Women’s Unity Rally 2019 – Foley Square 1/19/19

by A-B-E

This Saturday, January 19th 2019, The Peace Poets will be joining the Women’s Unity Rally in Foley Square 10am – 2pm with staff and members from The Brotherhood/ Sister Sol.

Women’s Unity Rally: https://actionnetwork.org/events/womens-march-in-new-york-city-official-chapter

The Peace Poets have composed a number of movement music chants to be used this weekend and shared widely for other protests, rallies, and actions in support of equity for women and women’s rights.

Thank you for joining us and singing and for sharing!

  1. My sister my sister,
    Mi hermana
    My sister my sister,
    Mi hermanaWe’re here by your side
    Women and Allies
    Here to turn the tide
    For our future
    .
    .
  2. Equity in pay
    Or we ain’t budging
    My body, my rights
    Economic Justice
    .
    .
  3. Stop the violence
    Against our bodies
    .
    .
  4. Down, Down, Down
    With the patriarchy
    Up, Up, Up
    With the women marching.
    .
    .
  5. Sister, Woman, Leader, know
    I see your (wisdom) – Shine and glow
    *(spirit, courage)
    .
    .
  6. Not in front and
    Not behind
    We keep on marching
    Side by side
    .
    .
    Sister we see you
    And we believe
    Know we love you
    And we need you
    .
    .So we could stop the violence
    Stop the- Stop the violence
    So we could stop the violence
    Stop the- Stop the violence
    .
    .
  7. What we can do
    Is help in rebuilding
    Recognize our privilege
    Leave it better for all children
    .
    .
  8. We’re breaking silence
    To stop the violence
    .
    .
  9. Justice now (Freedom, Equal Pay, Sisterhood)
    We want justice now
    Sisterhood
    We see sisterhood now
    .
    .
  10. How can anyone know
    (Healthcare Service is, Birth Control is, Sexual Education is)
    What we’re needing
    Our body, our rights
    Reproductive freedom
    .
    .
  11. Your time is up, Your time is up
    Our time has come, Our time has come
    LGBTQIA: Women’s rights are here to stay!
    You may run, you may hide:
    Women rights are here to shine.
    .
    .
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My sister my sister,
Mi hermana
My sister my sister,
Mi hermana

We’re here by your side
Women and Allies
Here to turn the tide
For our future

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Peace Poets (@thepeacepoets) on

Equity in pay
Or we ain’t budging
My body, my rights
Economic Justice

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Peace Poets (@thepeacepoets) on

Stop the violence against our bodies

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Peace Poets (@thepeacepoets) on

Down, Down, Down
With the patriarchy
Up, Up, Up
With the women marching.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Peace Poets (@thepeacepoets) on

Sister, Woman, Leader, know
I see your (wisdom) – Shine and glow
*(spirit, courage)

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Peace Poets (@thepeacepoets) on

Not in front and
Not behind
We keep on marching
Side by side

Sister we see you
And we believe
Know we love you
And we need you

So we could stop the violence
Stop the- Stop the violence
So we could stop the violence
Stop the- Stop the violence

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Peace Poets (@thepeacepoets) on

What we can do
Is help in rebuilding
Recognize our privilege
Leave it better for all children

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Peace Poets (@thepeacepoets) on

We’re breaking silence to stop the violence

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Peace Poets (@thepeacepoets) on

Justice now (Freedom, Equal Pay, Sisterhood)
We want justice now
Sisterhood
We see sisterhood now

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by The Peace Poets (@thepeacepoets) on

How can anyone know
(Healthcare Service is, Birth Control is, Sexual Education is)
What we’re needing
Our body, our rights

After: All The Things I Wish I Could Have Said.

by A-B-E

I facilitated the second workshop of my Spoken Word Poetry residency with my young people in Queens yesterday. The residency serves a small group of high school teenagers, grades 10 – 12.

I was so excited to share with them an excerpt that I had read in Elizabeth Acevedo’s latest novel, “The Poet X.”

We read an excerpt from Part 1 of the novel, titled “After,” which described some of the protagonist’s experiences as a young Latinx teenager growing up and experiencing life in Harlem.

Part of Acevedo’s motivation in writing this novel was inspired by the 8th graders she’d taught in her career and the experience they frequently and collectively shared of not seeing themselves, their neighborhoods, or their experiences reflected in the literature they had been exposed to.

I was happy to see that my students, although representing Queens for life, were able to show to love to Harlem and were immediately immersed in Xiomara’s story, seeing themselves in her shoes.

*****SPOILER ALERT*****

If you have not read the “The Poet X,” by Elizabeth Acevedo, please continue reading at your own risk and take the opportunity to buy your copy and support Pan-African/ Latinx authors, artists, and the stories that are so often ignored and silenced.

Part of the excerpt, “After,” is a reflection from the protagonist, Xiomara, and her experiences of the violence perpetrated by our patriarchal society and sexist culture.

While I was sure that the young people in class would be able to relate to the story of Xiomara, I was more shocked than I anticipated to hear the young people’s reflection of the text and of their personal experiences and interactions with men in their lives.

Youth ages 14 – 17 shared experiences about men and elders’ unwarranted attempts at flirting with them, calling them out of their names, and at times whispering or yelling at them to provoke some kind of attention.

Some men would exclaim to their friends how the girls that they tried to flirt with were clearly underage, and would continue in the pursuit of engaging the young women in conversation. Others would follow them with their eyes, with comments, and often follow them down several streets.

In enclosed spaces like elevators, construction workers, co-workers or internship partners, would attempt to maintain an eerie sense of sociability that after a few days transitioned from unwarranted comments and conversations to being physically touched and grabbed non-consensually.

The young people shared that there were moments where they were supported and helped by allies, co-workers and at times parents. Their fear and concerns, however, grew larger in the moments where they were alone and without anyone to help them during these recurring situations. Many felt that just to speak out, call out the person, or resist against their aggressors or attackers, while alone, would have put them in unsafe, precarious, and dangerous situations where they would have been unable to defend themselves.

It was my intention for the young people to read a text that they could connect to, that was written in “their” voice, and that was relevant to them. However, I was not aware when I brought the prompt into class that I would feel so overwhelmed and shocked with the multitude of stories that these youth shared and wrote about regarding their experiences as young women facing these violences in their city, schools, and homes. I did not want to believe what I already knew so well, that at the ages of 13 – 14, my young women already had a slew of violent experiences and traumas that would continue to shape them as part of our culture and day-to-day routines. These same norms would also continue to guide the young men in our society and develop their rites of passage into a twisted manhood that simultaneously strips them of their humanity and gives them a power that celebrates the oppression of women, and the destruction of themselves.

These experiences are nothing new. Perhaps I was more shocked with my naive hope that the realities I grew up witnessing had become better for this generation. The reality is that I am still uncovering and unlearning the ways I have been taught to participate in a social morality that  promotes power through trans and queer-phobia, misogyny, and sexism. As a heteronormative, cisgendered, light-skinned, english-speaking, United States born, university educated, and privileged man, I am not even slightly aware of the daily, life-long, constant and consistent terrorizing that women face and that we as men contribute to through our actions, conversation, humor, and our inadequacy to address these multilayered and complex issues within other groups of men including our friends, loved ones, co-workers, or strangers.

While I do not pretend to have the magical answer, I know that the solution begins with opening the conversation and exposing ourselves to the truths and lived realities of those impacted by what we have been taught to celebrate and glorify in our society. Oppression is something that we all inherently participate in, and the questions I would like to address are are not who is responsible or who can we fault, but how do we personally contribute to the issue and what are the personal choices we can make to unlearn and heal from the same patriarchy that has made us all victims to losing our humanity.

I was blessed as a young person to have met Elizabeth Acevedo when she was 14 years old at The Brotherhood/ Sister Sol in Harlem, NY. Elizabeth along with Frantz Jerome, a fellow member of The Peace Poets, invited me to join the space and the writing program they called The Lyrical Circle.

For years this was one of the few, if not the only safe haven that I had as a teenager, as I reminisce trooping from The South Bronx towards 96th street and heading uptown into Harlem. It was a space for me to explore and understand myself better and the world around me. It was a gift to hear Elizabeth’s poetry, rap, and music in those days, and have a better understanding of how she was impacted by our twisted ideas of manhood and how I had contributed.

My love for my sister brought a magnifying lens to my eyes that not only made me more aware, but made me want to strive to explore what I could do to make the world a more equitable, just, and compassionate place for all the women in my life.

Thank you Elizabeth, and thank you to all the women in my life who have helped me to be a bit more in touch with my own humanity– although a lifelong journey awaits me in unlearning the violences I have learned and that continue to attempt to shift me into the comforts of my privilege and power.

Spoken Word Poetry Writing Exercise for Educators

For educators and cultural workers interested in using this text as an entry point for youth to engage in conversation and continue exploring their lived experiences, I would like to offer the following prompts which I used to in class, based off of Acevedo’s text, to begin a 10 minute writing exercise that could be used to further the conversation:

It happens when… (3 mins)
It makes me feel like… (3 mins)
I wish I could have said… (3 mins)
Review and last thoughts (1 min)

Spoken Word Poetry Peace Camp

Do you like Spoken Word Poetry and Hip Hop? Do you know that your voice matters? Do you feel like you have something to say to the world? Join us as we explore the legacy of griots, poets, and artists who through oral traditions were the keepers of the culture, the speakers of truth, and the writers of change.


Participants will study liberation artists and explore varying perspectives on gender and sexism, racism, and issues of social relevance that are of interest to them. Participants will share interpretations and reflections, and translate them into fresh rhymes!

This series is an invitation into a journey of self reflection. We will study the self, and share the parts of us that ache. We seek to speak to the places of vulnerability and the social violences that we are all affected by. It is a space to laugh, cry, dance, release emotions, and know you are not alone. It is a call to recognize our individuality, our greatness, and the power of the collective. It is a call into leadership. The workshop is not merely designed to develop literal capacity, but to develop our emotional intelligence and create a class driven culture that values holding a safe space where everyone feels valued and welcomed, and no one is excluded. It is a place where we can be who we are and celebrate who we are becoming.

Dates: July 16 – 27, Tuesday –  Friday.
Time: 10:30am – 12:30pm.
Ages: 13 – 17.
Participants: 8 (10 maximum).
Break: Light refreshments and snacks will be provided.
Registration: $110.                       

Registration: http://bit.ly/RSVPpeacecamp

Location and transportation:
Workshops will be facilitated at the Dan Berrigan Center in the Benincasa Community:

Benincasa Community
133 West 70th Street
New York, NY 10023
???? Trains: 1, 2, 3, B, C Trains to 72th Street

Benincasa Community is a lay community named for Catherine (Benincasa) di Sienna, the theologian, mystic, reformer, and peacemaker. Dedicated to the works of mercy and justice in an era thirsting for humanity’s collective recognition of unity and interdependence with all creation, Benincasa is grounded by faith, an emerging understanding of the new cosmology, the development of new economic models in our world, and the need for deepening relationships with the land and one another.                    

Facilitated by: Abraham Velazquez, Jr., A-B-E. Abraham completed his Master of Arts Degree in Educational Theatre at NYU, while studying Theatre of the Oppressed with Julian Boal in New York City, Barbara Santos in Berlin, Germany, and Sanjoy Ganguly in Badu and Kolkata, India. Abraham has facilitated his Rapademics and Instruments of Peace curricula with youth throughout The Bay Area, California and NYC.

Abraham has trained educators and organizers nationally and abroad at Universidad Internacional Menéndez Pelayo (Santander, Spain), La Casa Encendida (Madrid, Spain), The Cross Border Project in (Valladolid, Spain), El Simposio de Hip Hop Cubano (Havana, Cuba), American Space Madrid (Madrid, Spain) and Künstlerhaus Bethanien (Berlin, Germany) on how to engage communities in social justice and personal transformation through drama, poetry, and Hip Hop.

As a member of The Peace Poets, Abraham has organized youth conferences with The W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi, and National Youth Event (ACLU).

In 2007, Abraham toured his one-person production, Born Again! The Life of Richard F. Nicks throughout New York City, and authored the chapbooks Libra Libre and Thoughts From a Prophet. In November 2015, Abraham released his first solo album, A South Bronx Tale LP, which was engineered by Grammy Award recipient, Mikaelin “Blue” Bluespruce.

Arriving:

▶We ask that participants arrive 15 minutes early to participate in our gathering ritual before we enter the space together. Parents will be asked to submit permission slips that allow visits one block and a half blocks away from our Center to Central Park West for creative writing exercises.         

Debajo Del Sombrero Workshop

by A-B-E of The Peace Poets

Some use the words incapacitated or disabled to label and describe people who do not have the capacity to care for themselves or ensure their own safety therefore needing supportive assistance. I’ve reflected on those words after my workshop with Debajo Del Sombrero at La Casa Encendida in Madrid, Spain. Words carry meaning, and their meaning has power.

In our workshop today, beautiful family shared their fears and concerns, their joy and happiness, and the pain and love which they carry in their hearts. Some participants wrote about the structures in some cities that further marginalize incapacitated people and establish paternalistic social limitations on their freedom such as walking the world unaccompanied, being permitted to drive a vehicle, or vote for who they want to represent them politically. Others spoke about their concern for family members who were experiencing health issues while they bore their own. Some spoke about the challenges of having care-persons mistreat them, tell them that they are simply misbehaving and don’t know what they’re doing, and reducing their expression and rejection of abuse as them simply being crazy.


(photography by Alex de la Croix)

We must reflect on the words, crazy, disabled, incapacitated, and others that are brought into these social interactions because they hold a weight and a power that can both oppress and liberate.

In my workshop today, I felt my heart a bit more humanized. I was surrounded by peers of my age and elders, approximately 15 adults who were my new teachers for this short and beautiful interaction. There were times we couldn’t hold in our laughter, other times our eyes were watery. I felt that I was in a room with new family and great friends. I’m grateful that my heart is on the path to slowly chip away from my own incapacity to seeing our family, seeing each other, and learning more compassionate ways to forgive ourselves, love ourselves, and love each other better.

Spoken Word Group Piece with The Afghan Peace Volunteers & Luke

The Afghan Peace Volunteers and Luke Nephew of The Peace Poets

Live from Kabul, October seventh, 2013

The 12th Anniversary of the United States War in Afghanistan.

Today,

As the war turns 12

Me and other Youth in Afghanistan worry we will not make it alive to visit our families for Eid,

As the war turns 12,

Women in Afghanistan are still sold and traded, beaten and degraded

we are still demanding our education… but over two thousand and five hundred

Afghan women have committed suicide so far in 2013

As the war turns 12,

Drone attacks still kill kids like they did my two classmates and my brother in law

Night raids terrify the people praying

For a chance to sleep through the night in peace

As the war turns 12, We, the young people are 75 percent of society,

But we struggle for basic education.

We are searching for a peace and unity we have never seen.

We want to design the future ourselves… because as the war turns 12

The US military says they should have total impunity for their crimes-

but We ask why!

Why do they think they should not be held responsible

As the war turns 12

We hope it will not be possible for the US to leave 9 permanent bases the way they want to

As the war turns 12, American people protest imperial violence

and demand their government stop this war, respect the human rights of everyone in Bagram and Guantanamo bay, WE say Salaam Alaykum, peace to all people, As the war turns 12:

The people of Afghanistan WANT

Enough peace to hear the music of their land,

the laughter of their children,

the sound of a man laying a brick to build a home that he can know is not

going to be destroyed

But war turns people into enemies

Schools into battlefields

Homes into badly built bomb shelters

War turns, us against, each other

But we turn, toward each other

to love all sisters and brothers

We will turn this war torn nation

Back into a place where we can dance

And that is our dream,

We are hoping

This war will never turn thirteen…