Healing Trauma and Social Justice: Ending Gender Based Violence MARCH FOR BLACK WOMEN!

As I embark to shape and change the public discourse of violence against women in academia, I am making sure that I don't lose my voice in social justice. Marches, rallies , speak outs andprotest are needed spaces for victims and survivors to take back their agency and self determination. It was where you see public discourse at its best. Victims and survivors, women and children, allies and supporters come out to chant, sing, make calls to action, hold accountability, demand justice and heal together. It is the ultimate stand for ones humanity and ones spirit to come out into the streets and be vulnerable and visible and demand to be seen and heard by any means necessary.This is why I march. On Sept 30th, Black women in the United States will march in Washington DC for all women and girls who can't all over the world. Below you will find a letter to created by Black Women's Blueprint in Brooklyn New York, United States from Black People Across the NationUrging10,000 Letters to Black Leaders telling themThere Can Be No Racial Justice Without Gender Justice!

I signed and so can you! I am going to march and so can you from where ever you are in the world, you can join us . Put your name on it! and then create one for your own community or use this one.

You can find the letter and sign your name to the petition @https://campaigns.organizefor.org/petitions/march-for-black-women-urges-...

For more information Follow the March for Black Women (M4BW) Page for Updates:https://www.facebook.com/marchforblackwomen/

Organize a sister march in your community and your country and share it with us @https://www.mamablack.org/organize-march-in-your-city

_________________________________________________________________________________

Why is this important?

Beloved Community,

Black women and girls need you. As we prepare to March on Washington DC, September 30, 2017 we are calling on all of us to show radical love for Black women and girls who are deeply impacted by violence, abuse, health, economic injustice, imprisonment and so much more. Beloved community, find out what is happening athttp://www.MarchforBlackWomen.orgHELP US REACH OUR COMMUNITY LEADERS LIKE OUR CLERGY, TEACHERS, HEADS OF ORGANIZATIONS, POLICY MAKERS, AND OTHER INSTITUTIONS BY DELIVERING THE LETTER BELOW TO THEIR EMAIL INBOXES OR A PRINTED COPY TO THEIR OFFICES. ------- Dear (insert name of community leader and/or institution)

Caring about racial justice for Black people means caring about everyone in Black communities.

For centuries, Black women and girls have assumed the position as pillars of the Black community, while their unique plights have been neglected. Silence prevails and the invisibility is almost complete within our Black communities and in greater society about Black women’s lives, about the level of victimization, the systematic exclusion of their specific gendered experiences in the broader agenda for civil and human rights. Black women's concerns have fallen out of the sight and out of the minds of those who should be stronger advocates and best allies--community leaders, preachers, teachers, heads of organizations and other institutions. Too many in our own neighborhoods are not listening.

As thousands of us March for Black Women in Washington, DC on September 30, 2017 to proclaim there can be no racial justice without gender justice; to denounce the propagation of state-violence and the widespread incarceration of Black women and girls, rape and all sexualized violence, the murders and brutalization of transwomen and the disappearances of our girls from our streets, our schools and our homes, we ask that you listen to Black women. We look to you as a leader in our community, to take up the cause and center Black women in all agendas for racial justice. Help end the reluctance to stand up for our girls and all who identify as women, regardless of sexuality, presentation, language, immigration status or identity.

Black women are dying at a rate that is 7 times more than our white counterparts during childbirth. They are 4 times more likely to be imprisoned, make up almost 50% of those murdered in domestic violence situations, while our girls make up more than 40% of all those trafficked for sexual exploitation. We need you to love Black women more fiercely. We need you to pay attention. Issue a rally cry when a Black woman is raped, when a Black woman is beaten, when a Black woman is killed or disappears.

We need you to organize with Black women and for Black women and ride with Black women and girls. Charleena Lyles, India Clarke, Chyna Gibson, Kiwi Herring, Sandra Bland, Rekia Boyd, Korryn Gaines, Keneeka Jenkins are only a few of the long list of Black women who have been murdered by law enforcement officials AND others who may belong to our own community. Black women have been saying their names - will you?

Caden Cotton, Myzjanae Henderson, Bianca Lilly Jones, Demetria Carthens, Anjel Burl, Katherine Hunter, Shaniah Boyd, Chareah Payne, Aniya McNeil are the names among thousands of Black girls still missing as of 2017. Black women have been advocating for them - will you?

We call on our beloved Black leaders and institutions to support Black women, fiercely love Black women, March for Black women and girls and issue a public statement that caring about racial justice for Black people means caring about everyone in Black communities. Issue a public statement that now more than ever, there can be no racial justice without gender justice. Sincerely, You May Add Your Name and Contact.

How it will be delivered

A letter to every Black leader and institution.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Why March for Black Women?

To unite, lock arms and march unapologetically at the center of the scheduled MARCH FOR RACIAL JUSTICE as our very own MARCH FOR BLACK WOMEN because Black women's issues are racial justice issues. Black lived-experiences related to gender, sexuality, gender identity are-racial-justice-issues. Our March is not only a mass mobilization centered on Black women, but a reminder to every single one of us that so long as Black women are killed by the cops; so long as Black women are taken or go missing; so long as we are raped by friends or by strangers or by nationally renown predators -- there can be NO JUSTICE.