Social Justice

There are a number of ways to collect data on your clients, your agency, your programs and your communities. If you are interested in exploring these options, this course will help you learn about the strengths and weaknesses of each choice.

Tags: SAVI Module 2B: Create and Use Client Data, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Get in, get culture, get out. This is the motto of Poets Attack. The last Wednesday of each month, for 90 minutes or less, Irvington Vinyl & Books hosts two talented local poets and pairs them with visiting writers from out of state. The goal is to connect Hoosier poets with writers from across the United States, and to build relationships between our local scene and the world outside. We believe poetry is meant for everybody; that’s why we keep our readings short and our admission free. Poetry For All.

Mitchell L. H. Douglas is the author of dying in the scarecrow’s arms, blak al-fə bet, winner of the Persea Books Lexi Rudnitsky/Editor’s Choice Award, and Cooling Board: A Long-Playing Poem, an NAACP Image Award and Hurston/Wright Legacy Award nominee. His poetry has appeared in Callaloo, The Ringing Ear: Black Poets Lean South (University of Georgia Press), The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop (Haymarket Books), Crab Orchard Review, and Ninth Letter, and among others. He is a cofounder of the Affrilachian Poets, a Cave Canem graduate, and Associate Professor of English at IUPUI.

The name is a truth, an interrogation both external and internal. How to be black, black enough, Too Black in a world built through black subjugation but not made for black people?

Too Black is a spoken word poet, traveling and teaching artist, and public speaker fusing together historical context, current events, creative practice, and interpersonal interaction on international stages.

Wendy Lee Spacek (WLS) is a 3rd year MFA student in poetry. She was born and raised in Indiana and received her BFA in poetry from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her first book, Psychogynecology, was published by Monster House Press is 2015. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming online at Poets.org, deLuge Journal, The Portland Review, TL;DR, and LVNG Magazine (Flood Editions). Honors include two Vera Meyer Strube Academy of American Poets Awards and a Guy Lemmon Award in Public Writing.

Chris Thibodeau is a queer mentally ill poet from Indiana, currently living in Muncie. Their work explores the intersections of those identities and their specific experiences. They continually strive to break down the stigma around mental illness. They have been featured in Nat Brut., thread, and The Broken Plate. In their free time, Chris plays roller derby and goes to therapy.

Tags: Poets Attack!, Mitchell Douglas, Too Black, Wendy Lee Spacek, Chris Thibodeau, Spoken Word, Poetry, Writing, Social Justice

SAVI (Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators — www.savi.org) is a free online information system that helps you map, compare and store data about 2,000 Central Indiana communities. SAVI’s comprehensive, up-to-date statistics on housing, education, crime, and much more help businesses and organization create the charts, graphs, maps, and other results to make data-informed decisions. This introductory class, to be held in the Computer Training Lab, provides an overview to help participants decide whether they want to learn more about how to use SAVI.

Tags: SAVI (Social Assets and Vulnerabilities Indicators), comprehensive, up-to-date statistics on housing, education, crime, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Now that you know what you want to accomplish with data, you can use that as a framework for choosing the right dataset. We cover the strengths, weaknesses, and costs of readily available data sets, including SAVI, so you have the information you need to locate the data that’s right for you.

Tags: SAVI (Social Assetts and Vulnerabilities Indicators), Module 2A: Find Existing Data, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Before you can begin using data to inform decisions, identify what you are trying to accomplish and determine how data can help you get there. This will determine what kind of data you need.

Tags: SAVI (Social Assetts and Vulnerabilities Indicators), Module 1A: Frame the Problem, nonprofit, public policy, social justice

Join Tatjana Rebelle for your last chance to see the installation at Future Friends. This will be your chance to see the installation in it’s complete form including books for purchase.

Make sure to follow Future Friends Holographic Magic Club for times & days the gallery is open prior to the closing reception.

THIS IS AMERICA art show

On March 24, 2018 Tatjana Rebelle was asked to be a speaker at the youth led rally for March for Our Lives at the Indiana Statehouse. Three days later a portion of her speech was used in a white supremacist’s YouTube video referring her as a anti-white racists and communist. That video has had over 84,000 views and received over 2000 comments. This show has taken comments from the video released by Red Elephants Vincent James. Her goal is to show the reality of the backlash that comes from being a QPOC activist/organizer in America.

Tatjana Rebelle is a mother, activist, organizer, writer, performer and promoter. She has lived in Indianapolis most of her life. Which is where she learned to use her writing to deal with growing up in the midwest as a bisexual, biracial daughter of an immigrant. She is the founder and host of VOCAB. An all-inclusive monthly spoken word and live music event that is in the midst of its 11th year. She has been fighting for social justice for communities of color, LGTBQIA+ rights for several years on her own. As well as, works for American Friends Service Committee, combating Islamophobia, white supremacy, and fighting for Palestinian liberation. AFSC gives her the chance to follow in her idol, Bayard Rustin’s, footsteps in taking a nonviolent stance against global and local oppression. Her goal is to bring art and activism to the people that need to hear it the most, with every action she takes.

Tags: THIS IS AMERICA art show, social justice, Tatjana Rebelle, racism, Future Friends Holographic Magic Club

“We are a collection of voices, the assembled history of the many voices that have spoken into our lives and shaped us. Voices of the past, voices of the present, and voices of the future. There is an African proverb, “Se wo were fi na wosankofa a yenkyi,” which translates as “It is not wrong to go back for that which you have forgotten.” This is why we continue to remember the tales of struggle and tales of perseverance, even as we look to tales of hope. What a people choose to remember about its past, the stories they pass down, informs who they are and sets the boundaries of their identity. We remember the pain of our past to mourn, to heal, and to learn. Only in that way can we ensure the same mistakes are not repeated. The voices make up our stories. The stories make up who we are. A collected voice.” -introduction of The Voices of Martyrs

We’re wrapping up our year examining Afrofuturism by doing a mini-dive into some of my work. We’ll look at some of the stories spanning my career, themes of my fiction, its impact on my community work (and vice versa) as well as discuss what’s coming up next. As a primer, here are some of the stories we’ll be looking at:

From The Voices of Martyrs:

Pimp My Airship – https://www.apex-magazine.com/pimp-my-airship/ (story)

The Valkyrie – http://www.starshipsofa.com/blog/2018/05/02/starshipsofa-no-535-maurice-broaddus/ (podcast)

Stories since The Voices of Martyrs:

At the Village Vanguard – http://escapepod.org/2018/07/19/escape-pod-637-at-the-village-vanguard-ruminations-on-blacktopia/ (podcast or story)

El is a Spaceship Melody – http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/el-is-a-spaceship-melody/ (story)

We may also watch a special episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. “Far Beyond the Stars” (season 6, episode 13). Warning: I consider DS9 to be the best iteration of Star Trek. Come at me.

As always, we gather at 6p for our listening lab and meal. Discussion begins at 6:30pm.

Tags: stories, storytelling, Afrofuturism, Voices of Community, social justice, Kheprw Institute, Maurice Broaddus

*FREE AND OPEN TO ALL*

This event will feature student performers from Irvington Prep along with a collaborative community art project. By facilitating conversation around visibility and inclusion, Irvington Youth for All hopes to change existing stereotypes of teenagers in our community. In giving them the stage at IVB, we give them the power to speak their truths and safely engage with peers and adults about issues affecting everyone, no matter your age.

Come join us in celebrating their bravery, voices, and dedication to community arts.

Tags: Irvington Youth for All, changing stereotypes, collaborative community art project, social justice, Irvington Prep, Irvington Vinyl & Books

A community discussion around forming an Indianapolis coalition allied with the national Homes For All campaign.

Homes For All is a national campaign with the goal of broadening the conversation of the housing crisis beyond foreclosure and putting forth a comprehensive housing agenda that also speaks to issues affecting public housing residents, homeless families, and the growing number of renters in American cities.

Learn more about Homes For All: https://homesforall.org/

Tags: Homes For All, community discussion, housing crisis, renters, homeless, social justice

This has been a culmination in the making, to say the least.

At the end of March 2018, I, Tatjana Rebelle, was asked to speak at the March for Our Lives Rally. On April 1st, I found out that a clip from my speech, my picture and a link to my blog was used in a white supremacist’s vlog on YouTube. This is my clap back.

Please join me for my first chapbook release that also coincides with a art installation, showing that… This Is America.

Do to the nature of the show itself, the material may not be suitable for children of all ages.

Live performances/speakers:
Too Black (poet)
The Tuesday Xavier Collective (poet)
Malkah Bird (organizer)
Salma Mohammad (poet)
Tatjana Rebelle (poet/organizer)
and special guests

Tags: This Is America, poetry, performance, spoken word, social justice, Too Black, The Tuesday Xavier Collective, Malkah Bird, Salma Mohammad, Tatjana Rebelle