opened this world for women. We mourn her, we celebrate her.
We are in the midst of a rising tide of right-wing nationalism, white supremacy, fascism, tyranny, hatred of and fear of immigrants, misogyny, femicide, homophobia, transphobia, corporate greed and climate destruction. The United States election includes the Presidency, which is currently occupied by a fascist, misogynist and corrupt Predator-in-Chief. The rapid spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and an inadequate federal response has worsened the effects of this tide. Elections are one way to voice your support of issues you care about.
At Monday’s rally, we will be introducing Elena the Essential Worker, whom we hope can stand on the shoulders of Rosie the Riveter to serve as a new face in the fight for economic, racial, and gender justice!
We are thrilled to share this new poem written by Kevin Powell. Kevin is a poet, journalist, civil and human rights activist, public speaker, and author of 14 books, including his new one, 
