Reflections & Invitations
Hello Libertroph Readers,
We recently had the joy and honor to gather with Libertroph contributor, Elizabeth Woodson, and the community she has cultivated as executive director of Reckon With. We convened among elders, advisors, and participants on the land colonially known as Montgomery, Alabama.
We gathered in sacred places: Old Ship A.M.E. Zion Church, Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Sites, and the Harris House, all on the traditional homelands of the Maskoke people.
Each of these places were marked with the legacy of white supremacy and genocidal colonization that remains entrenched in our country generations after the first settlers arrived. The Legacy Museum sits on the site of a former cotton warehouse blocks from where thousands of enslaved African people were trafficked.
We walked on land that is alive with the memory of inconceivable trauma, brutality, and forced separation.
And. These sites were marked by deep courage and cultural resilience.
At the Harris House, we stood in the living room where freedom riders, John Lewis among them, danced and played cards after late-night organizing strategy meetings. We hummed in the pews of A.M.E. Zion Church, aptly named “Old Ship” after enslaved and freed Black congregation members pushed the church up a hill on logs to move it to a part of town where they were permitted to worship in 1852. We also had the honor of introducing our ears to the language of Indigenous Maskoke people who —180 years after they were forcibly removed—have returned to their traditional homelands, where they are raising their children in the Maskoke language.
Reckon With’s first in-person convening was anchored in the two-fold wisdom of Elder advisors: dismantle what harms, and manifest what heals.
May we go forward to honor that call with clarity and courage.
Image descriptions: [top left] Elizabeth receiving flowers and embracing a loved one to applause from Reckon With community members outside A.M.E Zion Church; [top right] Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, where Dr. King Jr. served as pastor from 1954-1959; [bottom left] the exterior of the Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Museum with windows reflecting sunlight and spring flowers blooming; [bottom right] Julienne’s visual notes from a Reckon With panel session on reparations and repair.
April is another exciting, busy month for us, and we would love for you to be a part of the activities:
Intuitive Creation: Being in the Possibility of Anti-Racist Futures | April 23, 7:00 - 8:30 PM EST, Virtual
Libertroph Co-Founders, Alyssa & Julienne, will facilitate a virtual gathering in partnership with the Anti-Racist Community Network. It will be interactive and artful (with no pressure to share verbally!). It’s free and open to all!
Undoing Racism Workshop | April 24 - 26, Brooklyn
Join our local PISAB community for the transformational, 2.5-day Undoing Racism workshop! We can’t recommend this highly enough. It’s $350 (but really, priceless) and open to all. If you can’t afford that rate, reach out and we can connect you with a funding source. Register here.
If you’re not in NYC but want to attend an Undoing Racism Workshop, there are virtual workshops as well as in-person workshops in other cities. The full calendar is here.
Anti-Racist Solidarity Stories
April 29, 5:00 - 7:00 PM EST, Housing Works Bookstore, NYC
Libertroph is partnering up with Haymarket Books to host author, organizer, and Libertroph Issue 02 contributor, Beth Howard! She will be in conversation with Morgan Bassichis about her new book, Song for a Hard-Hit People: A Memoir of Antiracist Solidarity from a Coal Miner’s Daughter. Swing by after work if you’re in NYC!
We really hope to see you soon! Sending you safety and ease in the meantime.
With love,
Alyssa & Julienne
